How has India adopted the western streetwear fashion culture and made it their own?

2022 has been the Year of India’s exposure to streetwear fashion. The nation has seen young entrepreneurs rising and coming up with creative mindsets trying to create their own communities through fashion, We have seen retail clothing shops opening up just dedicated to street wear. We believe street culture is essentially being your truest self and representing your roots; and that is something we as Indians have been doing ever since, culturally.

An evident Cultural shift can be seen in India’s street fashion post-lockdown itself. The street is the lifestyle adopted by youth at a massive scale, and the preference is now not only limited to standard staple clothing, the hype has taken it beyond that. Along with the popularity of the brand or a particular piece of clothing, even comfort is something people are looking up to and Streetwear avails that very easily and that too at a very fair price point.

The uprising in Hip-hop in India is so parallel to Street Culture in India, you can hardly disassociate them, they both go hand-in-hand. The Drip as it is called has become a quintessential part of a teenager’s closet. Indian rappers have carried street culture from the west and presented it to us in the way we know and resonate with them and their music, people start identifying as one and that’s where the Hypebeast/Streetwear culture came into existence in India.

Bollywood has also approached the streetwear culture in a very heartwarming way. We can spot celebrities and public figures from the industry casually walking around in oversized t-shirts and joggers paired with sneakers. We believe the lockdown to be at play here as well. The Humanization of public figures happened through this phase where the general audience came to realize that everything that these public figures were wearing as essentials is also available and accessible to them as well. And the people who weren’t aware of street culture also got around it through this passage.

Tie-dye to Typography and Prints to Basic all these patterns have also evolved through generation, where there’s a noticeable change in the message conveyed through the apparel, brands have started putting in a lot of thought and creativity when it comes to prints and patterns of the outfits. The messages have now become more philosophical and persuasive. If we come to the bottoms, the usual cargo and trousers have now become much more functional and engineered in a really aesthetic sense. And the sneakers are no more treated as a commodity, they are now an Epitome of achievement and respect for a certain niche.

We guess this revolution was much needed for the generation we are in, the street culture talks about being out there, confident, edgy and most importantly true to one’s own self. It is not about being a hustler but a winner in making, the statement that the street culture puts out is to Idolize one’s own self for the winnings made and then move on to the next endeavour and finesse it to the best of the capability, and then celebrate a little.