New York City Tourism in a Blink

By: jefferson john babasa
The generation that hip hop has created had been around us for so many years already, making a huge impact on music and especially fashion. Today, the culture that hip hop has created is still making its name known across the world. Hip hop made a huge redone on how fashion should look like, and this made a debut introduction on the year 1980. Established sportswear and fashion brands, such as Le Coq Sportif, Kangol, Adidas and Nike Inc attached themselves to the emerging hip hop scene. Popular hip hop clothing were those brightly colored name-brand tracksuits, sheepskin and leather bomber jackets, Clarks shoes, Dr. Martens boots and sneakers which are usually Adidas-brand shelltoes and often with "phat" or oversized shoelaces. In the 1990's fashion and hairstyles are now reflected from traditional African-American influences. Baggy pants were now the most popular styles in hip hop fashion. This was particularly popular among dance-oriented rappers. Kemetic ankh, Kente cloth hats, Africa chains, dreadlocks, and red, black, and green clothing became popular as well. Promoted by artists such as Queen Latifah, KRS-One, Public Enemy, and X-Clan, these kinds of fashion became more popular. But the rise of hip hop fashion was witnessed in the late-1990s, and this was primarily the work of a person that comes by the name of P.Diddy or more commonly known to us now as simply "sean john ". Back then, Sean John Combs is known locally around New York as the "Shiny Suit Man" for bringing elements such as loud, flashy PVC aviator inspired suits and platinum jewelry to the forefront of hip hop in an effort to add a new vivid dimension of color and flash to the videos produced as a marketing tool. This produced sean john combs to manufacture his own clothing line, the sean john clothing line. The Sean John Fashion Story The Sean "Diddy" John Being a popular rap artist in his time, Sean John Combs has yet to show his true color, his entrepreneurial abilities. Sean John Combs known by his stage names - Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy and Puffy, is a popular American rapper and actor, won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards. But other than a popular rapper and actor, sean john is also as talented in the entrepreneurial plane. His business interests under the umbrella of Bad Boy Entertainment Worldwide include Bad Boy Records, a movie production company, two restaurants, and his ever so popular the clothing lines sean john and Sean by Sean Combs. He has taken the roles of recording executive, performer, producer of MTV's Making the Band, writer, arranger, Broadway actor, and clothing designer. Uptown was a starting ground for sean john combs, who started as an intern and later became a top executive. Combs was instrumental in developing Jodeci and signing and producing for Mary J. Blige. He was fired from Uptown in 1993. After being fired from Uptown, Combs went on to establish Bad Boy Records, taking new hip-hop artist, The Notorious B.I.G. with him. Both The Notorious B.I.G. and Craig Mack quickly released hit singles, followed by similarly successful LPs, particularly B.I.G.'s Ready to Die. Sean John Combs is now one of the richest hip-hop performers, having a net worth estimated at US $346 million in 2006. The Sean John Fashion The sean john is a clothing line founded by Sean John Combs himself which he named it after himself, sean john. It was in 1998 when Combs decided to launch his signature collection of sportswear under his name sean john. "I always had the idea that I would start my own apparel line, but I wanted to make sure the timing was right and that I had the time to devote to it," Combs said on an interview. Since the launching of the sean john clothing line, the clothing line has gained critical and commercial success. Through the support of both the fashion community and retailers, sean john clothing line has quickly grown from an urban label to an international brand. People that represent this brand include rappers such as T.I., Fabolous, The Game, Daddy Yankee, basketball stars including Dwayne Wade and Tristan Sooklal, models Tyson Beckford and Kevin Navayne, and Combs himself. The collection is separated into categories including Sean John Sportswear, Sean John Tailored, and Sean John accessories. Product categories include suits, knitwear, bottoms, outerwear, leather accessories, shirts, ties, hats, and denim. The products are inspired by Combs' image and reflect his personal style. Sean John has often appeared at the award ceremony for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) held annually in New York. For five consecutive years since 2000, Sean John has been nominated for its excellence in design. In 2004, Sean John was awarded the CFDA Men's Designer of the Year award. In February 2001, sean john also produced the first nationally televised runway show during Fall Fashion Week when it simultaneously aired live on E! Television and the Style Network. With annual retail sales in the United States of over $450 million, Sean John is sold in better department and specialty stores across the country as well as select retailers around the world. Combs partnered with Weld Wheels Industries and Weld Racing to introduce the Sean John Wheel Collection - a high-end, quality alternative to mainstream custom wheels. But not only did the sean john clothing line graced the stores of USA, but also on other countries such as Canada. Aided by appearances by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, sean john clothing lines hit Montreal, Quebec, on March 28th and Toronto, Ontario, on March 29th, 2005. In both cities, sean john combs conducted several interviews with various media outlets, appeared on local television programs, and met with key retailers in the area. The Canada tour was meant to bolster sales in the region, where the sean john clothing line currently sells mostly at independent boutiques and many of the best athletic chains in the country, such as Athlete's World, Footlocker, and the premiere sporting store, The Sporting Life.