KP Media, photo by Konstantin KlimenkoThough the tendency to overdress among Ukrainians still runs high – derived from Soviet times, when the assortment of clothing in stores was really slim – more and more people leading an active city life are turning to urban styles. And naturally, those who advocate doing so most are youngsters – from 13 to 25 years old. Thanks mainly to the efforts of the latter, the street wear is quickly evolving into an ironic high-end trend that combines baggy sweaters, premium denim and sneaker footwear.
When walking through the streets of any metropolitan city, we become spectators to a constant fashion show of the season’s latest trends. And being so popular among city dwellers, street wear is the most influential branch of fashion directly affecting sales in stores. In the last few years it became obvious that the wave of urban culture had reached Ukraine as well, and street fashion is its conceptual part. And because the modern world has become so global, the urban styles of Kyivans don’t differ all that much from citizens of other world capitals. Though, of course, once again, the choice here is still rather limited.
Clothes, design and street fashion are always changing, but personally I think there’s one thing that’s always constant – the ideas and where they come from. Ideas are the first thing that’s needed to create a design and ideas for urban clothing naturally come from the streets. And the street is a real mix of things - music, dance, street sports, innovation, needs and desires - all these add up to create something special that crosses over to street-wear style.
For skateboarders and punks
Kids on skateboards in baggy jeans and hoodies is maybe the way some peoples view skateboard clothing, but is this the whole picture? While it’s hard to say whether skateboarding influences fashion more than fashion influences skateboarding, one thing’s for sure: Sports in general have had a profound effect on the designs of clothes that people wear. Now we see hoodies, beanies or caps, skate trainers and baggy or relaxed cut jeans everywhere. In Kyiv there are a few specialized skateboard shops, such as BillaBong, Flip Side, Spot.Boardshop and Extreme Style, where you find all the cool stuff that belongs to skateboarding lifestyle.
BillaBong offers surfing and kite-boarding clothes and sport gear of the trendiest extreme sport brands, like Jeenyus, Forum, Burton, Bakoda, Northwave, Venue, Drake, Vans, Special Blend, Pro-Tec, Agency, Smith and others. Flip Side is a skate shop that sells everything for skateboarding, including various clothes, sports gear and skate shoes by the Innes, Zero, Mystery, Blueprint and Adio labels. Spot.Boardshop also sells some really cool sporty wear – apart from some well-known brands such as Analog streetwear, and B by Burton, they offer garments from the famous Dutch label Gsus. Spot.Boardshop is the only one in town where you can find its new collection. The shop also boasts funny cute key chains and other accessorizes.
The name Extreme Style shop speaks for itself: It’s full of all sorts of extreme sports style wear, equipment, supplies and similar goods. They have a huge assortment of baseball caps, checkered T-shirts, long sport T-shirts, hoodies bearing the now popular skull images, massive baggy jeans or straight-cut leg jeans.
Shopping for skateboarding style clothes, you should be open to improvisation and follow no rules. After all, this just shows that you reject being official and want to demonstrate your free spirit and longing for comfort, and no formalities.
Urban styles have a firm hold on the fashion world today – they have evolved and continue to do so. In the 1980s and early 90s, the Grunge look, made popular by bands such as Nirvana, was Urban Fashion. Today we see the influence of Emo rock music on fashion, as can be evidenced by the popularity of gothic styles, studded belts and vintage clothing.
It’s no wonder that skateboarding and punk go together well. The basic fashion encompasses clothing related to skateboarding or punk culture. Many urban youngsters and hip-hop fans are drawn to skateboarding, further diluting the sport’s punk image. Baseball caps and trucker hats are common, often with punk band logos or skate companies.
The most prominent fans of the style wear tattered, torn jeans or shorts and a spike thump belt and usually disregard shiny cleanliness. However, some prefer pop punk style, wearing clean-cut outfits and straight-leg or baggy/sagging jeans, as well as hoodies with various logo and loose ties.
Pop punk fashion sometimes overlaps with skater punk fashion and Emo fashion. Contemporary pop punk fans often wear items, such as band T-shirts with tie or scarf, blazers, baggy pants, jeans or shorts, studded belts, Converse All-Star sneakers or skateboarder shoes. This fashion is influenced mostly by bands, such as My Chemical Romance, Green Day and Fall Out Boy, etc.
Therefore, Stilyaha and Stuff shops are always overcrowded. There are always full of teenagers and youngsters trying on new pairs of Converse or Dr. Martins and choosing among funny socks with skulls, badges depicting “South Park” characters or bags themed after Tim Burton’s cartoons.
Stilyaha and Stuff offer a wide selection of the most wanted youth brands, such as Converse, Kangol, Grinders, Busta Grip, Wishot, etc. Their clothes and shoes, possessing individual style, unite the sport and fashion trends best, fitting the ironical and independent youth lifestyle.
Classy casual and hip-hop
If you’re looking for classical causal – comfortable street wear that doesn’t manifest your interest in any music style or particular sport - you should head to casual street wear shops, such as Esprit.
The latter, a famous brand having a few outfits around town, offers a great selection of male and female wear that includes jeans, tops, T-shirts, jackets, sweaters and more, all of them manifesting casual comfort and bearing features of the latest world fashions.
Party stores Amsterdam and Pushkin are also becoming among the favorite places for street wear fashionistas. They provide a comfortable shopping atmosphere and smart shop assistance. One of the major concepts at those stores is affordable prices, ranging from Hr 50 (and sometimes even less) up to Hr 300. You’ll find a good range of dresses, shirts, T-shirts, interesting and stylish items of different colors and of good quality, and while the assortment is not that big, it’s renewed weekly and each garment is presented only in a few copies, which reduces your chances of running into a person wearing exactly the same outfit as you, which is always annoying.
Another shop specializing in urban fashion is 555 Street Wear. There is a good assortment of nice and cute stuff there, such as comfortable jeans or street trousers, jackets and T-shirts.
And of course, such famous brands as Energy, Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel and Benetton have plenty of stuff to be used for creating an everyday urban style, which you can do as extreme or, on the contrary, as minimalist as you like. Due to the price policy and recognizable style of every brand, these brands allow you to mix and create a good cocktail of styles and trends, which is the latest tendency of street wear fashion.
BillaBong / Rider.ua (17 Chervonoarmiyska, 235-7274)
Spot.Boardshop (11 Spaska, 501-7552)
FlipSide (4 Shota Rustaveli, www.flipside.com.ua)
Extreme Style (53 Glybochytska, 251-7111)
Stuff (Metrograd shopping center)
StilyaHa (Globus, Metrograd shopping )
Those whose style is influenced by rap and hip-hop culture should find everything they need at King Ring Boutique, located at the Globus shopping center. This urban and hip-hop clothing boutique is the official representative of the American urban clothing label Rocawear, created by the famous rappers Damon Dash and and Jay-Z. Rocawear quickly became the brand of choice for street-savvy consumers. What’s more, King Ring Boutique offers a lot of other hip-hop brands, such as New Era, Makaveli, G Unit, Akademiks, Sean John, Bape and Billionare Boys Club, all providing garments in the latest in hip-hop, urban and street wear fashion.
Going sporty
Another major street wear branch is the athletic look. It has experienced comebacks several times over the years but never with such verve as today.
I find it a relief that we as women can openly expose the fact that we love jogging pants. For years women have sported their gym and aerobics gear outside of their recreational facilities. Fitness wear has become the new casual day-to-day trends within fashion. Women are no longer sporting jeans and slacks on a regular basis because it has officially become fashionable to wear sporty yoga/fitness clothing to the mall, bank or grocery store.
Sport and fashion have a mutual dependence: All sports brands, equally with sport shoe companies, produce lines of street wear intended for the city lifestyle. Puma has differed especially in that regard, with their selection of model row street wear shoes much wider than their sports lines.
And, certainly, Adidas is number one among the sports casual. Inside of Adidas’ flagship Originals store is a cache of the brand’s signature items - colorful track jackets and pants, wristbands, headbands, T-shirts, tanks, sweats, swimwear, sneakers, and sandals - all marked by the iconic triple stripe, the trefoil design, or, sometimes, both.
It’s not all cotton jersey and nylon, however. There are metal watches, women’s handbags, cotton shirts, and knits. The store also carries apparel born out of the company’s partnerships with Mohamed Ali, Karim Abdul Jabar, and Missy Elliot. “Respect me” is a sport-inspired street wear collection that positions Adidas and Missy Elliott as true leaders and pioneers in hip-hop style. The “Respect me” collection looks back at Adidas’ old school street and sporting styles for hip-hop’s newer generation.
The huge range of international sports wear, street wear and shoes can be seen at Puma as well.
The new collection of Puma x Yo! MTV Raps, inspired by the show and famed hip-hop era, includes four limited edition artist shoes along with matching apparel. Ed Lover and Doctor Dre, Big Daddy Kane, Doug E Fresh and MC Shan have their own distinct Puma Suede and Clyde.
Nowadays, doing sport is fashionable and placing sport accents in your wardrobe – realistic.
Sweatbands and caps pass over to the section of casual-style clothing, while sport T-shirts have already become a favorite choice of clothes for every day.
The other popular sporting brands, Nike and Reebok, have also introduced their casual style collections, allowing you to blend street wear and upscale fashion while remaining as unique as you could ever wish to be. So, go, shop, dress and improvise and be urban queens and kings!
Esprit (Globus, Ukraina shopping centers)
Amsterdam (3 Gorkogo, (067) 548-8566)
Pushkin (12 Pushkinska, (067) 548-8566)
555 Street Wear (Olimpiyskiy shopping center, 72 Chervovnoarmiyska, 590-2548)
King Ring Boutique (Globus shopping center, 484-4436)
Levi’s (Globus shopping center, 585-1151)
Diesel (Globus shopping center, 585-1190)
Tommy Hilfiger (Globus shopping center, 585-1168)
Energie (1A Tarasa Shevchenka, 234-0139)
Benetton (50A Khreshchatyk, 235-6744)
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