Classic industrial grade construction work high-visibility uniforms have never been so readily consumed by a non-work related audience. Neon orange, neon yellow, and 3M reflective material is being used to take the concept of workwear to a playful level. Merging function with fashion, these looks can be seen best at the club or under the steetlights.
Sporty yet durable, this trend ties back to normcore. Both trends are about rejecting the traditional meaning of luxury, instead electing to wear garments people thought to have no interest in fashion would choose to wear. While both trends share a similar origin story of how they got into the mainstream, normcore’s new cousin has its roots in true blue-collar workwear; Carhartt jackets, Dickies pants, Champion hoodies, beat-up dad hats, relaxed-fit jeans and work boots. Virgil Abloh’s extra-long yellow industrial belts for Off White have been flying off the shelves and onto pages of magazines and social media.
Since the origins of hip-hop, artists have been writing lyrics about how grinding hard in the rap game can provide the means to rise out of a low-income life on “the streets.” In swag rap, this phenomenon is focused on lyrics subtly bragging about being able to afford different luxury brands as a metaphor for financial success. The global luxury market reports that as the consumer becomes more sophisticated and educated, the less they are interested in overt logos. More and more luxury fashion brands are choosing pattern and texture as the subtle way to brand. In the high visibility workwear trend, graphic road markings and safety signs inspire print and pattern while details come in the form of taped seams, industrial hardware and layered materials. Most of the fabrics being used include Gore-Tex and other heavy durable surfaces, or something more lightweight and performance based such as jersey mesh.
Rewind to 2013, Yung Lean’s essential video for Kyoto featured all his Sadboy friends wearing 3M reflective Nike jackets in the moonlight. This was definitely one of the first time workwear aesthetics were introduced into the underground music culture. Moschino’s SS16 collection by Jeremy Scott had models draped up in bright yellow and orange industrial fabrics looking like construction graphics. On the runway set, electronic highway signs warned ‘Dangerous Couture Ahead’ and ‘Clothed for Construction’. A traffic sign advised that there were “Models Xing”. Gypsysport’s SS17 collection featured orange meshes and laces overlaid in a highly considered, utilitarian fashion with a sportswear sheen.
Been Trill co-founder Heron Preston took things a step further by collaborating with the New York Department of Sanitation on a collection of upcycled clothing and gear from the field. Recent CFDA winner, Telfar, redesigned the classic White Castle uniforms to be more unisex and up to date with contemporary fashion. This is a prime example of the workwear getting a luxury design infusion. Helps to improve the day-to-day wellbeing of laborers while lowering fashion down to everyday street level.
Last June in Los Angeles, Yung Jake’s hyper-yellow art show Caution: Wet Floor at Steve Turner Contemporary featured paintings, barriers, and collages of yellow powder-coated steel panels, found metal and monitors painted, printed and drawn on. The gallery opening featured performances by Kreayshawn, Matt Ox and Chief Keef, fusing underground trap and drill music culture with high art.
When it’s an original piece of construction workwear, the pricing is democratic, the design is refreshingly no frills, and the pieces are made to be pragmatic. In 2018, wearing inexpensive, well-made workwear and its logos conveys a particular set of political messages more than they would have two years ago. Slipping into a CAT hoodie or zipping into a mechanics jumpsuit may be about getting in on the ground floor of an easy-to-execute, affordable fashion trend.
At the end of the day, whether or not a Carhartt jacket or bright orange construction vest is worn simply for its aesthetics is somewhat irrelevant. Whether conscious or not, it also says something important. A person still has to hand over money to acquire the item and in a sense put their voting dollars behind the brand. Most of all, this trend was a vote to stop the revolving door of consumerism, replacing conspicuous consumption and planned obsolesce with something that’s always been built to last.
Photo Credits:
1) Construction Jackets For Sale – Irma Zandl
2) Louis Vuitton SS18 Menswear Backstage – Schohaja
3) Yung Lean- Kyoto Music Video – Numbers & Boards
4) Yung Jake’s Caution: Wet Floor – Steve Turner Contemporary
5) Moschino SS16 Runway Show – InDigital