Streetwear should not be treated as a fixed fashion category but as a means of expressing identity, mood and cultural belonging through clothing, says Yayra Agbofah, founder and creative director of The Revival.
Speaking on Episode 5 of Franco Vybz, hosted by Rev. Erskine on YFM, Mr Agbofah addressed what he considers a major misconception about streetwear in Ghana, explaining that many people wrongly associate the style with a particular look.
“I don’t consider street fashion as a category within the fashion space,” he said, adding that people often make the mistake of defining it as a specific category.
He explained that streetwear has its roots in communities and cultural movements, including hip-hop, skateboarding and music.
“If you look back in streetwear, streetwear came from communities. It came from hip-hop. It came from skateboarding. It came from music,” he said.
According to Mr Agbofah, streetwear developed as a means for people within particular groups to express themselves, making it difficult to confine the style to one appearance.
“It’s a way, it’s a feeling, it’s a style that people within a particular group came up with,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a defined category, that this is a particular way streetwear should look like.”
He observed that the popular perception of streetwear has increasingly narrowed, with many people associating it with expensive sneakers, distressed clothing and T-shirts.
“Now everybody thinks streetwear is expensive sneakers, tatted clothes, and T-shirts and other things,” he said.
During the conversation, Rev. Erskine asked whether kente could also be considered streetwear. Mr Agbofah agreed, explaining that the style could take different forms depending on how individuals choose to express themselves.
“Exactly. Streetwear can be a way of communication,” he said.
He described clothing as a form of non-verbal communication through which people can project their identities and communicate their moods without speaking.
“It’s a way of how you feel, dressing based on how you feel, and creating an identity for yourself without even saying a single word,” he said.
Mr Agbofah maintained that the wearer’s interpretation should be central to defining streetwear, rather than expectations shaped by fashion magazines or conventional ideas about how the style should look.
“If that person feels that’s streetwear for me, that is streetwear,” he said.
For him, streetwear ultimately represents a mood and an identity that people communicate through their choice of clothing, rather than a rigid set of fashion rules.
By: Mary Anna Cofie