STREET STYLE'S IMPACT

Unlike previous posts where the topic discussed impacted both high fashion and street fashion, street style is a branch of fashion that has most recently been muse to high end designers. Never before have bomber jackets, sneakers and hoodies shown up on the runway as they have these past couple seasons. With the advent of blogs, photographers are able to upload photos onto the internet of interesting outfits they see on the street, creating a whole new world for fashion advertisement. Many people, myself included, frequent blogs like Street Peeper, The Sartorialist and The Locals instead of browsing endless pages of online catalogs. Fashion week is no longer only about the collections, but also about what people are wearing while they wait for taxis and leave the shows.This has created a whole new type of fashion icon, where anybody can inspire others and can initiate trend that flows from the streets to the wealthy.

Balenciaga's space age sweater.

Although designers have looked to the streets for inspiration for many years- Isaac Mezrahi has said he was equally inspired by what someone on the street is wearing as he is by decadence- it was not until recently that these themes really showed up on the runway in abundance. Balenciaga had an array of spacey sweatshirts, Rag & Bone filled their collection with motocross jackets and quilted leather shorts and Saint Laurent looked to 1990s California grunge for inspiration, with a soundtrack by garage-rock band Thee Oh Sees. Jeremy Scott has worked with Adidas, and Céline has designed love-it-or-hate-it over sized hockey jersey-dress
Givenchy has gained huge commercial and urban success thanks to creative director Riccardo Tisci's new vision for the brand. Although he refers to his collections as "romantic," they are clearly street-inspired with boldly patterned bomber jackets, silk t-shirts and luxe sweatshirts flocking the runway. Creating the, otherwise nonexistent, menswear collections for the brand and collaborating with artists such as Jay-Z and Rihanna he has made a name for himself as the go to streetwear designer.

Jeremy Scott's collaboration with Adidas, Céline's jersey-dress, Saint Laurent's Fall/Winter 2012.

Givenchy's street-inspired collections.

In 2002, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim set up the Opening Ceremony store, collaborating with heritage brands and maintaining a downtown aesthetic. Nine years later, they were named the creative directors of dormant brand Kenzo, inducing a brand frenzy by working with skater brand Vans.
Alexander Wang has been name dropped by Die Antwoord and A$AP Rocky, both of which were featured in his T by Alexander Wang ad campaigns. Not surprising for a designer who had his start by designing a hoodie and expanded this aesthetic through his downtown cool collections.

Rag & Bones, Kenzo and Alexander Wang have all been influenced by streetwear.

Street style icons Gwen Stefani, Kanye West, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky.

Many people are on the fence about this low-end meets high-end style, so comment below and tell me if you love or hate it!