I have been finding myself gravitating towards streetwear. I recently bought an Angel Chen “Fight Club” coat and was attracted to the brand that I am wearing in this post Fors Nome, (find out more on Wednesday) because of the logo on this beautiful blue coat that says “When hell freezes over”. There is something about the time we are living in now that is pulling me towards action. Streetwear to me signals comfort but in a avant garde, not athleisure, kind of way.

Clothing has always been my way of making a statement, of marking my identity and of communicating something about the time I live in. Streetwear right from the start has been about meaning so perhaps that explains the attraction. Streetwear is art, culture, music and activism. Streetwear is about you and what you want to say. The challenge is to keep it a unique representation of you not just a bag or shirt with a logo that everyone else is sporting (sorry Supreme). Because at what point does it then stop being the essence of street?

Most streetwear brands are considered to be unisex, yet are mostly designed by men, Leah McSweeney, head of Married to the Mob, in a recent article in Glossy states her belief that women’s streetwear has not yet formed a clear identity. What is a woman’s streetwear? Streetwear and high fashion are blending in what is said to be woman’s version of streetwear but when is it visionary and when is it just a reflexive response because everyone else is doing it? It seems like a good time to re-examine and re-create women’s streetwear identity.

Uniforms have also figured prominently in my sartorial life. They may be used to strip away identity but they can also be used to equalize and to make one feel a member of a group. How can you make streetwear a woman’s uniform that has meaning for our time without becoming “uniform”? What might be a customizable streetwear? One that represents an “us” at the same time as “me” allowing the diversity of all women to be realized?

What might women’s streetwear be and how would you customize it to make it be you?