Nino Brown - "Am I my brotha's keeper?"
It has been clinically proven that thoughts beget behaviors. Thoughts and feelings like the one's we get when we watch movies or listen to music. Images have been known to be more imposing than sound, and it is for this reason that I've decided to focus on how Cinema is what's really influencing musical trends. Gangster movies have been known to have a very far reaching impact and influence on the way people buy products, most notably clothing. I've taken the time to think about why I'm so allured and drawn to the fashionable outfits of the old gangster era, mainly from the 30's to the 50's. Those same fashion nuances permeated their way through the 1970's and 80's, well into the 90's where American crime dramas took on newer forms, but the power of the gangster in a suit still remains.
"Them young boys ain't ready for real...
30's the new 20 nigga, I'm so hot still."
- Jay-Z
Depp in the Movie Blow...
The fascination with gangster movies and the fashion statements that these characters impose on the minds of millions of viewers is evidently clear. Box-office sales don't lie and the clothing trends of every decade seem to keep this gangster allure alive. Many of the images we see are of a life beyond the experience and even imagination of most people, it's almost like a "behind the scenes" peek at celebrity life. The actors who play these roles are themselves pop cultural icons and some of them would not have landed the roles they play if they could not bring a believability to the silver screen. Nothing makes the gangster more believable in cinema then how he dresses.
Perhaps the most Gangster person on set, Rapper TI
Rapper TI personifying Frank Lucas
Just a little more goes into a rapper's Tuxedo...
The Fashion statements of gangsters in film...
De Niro as Al Capone in Untouchables
Laurence Fisburne as Bumpy Johnson in Hoodlum
Wesley Snipes as Roemello Skuggs in Sugar Hill
Viggo Mortenson in Eastern Promises
Marlon Brando as the Godfather
Fashion is intricately married to the higher echelons of gangsterism, because the object of the gangster is wealth and power, and clothing is synonymously connected with power; perhaps this is the truest reason for why were all so fascinated by the image.
So when you get dressed today...don't kill anybody...lol
