Down a 90’s hip-hop fashion memory lane

When I met Kourtnie and asked her about her choice to go natural with her hair, she told me about a fascinating ritual. Apparently, every time she has to deal with a major life event or decides to make a major change in her life, she starts by shaving her head.

It was a powerful mental image, and I knew I had to capture it. I decided to use barbershop clippers as a prop, depicting the moment of determination to move forward and take control that shaving her head represented for her.

In addition to her hairstyle story, Kourtnie is a ballet and hip-hop dancer, a professional model and obsessed with 90’s hip-hop fashion.

My collaborator and stylist Janet and I decided to create a shoot for her that would incorporate all of these aspects of her personality: the hair, the ballet and of course, the 90’s hip-hop.

Learning more about 90’s hip-hop fashion than I ever thought I’d know

I grew up in India until I finished college, and moved to the US in 2000. This meant that I completely missed the 90s trends here (no Youtube, after all). I mean, I did have some access to MTV, so I knew about all the boy bands and the Spice Girls, but that's about it.

My Pinterest Aaliyah rabbit hole

(For some reason, sappy boy bands like N-Sync and Savage Garden and Michael Learns to Rock were a big thing in my college - which was like 95% male. I'll never quite figure that out).

Anyhoo ...

When we first talked to Kourtnie about a creative shoot, her obsession with 90's hip-hop fashion was infectious. Like many photographers, I was drawn to the challenge of depicting a culture I had zero familiarity with, in a way that "got it."

A trip down a Pinterest rabbit hole led me to Tupac, Li'l Kim, Missy Eliot, and of course, the one and only ... Aaliyah.

What I saw in the icons of 90's hip-hop fashion was how they project confidence and sensuality while being completely comfortable in their own skin, and in the clothing.

I like to think we captured some of that vibe in this shoot.

In February 2020, right before the lockdowns, I saw an exhibition called Contact High: A visual history of hip-hop at the International Center of Photography in New York City.

It was riveting. The exhibition went through classic photographs of hip-hop superstars from Tupac and Biggie to Cardi B and Niki Minaj (and many lesser known but seminal artists) in NYC from the 80s through today. Along with the photos, there were interviews with various photographers documenting their process of creating those portraits.

What surprised me was how much vulnerability and emotion many of these photos depicted. I had expected a wall of sneering and preening 'gangsta' stereotypes, but what I got to glimpse is the pain and struggle of these musicians that went into creating their art, as well as the joy they experienced in it.

I had to remind myself to draw inspiration from that vulnerability that I saw in that exhibition.

Subway inspiration

The New York Subway has a lot to do with the emergence of hip-hop in the 80s and 90s.

Trains and stations provided performance spaces for artists.

Trains were the way that artists, who lived far out in poor neighborhoods in Queens or the Bronx, could get to the city center to perform in parks and other public spaces.

As a result, subways are also an iconic part of the photography of early hip-hop. Pick your random favorite 90s hip-hop icon from New York, and chances are they'll have some popular photos in a subway station.

As I discovered this association in my research, I was excited about the idea of drawing inspiration from some iconic subway images from that era.

The Downtown Oakland BART station is not quite the NYC subway, but it performed fabulously!

That’s it! Hopefully the shoot did some justice to the style icons and badass women of that era. I had a blast doing it and learned a lot about that era and culture. Until next time!