Fashion

Fashion is a form of self-expression with a specific context, such as time, place and purpose. The term implies a look defined by the fashion industry as what is popular and trending. In a 2021 article published by Sole Savy, they dubbed American rapper Lupe Fiasco as "Streetwear's First Superstar". They continued, "Entering a new era of internet rap, Lupe Fiasco was the ethernet cable connecting coordinates of clothing, culture, and genre. […] Lupe's strong subject matter, nuanced nerd image, and cultured clothing rotation made him the most interesting new face in hip-hop". It detailed his endorsement deal with Reebok, the press capturing his streetwear fashion sense, and his own business ventures such as Trilly & Truly (which was in collaboration with a young Virgil Abloh).^[1]

In 2020, Complex added Fiasco to their list of "50 Most Stylish Rappers of All Time", where they considered his height of style to be 2012, with the signature look of "Wire frames, varsity jackets, crewneck sweatshirts, Nike SB Dunks, Gucci accessories, and Japanese fashion". They wrote, "[He] was one of many rappers who made skate fashion more acceptable for the next generation of hip-hop. After growing out of varsity jackets and crewnecks, Lupe developed an interest in more avant-garde fashion during the 2010s. He could be seen attending Yohji Yamamoto Y-3 runway shows or even wearing archival Vivienne Westwood pieces during this time". They continued how the rapper, in a 2012 interview with them, "listed Junya Watanabe, Rei Kawakubo, and Mihara Yasuhiro as his favorite Japanese designers—and even predicted the future popularity of Chrome Hearts. While most rappers make one brand, Lupe attempted to build three, which included Trilly & Truly, Righteous Kung-Fu, and Overthrow".^[2]

Throughout his music, Fiasco has co-signed brands including Nike SB Dunks ("Kick, Push"), Cartier sunglasses ("I Gotcha"), and Maharishi ("Gold Watch"). He has collaborated with the Japanese fashion label, Swagger.

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Anything that I can't express musically I do through my brand, Righteous Kung Fu.

Lupe Fiasco to GQ^[3]

In an interview with The Fader, it was noted of his "sneaker obsession", where he'd "[frequent] websites like Hypebeast and [head] straight to the LES when he visited New York".^[4] He remarked to Format Mag in 2006, "We're doing our clothing line out of Righteous Kung Fu called [Trilly & Truly], which is like high-end clothing joints that we're putting together and we have a lot of collaborations with a few companies out of Japan and London".

On March 8, 2006, he attended the press conference "Reebok Now Playing" at Marquee in New York City. Concerning the Reebook collaboration, he said it would be finished "in February and that will be it! I think I'm going to step away from that arena for a minute. I learned a lot from them on what and what not to do. So, when this contract is up I'm going to just chill for a minute". He added of this, "My [shoe] collection kind of tapered off, because of the Reebok deal, so I couldn't go out and buy Nike or any other brand, so I'm actually done and I'm reverting back from Chuck Taylors. I think I'll be wearing Chuck Taylors for the rest of my life".^[5]

In an article with GQ, he listed the brand Maharishi, the store The Hideout ("which has a lot of Japanese streetwear" with Neighborhood and Good Enough), and Junya Watanabe Levi's.^[3]

In his interview with XXL for their June 2007 issue, he noted how he wanted to appeal to both American and Japanese consumers. He continued, "I can't draw or use Illustrator, two major prerequisites to be a fashion designer, so my big homie Nathan Cabrera did all the dirty work for me. I just gave him a very detailed description of what I wanted".^[6]

On March 20, 2008, he performed at the Full Frontal Hip Hop Fashion Show in its third annual year at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

On February 15, 2009, he and Kanye West were sighted in New York City for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2009.

The Style Blog exclusively reported the launch of the new collection, Overthrown Junta by Trilly and Truly, and a look at two featured items: leather motorcycle jackets. The price was retailed for $4,000 and $3,000.^[7]

On June 24, 2010, Fiasco was spotted with Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton's Paris Menswear Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011.

In a Vans collaboration, he explained to Complex of its influences, "I love vintage sports cars. So for that one particular collaboration, I just took the Ferrari F40 and was like 'take this, and make this a shoe.' And the other side was wanting to use different prints, wordly prints that I think don't get much shine that speak to a heritage of something other than western. More indigenous societies, cultures, and stuff like that. So we did a piece called the Native Tongues, where we took different pieces of cloth from different tribes and civilizations and made it into the tongue of the shoe". He added of its requirements to be "entertaining and have a level of showmanship to it", as well as functionality. He noted of already working with shoe brands in the past, including Reebok, Adidas, and Y-3. For his "most remembered" Vans pair, it was the Vans Syndicates.^[8]

On September 9, 2012, he attended Y-3 10th Anniversary Collection at St. John's Center in New York City during the Spring 2013 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

On April 10, 2014, he was a model for Song for the Mute, a fashion show in Sydney, Australia. It was held during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia 2014 at Carriageworks.

For the Louis Vuitton Summer 2022 fashion show, Amen Break, Fiasco was involved as a swordsman.^[9]

In September 2023, he modeled for Japanese streetwear brand Neighborhood's FW23 campaign with Dickies Japan.^[10]