haaa i am only 25!!

where the ladies hiding at??

yep thanks but by no means after writing that essay do i encourage ANYONE to go out and buy BAPE, cause it can be unneccesarily expensive, but the direction of fashion (or maybe even life in general) seems to be growing more towards finding where we belong, especially in an ultra transfused world like today.

All I know is I belong in some sweet ass jeans

lol thats a funny one!

wow. thanks.

haha, i'm loving the compliments. but i really don't like fresno. went there once for a wedding in the summer, it was pretty much hell.

yeah, they really do make you look lanky. they look awesome.

Aipume, I'm interested to know more about the stores where they sell BAPE. How many are there, and are there always people waiting in line before they open? That's crazy. I've also heard there are rules about what you try on & whatnot. I guess it adds to the exclusivity. Also, how can BAPE's target audience even afford their clothing??

hahaha you just really succinctly put a point on what annoys me most about BAPE. It's supposed to be "street gear" but, living in NYC, I get to see the actual street/hip hop culture all the time. Bombing, breaking, and rapping were BORN HERE for gods sake. You know what the thug-types actually wear, the real ones? The rapper labels - sean jean, echo, akademiks, baby phat, stuff like that. BAPE I kinda feel like is for those who want to acheive that hip hop look but also show off that they're rich. Which kinda seems contradictory to me. I dunno, I could rock the BAPE stuff but I wouldn't be wearing evisus at the time LOL

Well said.

actually the problem with your statement is that 1) you're referring to a segment of streetwear and 2) BAPE is from Japan and to assume that Japanese fashion culture is idential to American fashion culture would be like comparing Baroque with Renaissance.

while BAPE wasnt specifically made for hiphop per say, i think it's very worthy to note that the relationship between hip hop and the "new money" mentality is as tight as blood brothers. hip hop from the ghetto till the starlights has always been and will always be about "making it big", thats why you see the loud fashion, the loud jewelry, the loud cars, etc.

in that sense, BAPE isnt too far off dont you think from representing streetwear or hip hop for that matter? who says it has to be about wearing Ecko?

i think streetwear refers to a style of fashion that is "anti establishment". sometimes we get too fixated into thinking a few brands represent the entire subculture of fashion.

and if you notice those "thug types" as BLM puts it, interestingly even they may be poor (for the most part atleast), if you look at their shoes it tells alot. Jordans. Air Maxes. Timberlands. all these shoes are 100+ shoes. expensive shoes is my point.

again, you see the same parallelism between hip hop and "new money". making it big, BUT more importantly, SHOWING that you are big time even if you may not realy be it.

there's one store in NYC at green street in SOHO. yeah people wait in line. allow only a certain amount of people in the store at a time. you CANT try anything on at all so everything you buy is brand new literally. they have a shirt if you want to get your size right.

BAPE's target audience can afford their clothing they have money =p
people who buy bape arent poor. i dont know why we are so fixated to thinking streetwear or hip hop has to be only about the poor.

[quote="aipume"][quote="trem0lo"]good point man. does anyone have a response to this?

[quote="jh2240"][quote="aipume"]I didnt say anything about it being poor, just that the people I see that are actually into the culture dont spend a lot of money on their clothing. That doesn't make them poor per se