I’m a trainer freak – I’ve got 30 pairs of the same type of trainer. I buy them from Honolulu to Japan. I think this ‘foot fetish’ developed from Run DMC. They were well known for the Adidas ‘shell toes’, sometimes with the tongues hanging out! Because of the trainers, they became not only a global phenomenon, but also a fashion icon in their own right.

Hip-hop and ‘B-boy’ clothing came about in the Bronx in the mid-’70s/’80s. Because of construction work on the slums, the gear had to be very comfortable, for work. These people in the projects had no cash, and the way they dressed was a reaction to the glamour happening in Manhattan. I find the look very raw, and creative, it has lots of influences, from reggae to jazz culture, and hip-hoppers in general were challenging society through rhymes and rhythms.

In hip-hop, the fashion and the footwear are so tight. Nike’s Air Force One was a massive hip-hop trainer, and it’s partly due to hip-hop stars wearing them that Nikes became so huge.

The other big thing in hip-hop culture is the tracksuits, in fact I have a green Addidas tracksuit to this day! Remember when Gucci was doing them in the ’80s for the hip-hop stars? The tracksuit thing has come full circle now, what with J-Lo and P. Diddy, selling velure ones.

Hip-hop people have now come to realise that they can influence mainstream youth audiences, not just die-hard hip-hop fans. For example, the Wu Tang Clan have a shop, Wu Wear, in Staten Island, NY where they sell T-shirts, visors, beanies, bubble jackets etc. One interesting thing that the Wu-Tang Clan did was to take Ossie Clarke’s square toe shoes, which were originally the domain of mods, and to make them part of the hip-hop look. Which
just goes to show – in fashion, no one owns a good idea!