Finding the balance
Commodification and marginality in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s hip hop fashion
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16898690 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kate Elizabeth Harris (0009-0000-7367-0054, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-30 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Fashion Style & Popular Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2050-0726 • E-ISSN: 2050-0734 |
| Publisher | Intellect (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1386/fspc_00313_1 |
| OpenAlex | W4409985834 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 7 |
Hip hop fashion has transitioned from a grassroots, subcultural phenomenon into a multibillion-dollar industry intertwined with mainstream and luxury fashion. Partnerships between fashion brands and rappers financially benefit both parties and imbue each with legitimacy within global hip hop cultural values. This article explores these dynamics amongst contemporary rappers based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, in Aotearoa New Zealand, a locale underserved by current literature on hip hop fashion and commercialization. The artists promote locally resonant anti-hegemonic positions – specifically, anti-colonial and anti-racist positions – from within hip hop’s ambivalent relationship to capitalist industry. These artists strive to find a balance between self-promotion and lucrative partnerships with international fashion brands, and subsequently negotiating that increased attention and industry position to empower their communities and the local hip hop fashion industry, authentically expressing their creativity, values, politics and identities. Additionally, they perform ambivalent class positions through their curation of second-hand, mainstream and upmarket and designer hip hop fashion garments, blurring boundaries of marginality and prosperity, which highlights continued issues of class and racial marginality in their communities. This article ultimately suggests that anti-hegemonic messaging and oppositional voices expressed in Aotearoa’s hip hop culture are not necessarily thwarted by capitalist industry and may even be enhanced in their force and reach through such relationships
Commodification · Economics · Market economy · Physical medicine and rehabilitation · Sociology · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Fashion and Cultural Textiles · Medicine · Music History and Culture
| Highly cited | No |
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