HellzBellz, considered by many to be one of the premier designers of women’s streetwear, continues to push the envelope with their edgy designs. Lanie, the driving creative force behind the label, recently debuted her newest line and it is certainly getting a lot of attention. Determined to give women more options than frilly ready to wear, Lanie has created designs that resonate with women everywhere that want their clothing to make a statement about who they are. Lanie commented, “I live my life knowing that I’m a strong woman and I have the ability to create my own destiny.”

Stores such as FilthyDripped.com can attest to the rising popularity of streetwear in general, and not only for the male market. Lanie’s newest collection is sure to create quite a stir in streetwear culture and the designs are truly unique. She commented, “When designing a collection, I basically make what I want to see in my closet. This didn’t fall short for my Holiday ‘07 collection, which is set to deliver mid-October to early November. I’ve always had an interest in the early 60’s mod/punk scene in London so I developed a collection with a mod influence but gave it a military twist through the cuts, details and graphics. The military-mod theme isn’t completely literal but its influence is apparent.”

Long ignored by traditional fashion, women who are interested in streetwear often have to settle for wearing men’s trends. HellzBellz has been working to change this since 2005 and the reception has been tremendous. She has been traveling to shows on both costs and her work is certainly in demand, proving that streetwear is still on top, no matter what sex you are. According to Lanie, the type of woman interested in streetwear is, “A forward, non-conforming woman who lives life to the fullest and understands first and foremost that individuality is key. She’s also a strong female who isn’t afraid to speak her mind or express herself freely.”

Wildchild Nation, one of the most popular designers of streetwear recently announced that they were chosen to provide costuming for the latest production of Step Up 2: The Streets, a film in the works from Touchstone. Their Love Understands All Music Line came to the attention of the costume designer there who commented, “street cool, fashion colors and striking styles converge in ‘Love Understands All Music,’ a vibrant, fresh and hip collection.”

Streetwear has maintained its popularity since it got its start in the 1980’s and can be found in special boutiques throughout the country. FilthyDripped.com is one of the most popular stores in California, offering numerous lines from designers and all of the latest trends. The streetwear market has managed to avoid falling into the same trap as traditional designers in the current economy, a fact that is attributed to its edgy design and appeal.

The new collaboration with Wildchild and Touchstone illustrates that streetwear is at the forefront of what is on the minds of the nation. Many of the designs are inspired by music and Wildchild is the perfect illustration of what happens when clothing and music come together. Business partner and co-founder of Wildchild Traci Copeland agrees stating, “Everyone loves music. It sets the tone for much of what we do, and our designs are a reflection of that. Music can be colorful, vibrant, and thought-provoking. This movie is a great platform to showcase that.”

You can see Wildchild Nation’s designs in Step Up 2: The Street, which will be directed by John Chu. As the company’s release pointed out, “Step Up 2: The Streets” proves to be a high impact ride down hip hop street dance culture and fashion.”

The economy may be hitting the skids, but streetwear designers are managing to keep sales figures high. Stussy, and many other streetwear brands are experiencing an increase of sales, and they continue to release new lines to take advantage of the resurgence of interest in streetwear.

For twenty-eight years Stussy has managed to stay on top, continuing to offer their fans innovations and old favorites. Their new menswear line, Stussy Deluxe was rolled out at the recent Project Global Trade Show in Las Vegas to thunderous applause. Even though many other clothing manufacturers seem to be scaling back in this time of economic uncertainty, Stussy, and even boutiques such as FilthyDripped.com are holding their own.

Scott Terpstra, Stussy’s sales director commented on the increases stating that streetwear is deemed a “must have,” by their customers and has managed to stay liquid because it is “on trend.” Customers would certainly agree and many labels are benefiting from these conditions. Crooks and Castles, a Los Angeles based label has announced numerous plans for expansion and will be debuting new lines throughout the year.

In keeping with what they deem is a changing trend among their consumers, Stussy is changing their lines a little bit and trying to appeal to their core customers that are reaching into the 30’s and looking for merchandise that is not too “youth oriented.” Their new deluxe line featured denim with only a purple dot for the brand logo and they are incorporating much more luxurious fabrics like cashmere into their hoodies. Many claim that they are losing their roots a bit with this switch, but the bottom line may dictate the kind of clothing that the company produces. Despite these changes that have taken the line a little further from its roots, Terpstra commented, “We are an image and brand-integrity company.”

Let’s take the time to learn a little more how the hip hop culture evolved. Before there was the fashion style, there was music.

Hip hop rose to popularity in New York in the late 70s during the height of popularity of the so-called block parties. DJs usually played funk and soul music and later on tried to play only the break beats of the songs. It became a hit among block partygoers and the rest is history, so they say.

One of the famous DJs at the time was DJ Kool Herc, who is widely regarded as the godfather of hiphop. Aside from DJ-ing, he also began collaborating with emcees to supply the words to the music. A lot more DJs followed suit including hip hop legend Grandmaster Flash and helped develop the genre into what it is today.

But what’s hip hop without the emcees? Now popularly known as rappers, they supply the words to the music not by singing them but by rhythmically speaking them along the beat. The themes in the lyrics are varied ranging from partying, sex, drugs and even political ones.

As the music evolved, so did the art of rapping. Freestyle rapping is one popular form wherein rappers spit out lyrics spontaneously. This is also popular with rapping duels wherein two rappers go head-to-head and try to top each other in coming up with the best rhyme.

What could be considered as hip hop music’s golden age was in the 1980s when the genre was just starting to become recognized. Groups such as Run DMC and Beastie Boys, as well as solo acts like LL Cool J helped boost the popularity of the music was then limited to block parties.

The 1980s saw the rise of a new musical genre, hip hop music. Along with it came famous rappers who brought a once-obscure genre to the mainstream. These guys have influenced our style so let’s take the time to remember these influential innovators. Below is a list of some the most famous rappers of the 1980s.

Run DMC – this hip hop group is usually credited for taking the genre into the mainstream. The trio was formed in the early 80s in New York City. Since then, they have made a name for themselves by collaborating with other artists outside the hip hop genre. Probably the best example would be their collaboration with Aerosmith in the song ‘Walk This Way’.

Beastie Boys – originally formed as a punk group, the Beastie Boys have crossed over into the hip hop genre to become the first all-white rap group in the music’s history. Since its inception in 1979, the group continues to enjoy fame and success. A proof of it is its nomination into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Did you know back in the early 80s one of the members of the Beastie Boys had his own shop at our very same spot? From what our neighbors told us, 2422 Telegraph Ave has its hip hop history!

LL Cool J – is the first artist signed by Def Jam, which is a famous hip hop label. He was signed in 1984 at the young age of 16 and since then, he has risen to become a respected rap artist who enjoys a career of over 20 years.

The three listed above are just some of the artists who have made a name for themselves in the early years of rap and who still enjoy the respect of the hip hop community through music and fashion.

By popular demand we will be offering our dookie rope chains online! We will be stocking 30mm x 30in and 20mm x 30in gold and silver chains. Chains will be in next week instore just in time for the perfect Christmas gift!

If you look at some recent hip-hop videos, or even pictures from parties and concerts, you’ll notice artists such as Lil Jon, Nick Cannon, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Nelly and Nas bringing back the world-famous gold Dookie Run DMC rope chains — or as they were christened in the ’80s, dookie ropes (also known to some as dookie rolls and donkey chains). It’s a trend that’s making MCs think about the true-school innovators like Run DMC who first wore them and what gold ropes symbolized back in the day, as well as what these classic chains mean today.

Has the time come for MCs to put their platinum chains on ice? Not ice as in diamonds - they’ve been doing that for years. This time we’re talking about rappers setting their platinum down on the shelf for a returning favorite that’s old school to the heart like a dookie rope chain.

“It’s my way to pay homage,” says Cannon, whose new publicity shots show him wearing no shirt and a gold dookie rope chain. “Back in the day, most gold Run DMC chains were hollow. I had to go [with] the official one. Everybody been rocking platinum; you can’t tell platinum from stainless steel right now.”

“Platinum chains are wack, unless it’s a rope,” asserts Kanye West, who debuted his new heavy thick fat dookie gold rope in the video for Drive Slow. “I’m not trying to dis nobody’s chain, it’s just wack to me.”

Like Cannon, Kanye says gold dookie Run DMC ropes chains are appealing because they’re a nod to the past. “History repeats itself,” Kanye says. “It was throwbacks [jerseys], my album had the Tribe [Called Quest] sound. Now its gold ropes.”

Lil Jon agrees with Kanye’s theory about throwing it back. “We love the old school,” he says. “Everybody got pleasant memories of the ’80s. That’s when hip-hop was fresh and new, it was like a baby. All those pleasant memories, we trying to bring back. I grew up seeing the Slick Ricks’s, Run DMC’s and Big Daddy Kane’s dooky, but I was a kid — I couldn’t get no big-ass rope chain. I’m grown, I can do that now.”

“Things that are really authentic always return,” says original dookie-rope-rocker DMC Run DMC, one of hip-hop’s earliest innovators on the mic and in the jewelry department. “It ain’t a mere thing of just bringing the gold rope back. It means something.”

The 1990s saw an economic boom after the depression brought about by the oil crisis in the decade before that. Because of that, people had more money to spend and boy did they find ways, often outrageous ones, to flaunt and to spend all that.

This decade was the era of ‘Big’. Everything had to be big in size, impact and spending. Rock bands played in stadiums with fancy lighting and pyrotechnics. Even hairs had to be big so people spent a lot of money on hair sprays during those days. And yes, even earrings had to be of the extra large variety!

But one could not really be big for a long time during that decade. It was the 90s and people always craved for bigger things. In other words, there was a constant competition to become biggest whatever of them all. From oversized clocks as necklaces, chains and Cazal sunglasses. Another good example of this outrageous trend is the parachute pants. This style of pants was popular during the 90s. They were tight and usually had extraneous zippers all over.

While these pants looked normal enough, rapper MC Hammer took it over the top by taking its size to the extreme! Hammer had these really baggy pants (also known as Hammer pants) that were so huge, two people could fit into each leg of it.

People nowadays may find such crazy behavior funny, but who could blame the people of the era? Each generation has its definition of cool and in the 90s, the slogan was that bigger is always better. And how happy (and crazy) life was back then.

Do we see these Hammer pants coming back? Hmmm…We’ll see! =)

Take out your darkest pair of shades because this thing might blind you. No, we’re not asking you stare at the sun but rather to look at the neon clothes of the 80s.

Neon clothes can shock the uninitiated. Why? Because they are so bright that it is nothing that the first timers have seen in their entire lives. Actually, they are bright enough to be seen even at night. Nothing can get brighter than them except for halogen lights, maybe.

They were the in thing during the 80s and they were not only popular in clothes like sweaters but also in other fashion accessories such as shoe laces, hats, neon jelly jewelries and even on guitars! Popular colors were neon green and hot pink as well as the brighter varieties of orange and yellow. There were also shades of bright violet and blue but they weren’t as popular as their brighter counterparts. And as if one piece of neon clothing wasn’t enough, people back then actually preferred to match them with other pieces of neon clothing and accessories.

Neon is trying to make a comeback in the mainstream fashion scene with the latest from Coogi, Durkl, Caliber and more. Now would be good to have a pair of Cazal shades in handy because really, they can blind you far worse than a laser pointer or by staring straight to the sun. The world is a much brighter world to live in again. =)

Run DMC is regarded as one of the pioneers of the hip hop movement. Founded by Joseph ‘Rev Run’ Simmons, Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels and Jason ‘Jam-Master Jay’ Mizell in New York City in the 80s, the group has contributed a lot in taking the genre into the mainstream and helped it reach wider audiences by crossing over genres (they collaborated with Aerosmith in their version of ‘Walk This Way’) and performing in high-profile events such Live Aid in 1985.

But aside from their music, another thing that cemented the group’s reputation is its classic look. If there were such a thing as a definitive old school hip hop get-up, then theirs would be on top of the list.

So how does the group’s classic get up look like? Tight leather jeans and jackets, a fedora hat, a pair of white Adidas sneakers without laces, Cazal glasses and the oversize gold dookie rope chain necklaces are the things that would define the classic Run DMC look.

And man, did they preach about it. The group has recorded a song called ‘My Adidas’ in praise of their favorite brand of sneakers. Also their song ‘Raising Hell’ puts into words their fashion sense. “C’mon basic black, shell toe Adidas, black hat, black shirt and jeans, fat gold rope chain and black leather jacket.” Nobody can say it – and wear it – better than them.

Their preaching paid off and has influenced a host of fans that is becoming a very popular trend. Achieve retro fashion with today’s trend at Filthy Dripped! If you see a rapper with blings so large you could buy an entire country with it, then they owe it to the rap group that started that trend – Run DMC.

Over the years, clothing, like music, has drastically changed. Of course, different people have different styles and tastes of clothing, but the overall trends are very in keeping with individual music tastes. The clothes of the 80’s, much like the music, were colorful and bold, and grabbed attention for whoever was wearing them. Many styles of 80’s clothing have come back into play, as many clothing styles do after a time. Pieces like Member’s Only jackets are being seen quite often lately. With respect to the trend, clothing of the 90’s has made a slight comeback also. Fresh Prince Hats and street wear were very popular clothing in the 90’s. Millions of teenagers, and even the older generation, have sported this retro look lately.

T-shirts with loud, bright emblems, or caps, even Kanye West sunglasses (StrongerShades.com) are highly popular, as are jeans that have colorful and large designs. What has been really popular in the Bay Area for a few years are custom painted shirts, hand painted or airbrushed. Actually, hip hop and urban wear, as well as street wear all seem to revolve around the same design theme. Think of rappers and you have the look that all the designers have been trying to define in these types of clothing. Hip hop clothing designers have caught on to this 80s-90s style. For an example, Coogi’s line has been extremely bright and fluorescent.

No matter what your taste in clothing styles, chances are you fall into one of these categories. The 80’ s and 90’s brought us loads of fashion changes, and some things that haven’t changed. It has always been said that if you keep your old clothes for about 10 years they will come into style again, and that has proven true over and over. If you were a big fan of the 80’s or 90’s clothing styles, then your chance has come to wear your old favorites, or even to buy new favorites at Filthy Dripped!