From Subway to Runway:Graffiti Art Through the Years

For an art form that is often considered to be illegal, offensive, and occasionally, unexpected, is no surprise that it is having a moment in the fashion industry. Fashion designers just like graffiti artists, also known as ‘Taggers’, are always in search of new means to cause a reaction. The name of this art form is derived from the Italian word ‘graffio' meaning ‘scratched’. The history of this modern graffiti art form dates back to the early 1960s in Philadelphia. Darryl McCray, started tagging the city walls with his nickname ‘Cornbread’ to catch the attention of the community and media along with his friends like Cool Earl and Kool Klepto. Aligned to this, in the late 1960s, a similar movement started in New York. An iconic tag was created by Demetrius: ‘Taki183’. He used the diminutive form of his Greek name and his street number that took over the streets of this city which is now often addressed as the cradle of graffiti culture. This new stream of art took off with popularity in the 70s with the help of these graffiti legends. They ignited the spark among future artists who desired to be heard and express themselves through their works to reach a large audience. In the mid-seventies, graffiti painted the entire city from buildings to subways to trains.

Fashion and Graffiti are quite similar in their true purpose. The first one is a non-verbal form of expression used by people to communicate themselves to the world. The latter too holds a similar essence as the artists are given a voice that is communicated through their spray cans on surfaces that would not otherwise catch an eye. Graffiti is a much broader term now consisting of a large variety of media. Being used for social issues, propaganda, or even for individual expression, it is becoming increasingly popular for its visually aesthetic approach as well. Both universal or personal, these expressions mark the presence of the artist or even reflect a wide variety of emotions and thoughts. The inclusive and urban expressionism nature of this art form has attracted brands and designers globally. To the world, clothes may look like a piece of fabric, stitched together to create a dress that holds a monetary value whereas to the designer, it is much more than money. Designing is an art form where through its creations, the designer tries to project a story that may be personal to them and reflect their inner-self through each silhouette.

Fashion is unpredictable, with its progressive and constantly evolving nature leads to the need for fresh inspirations every minute. New inspirations are the lifeblood and essential to keep up with the game of fashion. With the encounter of graffiti, ‘Trickle Up Theory’ entered the realm of fashion. From sidewalks to catwalks, it is evident that a large portion of new trends is inspired less from the runways and more from the streets. With digitalization, the native concepts from streets are being recognized and established in this big industry. Graffiti and fashion designing go hand in hand as street art has outspread beyond buildings and subways and has weaved its path into wearable clothing and accessories. With the launch of collaborations between fashion houses and graffiti artists, the spray cans are targeting nearer to the buyers’ homes- their wardrobes.

Taggers like Lady Pink and Phase 2 were among the first ones who brought the idea of combining the two art forms in New York City. Art from walls or trains was transferred onto fashion clothing items. Stephen Sprouse was one of the iconic designers to incorporate graffiti into his clothing line in the 80s. Taking the 60s fashion era as an inspiration and using Day-Glo bright colors, the string of clothing was ahead of its time and caught the attention of fashion enthusiasts. Another line of clothing launched by him in 1987, was inspired by the world’s legendary pop artist; Andy Warhol. He included his camouflage print and amalgamated it with the graffiti print of Jesus Christ which is the work of another renowned graffiti artist; Keith Haring. With the increasing popularity of graffiti art, during the early 80s, Vivienne Westwood teamed up with Keith Haring for her ‘Witches’ collection. He contributed his graffiti aesthetic which added a vibrant touch to the collection. In 1999, the collection ‘No.13’ by Alexander McQueen was a piece of art that moved the fashion enthusiasts. The show felt personal as if McQueen poured his heart out and presented his emotions through his work on the runway. He decided to throw light on the Arts and Crafts movement with the incoming of a technologically dominated world. Shalom Harlow walked in wearing a simple white dress and surrendered to the two robots who spray painted her, turning the dress into a graffiti masterpiece. The spray paint concept was something that viewers had never seen before. It was inspired by ‘High Moon’, an installation by Rebecca Horn, projecting red paint being fired on each other by two shotguns.

One of the most prestigious collaborations where graffiti and fashion were seen complementing each other was the ‘Louis Vuitton x Stephen Sprouse’ collection by Marc Jacobs in 2001. Stephen redesigned the brand’s name ‘Louis Vuitton’ using a graffiti style that was further printed all over its timeless and classic pieces. This attracted the brand a customer base of worth $300 million. To make the collection exclusive, special pieces were added to the VIP customer list which featured the graffiti art without the Monogram Canvas. To pay tribute to Stephen Sprouse’s legacy, who passed away in 2004, Marc Jacobs adorned his graffiti artworks on the articles of Louis Vuitton in 2008. To appeal to the younger generation, Cyril Kongo designed graffiti scarfs for the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection of Hermès. He incorporated his signature designs inspired by urban tags on the iconic silk square of the brand and named the collection “Carré Graff by Kongo”. To honour the 10 glorious years of its skull scarf, Alexander McQueen in 2013, collaborated with Damien Hirst and launched 30 limited edition designs. These were inspired by Hirst’s Entomology series where various insects were laid out in a kaleidoscopic manner to create the skull motif. Coach launched a new capsule line of men's leather goods in 2013 that featured designs by graffiti artist Krink, popular for his drip and splatter patterns. Louis Vuitton successfully initiated another graffiti campaign in 2014. It invited three artists, Kenny Scharf, André Saraiva, and INTI, to redesign and adorn their scarfs with their signature work. André painted his famous Mr. A figurine, INTI designed the silk scarf with a red, yellow, and orange Aztec face that can be seen in his murals, while Kenny Scharf’s Louis Vuitton scarf was artistically the most elaborate with its universe, showing planets, spaceships, tires, a space girl and the yin yang sign. Despite the dispute over plagiarism and copyright for the art, the Moschino’s Fall 2015 collection presented floor-length evening gowns with graffiti prints on the runway which was positively accepted and appreciated by the audience. Trevor Andrew, known as GucciGhost, who had been unofficially using the interlocking "G" logo of Gucci for years in his graffiti art was invited by Alessandro Michele to collaborate for Gucci’s Fall 2016 collection. A part of the collection was a tote bag which he ironically designed with ‘Real’ written on top of the brand’s name. The identity of the brand ‘Off-White TM’ is synonymous with streetwear and graffiti art. The brand has been a part of many collaborations with graffiti artists. In 2018, Virgil Abloh paid tribute to one of the most prominent graffiti artists prevalent in the 20thcentury, Jean-Michel Basquiat. In an interview, Virgil expressed his feelings towards the artist and the collection stating, "Jean-Michel Basquiat is an important link to a downtown New York culture and an American Artist that laid the foundation for Off-White TM to exist today. The collection celebrates that fact." These are some of the most admired and remarkable collaborations where graffiti complemented fashion and took the industry by storm.

Just like a coin has two sides, the bond of these two art forms consists of both pros and cons. By definition, graffiti has been categorized as an act that is illegal in many places and often performed without permission on another person’s property. Classified as a provocative act causing damage, the art form also raises the serious problem of invasion of privacy and safety. In fact, if walls of those who are not in favour of graffiti are tagged, they would certainly not welcome the new addition with open arms. A locality that is scribbled by spray cans is often considered to be unsafe and criminal prone due to its rebellious and aggressive portrayal. At times, graffiti can be seen misused for personal motives which may threaten and hurt a certain group of people. It can negatively impact the graffiti victims who have to clean and get the unwanted scribbling removed by spending heavy amounts on repainting.

In 2012, graffiti artist Kidult, using a fire extinguisher full of pink paint, tagged the SoHo storefront of Marc Jacobs with letters spelling out the word ‘Art’ on the night of Met Gala. On the next day, this act took social media by storm and soon turned into an ugly rivalry between the two. Marc Jacobs successfully beat Kidult in his own game by selling pink t-shirts for $689 which had a picture printed of the tagged wall and captioned it as ‘Art by Art Jacobs'. Later again in 2013, the rage continued when Kidult tagged the walls of Marc Jacob’s store in Paris. This time, using neon green spray paint, he tagged $686 with reference to the price of the t-shirts which were sold as an answer to his previous vandalism act in 2012. Once again, Marc Jacobs responded to the graffiti artist’s attack with humour on Twitter and turned an anti-fashion activist's graffiti movement into pricey articles. Kidult is known for vandalizing many more such fashion houses including Chanel and Louis Vuitton and it is claimed that the reason behind such an act is to gain attention.

For smooth sailing, collaboration ethics should not be ignored. These include informed consent with equal opportunities and profit. The artist trio, ‘Revok, Reyes, and Steel’ filed a lawsuit against Roberto Cavalli in 2014 for the ‘Just Cavalli’ line. The brand used their murals without consent, leaving no financial benefit and publicity for them. Similarly, Joseph Tierney, popularly known as ‘Rime’ claimed that Jeremy Scott duplicated elements from his mural ‘Vandal Eyes’, done on the side of a building in 2012 and used them for Moschino’s 2015 Fall collection. In May, for the Costume Institute Gala held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Katy Perry was seen wearing one of the dresses from that collection. Damaging storefronts and hurting the sentiments of people to gain publicity is not what the term graffiti should stand for. Its ability to use empty and underappreciated spaces as a canvas to create and express makes graffiti an important art form in today's time.

Designers, in terms of fashion, have understood that to bring in a good amount of profit, amalgamating the low and high culture that will cause a reaction into the youth market will do the job. An art form that is now used on pieces of luxury fashion houses as a result of collaborations and can be found in art galleries for worth millions of dollars was once considered to be juvenile and an act of vandalism. People who used to be a part of the anti-graffiti group are now active participants of the fashion fanatics group, standing in lines only to get their hands on these exclusive pieces. At times, these collections are not open for all and are made exclusively available only to a certain section. From the analysis above, it can be concluded that the engagement of fashion and graffiti proved to be a successful relationship in creating a movement and hype in the market. With graffiti artists joining hands with fashion houses, a new rebranding of the brand’s aesthetics is made possible which further helped in broadening the consumer base and demography for their merchandise. Due to its inspiring, raw and authentic character, its status has surely been upgraded from street art to a main stream in art by the ‘ironic twist’ in its perspective through the years.