Fashion is relative, up north winters are colder and nikkas dress accordingly, down south summers are hotter and nikkas dress accordingly, out west temperatures are moderate year round. As far as accessorizing goes, this is where it gets silly with all the head gear, backpacks, mouth gear (grills, gold teeth, etc), sunglasses and various layers. People like to emulate what they see on TV and in magazines.
Of course early on we associated Tims, bubble coats and skullys with NY cuz that's what we saw, but I'm from Houston and found it pretty pretentious when nikkas out here were rocking that shyt in the middle of the summer. NY nikkas got access to Winter collections and European cuts a lot quicker than other regions and Winter collections are pretty expensive due to the thread quality and heavier fabrics.
Out here we were putting the sharp creases in our jeans (shout out to Stayflo) and keeping it simple with a tee and some J's. This went with everything, you throw a Polo over the tee if you needed to "dress up", or put a hoodie or a Starter (back in the day) over the top if it was cold. And you kept a pair of basketball shorts underneath your jeans in case you needed to hoop or something. The fashion statement was the way you coordinated your colors.
Out West, and I lived in Cali for about 5 years is where you'll see nikkas getting a little carried away (no shots) because they tried to incorporate a little bit of everything because they typically had access to Spring collections a lot quicker than other regions, plus they can rock Spring collections year round. Because of that, nikkas would go out of their way to be more individualistic just to break the monotony. Of course the OGs rocked the Khaki suits and denim suits tuff but since colors were something you had to be a little bit more mindful of, you'd see dudes rock oranges and greens with a lot more frequency which forced the shoe companies to step their game up with the color options.
I think things leveled out a bit by the late 90's and into the 2000's as people started to wear what made them comfortable, but fashion in its truest form will always be regional mainly due to climate. One thing that will never change is the simplicity with which things are done down south (outside of the ridiculous accessories we sometimes rock!) and that's a pair of jeans and a regular sized tee with a pair of J's.
Ny always had the grip culturally on what was relevant in the culture before LA.
As, it is the Mecca.
The lo-lifes, pretty much pioneered every brand and colorway imaginable to any and everyone in this culture.
On top of basketball kix, and the like being rocked as well.
Old hip hop articles about the airforce one's, kareem's and any hot shoe not named Jordan.
Before the Jordan's were made has their call back to ny.
Even, krs when it comes to Jordan's.
can lay claim to making it relevant in a fashionable hip hop context, before anyone visually.
now, granted I had Jordan's as a bboy before they were endorsed as the credible culture based kix.
When, I had them.
bboys, and regular nikkaz still gave me odd looks.
when the large tongue addidas logo hi's were the go to shoe.
It wasn't till my philosophy in my region.
Did people, culturally finally look at my feet and were like I see your vision.
As before that, Jordan's were just a specific basketball fan niche shoe.
This was after the tinkerhatfield two's, made in Italy of Italian leather and interior backing and sold for 100, as a industry first. which were the first real shoe to start the you get bodied for your j's phase.
Well before, my philosophy and the enfamous appearance of the three's.
Which by that time you were late on Jordan's.
When the three's came out.
Art Barr
