Caroline Wanga, President & CEO of Essence Ventures sits down with Tony Shellman and Mike B., speaking on the contribution women made to fashion in the Hip Hop culture.
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00:00 Is there any one particular article of clothing to you that is just signatory?
00:04 My nephew walks around in his Air Force Ones looking like a duck because he doesn't want
00:09 to get a crease in them.
00:11 Right?
00:12 No, my nephew's like that.
00:13 I'm just telling you some of the significant things.
00:15 What article of clothing is significant for you?
00:18 For me, I would say my glasses, my eyewear.
00:20 Okay.
00:21 Because I can't see without them.
00:23 Amen.
00:24 And of course, it helps my vision with bringing things to fruition.
00:28 Ooh, I could be a rapper.
00:30 God, bars!
00:31 That was gut.
00:32 Did you write it down?
00:33 Don't use this shit.
00:34 Okay.
00:35 So, for me, my significant item would be, that would be my denim.
00:40 Denim.
00:41 So, yeah, just rocking all my different denims.
00:43 Can we get his mic fixed?
00:45 When I first started, I just, I rocked the, yep.
00:49 When I first started, I rocked the Lee denims and that was how I got started in fashion,
00:53 so that's how I even got involved with denim.
00:55 So, quite frankly, when I started traveling overseas, I started taking some of those fits
00:59 and different fits from Lee, just from the yoke right here, just right in the saddle
01:03 in areas, in different areas for Lee jeans.
01:05 Yoke in the saddle?
01:06 The saddle, right there in the saddle, right here.
01:08 That's the saddle.
01:09 That's the saddle, people.
01:10 Google it.
01:11 Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
01:12 But the different saddle pieces and the way the kids would do their jeans, and even just
01:15 like the permanent crease, like Mike Biaz in the sweatpants there, we'd do that with
01:19 the jeans.
01:20 And so, we took all that, so that I got that from hip hop fashion, from all those hot kids
01:23 in New York up in the Brizon.
01:25 Yeah.
01:26 And the boogie downs.
01:27 For those that may not know, denim is more than just jeans.
01:28 It's the material that makes jeans.
01:30 It could be a lot of things.
01:31 Yes, that's why I spoke of denim.
01:32 That's right.
01:33 So, I wouldn't be doing this justice if I didn't then ask about how hip hop culture influenced
01:39 black women's hip hop fashion.
01:42 So, what were some of the things you started, because I did have some bamboo earrings on
01:46 here and then a hater took the post out of them.
01:48 You got that.
01:49 You got that.
01:50 Hit them with that.
01:51 So, one, the queen, the black woman is the queen, right?
01:55 Y'all agree?
01:56 Hello.
01:57 Hello.
01:58 Just check it.
01:59 Just check it.
02:00 So, from there, you have the king.
02:01 The king is always influenced by the queen.
02:04 Thank you.
02:05 I mean, even down to that's why we get fresh cuts.
02:07 That's why we get big cars and rides.
02:09 You know what I'm saying?
02:10 Like, we're influenced by the queen because we want to not only protect the queen, but
02:14 we want to look good for the queen.
02:16 Yeah.
02:17 And we appreciate all you do to look good for the queens.
02:19 We appreciate it.
02:20 Thank you, man.
02:21 So, with that being said, so when you look at hip hop fashion and you look like the females
02:27 part of hip hop fashion, which was dope because just like with the rap piece of it, the female
02:32 had to really step out tough, really kind of show her way.
02:35 So, when you look at the different fashion, like we always are quick to talk about Dapper
02:38 Dan, but when was y'all looking at the April Walkers in fashion and effect?
02:43 Hold right there.
02:44 Raise your hand if you know who April Walker is.
02:46 Yes, that's what I'm talking about.
02:47 Let's go.
02:48 Go to bed tonight.
02:51 Look up April Walker and everybody else that Google says she's affiliated with.
02:57 Go ahead.
02:58 So, with that being said, and you look at her fashions and when you Google her, you'll
03:02 look at all her fashions and that, don't get me wrong, I love my girl Moni Love, I love
03:06 Queen Latifah and what they were doing, but April Walker was the root of all that.
03:10 She was a person taking hip hop fashion and bringing a female spirit to that fashion and
03:16 to me, taking hip hop and taking it to a fashion level.
03:19 Most female artists at the time, like even you take Moni Love, she had to wear a guy's
03:25 jacket.
03:26 April took that same jacket, chopped it, cropped it, made it sexy.
03:31 So when you think about the way-
03:33 Shout out to Walkerwear.
03:34 Shout out to Walkerwear.
03:35 So when you think about hip hop fashion, women played a really strict part and then when
03:38 you start thinking about the styling from the men's stylist and then there was a female
03:42 stylist from a Sybil Penix to a Misa.
03:44 A Misa.
03:45 A female stylist.
03:46 You guys know who Misa is, right?
03:47 Yes.
03:48 Yes, okay, come on, represent.
03:49 Mary J. Blige, start there.
03:51 Like Mike B said, the queens of this.
03:53 Yes.
03:54 I really want to represent that because it's those ladies that would be like, "Hey," pulling
03:58 my coat tail, "Hey T, what do you think about this and what do you think about that?"
04:02 So to me, the female part of hip hop fashion is what gave hip hop fashion its flair, gave
04:08 it its excitement.
04:09 Yes.
04:10 There it is.
04:11 It was June Ambrose that said, "Okay, puff, you're going to wear it like this and this
04:14 is what it's going to look like."
04:16 To Missy, it was June that gave it that inspiration where Hype Williams was like, "Oh, okay, got
04:21 it."
04:22 So again, y'all ladies, can I get a shout out to the ladies?
04:26 Let's get this going.
04:27 Let's get this going, ladies.
04:29 Let's go.
04:30 Yes.
04:31 And I think part of it also is we saw women in hip hop continue to ascend.
04:34 You started to see new things enter the mix, right?
04:36 So earrings had always been a part of hip hop but them bamboo earrings was what the
04:40 sisters brought forward, right?
04:41 If you don't know what a bamboo earring is, you need to go buy some.
04:44 Yes.
04:45 It's a cultural artifact.
04:46 Yes.
04:47 But- And those haircuts.
04:48 There were things also to your point that were enhanced and made more fly but there's
04:51 also things that were invented by them whether it be hairstyles, whether it be the wear that
04:55 they wore, a pair of shoes, but they also would fit into the menswear as a part of being
04:59 in hip hop which is that versatility we love.
05:01 Well again, I didn't want to make it about this completely but let's talk about it for
05:05 one second.
05:06 Let's go.
05:07 So check this out.
05:08 Color.
05:09 Color.
05:10 Color.
05:11 Let's talk color.
05:12 Let's do it.
05:13 Color came from women in fashion.
05:14 Right?
05:15 Before women really were so-called rooted into it, right?
05:17 It was black and white.
05:18 It was gray.
05:19 It was dark colors.
05:20 When women came in, it became these bright beautiful colors, these purple jeans, these
05:24 crazy super fashion.
05:26 Flare.
05:27 Lime green.
05:28 There we go.
05:29 Right.
05:30 These lime green pants.
05:31 Just saying.
05:32 Just saying.
05:33 Black color.
05:34 So I'm asking for a friend.
05:35 You should.
05:36 Tell your friend I said that.
05:37 So all I'm saying is that that's when you start to see the real brightness and the flair
05:40 of fashion.
05:41 Again, then you start to see artists, again, like a puff, all these different artists starting
05:45 to wear stuff that had color to it.
05:47 Before then, it wasn't.
05:48 It was like, let me just put on my black jacket and go out and be hard.
05:51 (upbeat music)
05:53 (upbeat music)