Museum at FIT announces exhibition on hip hop fashion

Hip hop will be on display at the Museum at FIT in 2023. The museum has announced that it will host a new exhibition entitled "Fresh, Fly and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style" from February to April 2023 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of the music genre.

"Fresh, Fly and Fabulous" will present hip hop fashion and examine the roots and history of the movement from its inception to the present time. Themes including designer influence, the impact of celebrities on the fashion industry and the growth of hip hop style as an international phenomenon will be explored in the exhibition.

"For 50 years, hip hop has made its mark on U.S. culture and the world," Elena Romero, exhibition co-curator and assistant professor, said in a statement. "It is the perfect time to exhibit, examine and celebrate the contributions of our youth and people of color who ignited a multibillion-dollar industry, once considered a passing fad."

The Museum at FIT has established a hip hop style archive in preparation for "Fresh, Fly and Fabulous." The museum's director, Valerie Steele, noted in a press release that the institution has already acquired pieces ranging from Dapper Dan to Chanel for the exhibition. "We are dedicated to finding much more material that will elucidate a very important cultural phenomenon," she said.