Fashion Killa

“Readers are lucky that this brilliant, shining gem of a book exists…. Along with its many nuanced arguments and observations, the book is a stunning historical record of years, people, places, runway shows, brands, and evolutions that should be studied. An essential book about U.S. culture.”
—Booklist
“A cogent study of hip-hop’s outsized influence on fashion trends…The link between hip-hop and high fashion is so tight that many consider them part of the same package. In this fast-paced, deeply researched history, Krishnamurthy chronicles how and why that deep bond continues today. … Exciting and exhaustive, this fun hip-hop history explains what your favorite rappers are wearing and why.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“It’s impressive how much information Krishnamurthy packs into her prose while still feeling evocative: You can practically smell the spray paint and taste the Barneys New York salads, and it all may as well be set to the sounds of “Merry-Go-Round” breaks at a DJ Kool Herc block party.”
—Pitchfork
“The first comprehensive anthology of the marriage between hip-hop and luxury fashion, mapping out well-examined evidence of the two entities being inextricably linked.”
—The Cut
“Krishnamurthy cements herself as a necessary historian for the culture.”
—Paper Magazine
“Fashion Killa is a love letter to hustlers, innovators, and people who didn’t abide by the rules. Krishnamurthy’s comprehensive work gives the history of hip-hop its due, recognizing the elevated contributions of the icons, designers, and rappers who came together to claim a place in a culture.”
—Dapper Dan, Fashion Innovator
“Fashion Killa is super important because we are the culture that transcends into fashion. Rappers motivate designers to make something dope. Hip-hop and fashion is a perfect marriage!”
—Raekwon, Rapper and author of From Staircase to Stage
“Sharp and engaging contribution to fashion, art, and storytelling. A must read for anyone who adores and respects fashion’s contribution to mankind.”
—Slick Rick, Storyteller, and Fashion Icon
“Sowmya Krishnamurthy’s powerful and meticulously told deep dive into hip-hop’s culture of showing out is a vibrant and historic telling of a groundbreaking story. Fashion Killa captures the visionaries, misfits, and rule breakers who revolutionized the worlds of fashion, innovation, and luxury. This is not just the American dream but a global story.”
—Vikki Tobak, author of Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History and Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop.
“Fashion Killa is a luxury quilt of hip-hop journalism sewn with gilded floss. In Sowmya’s skillful sartorial hand, the stories of fashion icons and upstart rappers appear in a two-way mirror, revealing the line between haute and street as a fabrication born out of aspiration, and the thread tying hip-hop to fashion as inevitable and durable indeed.”
—Dan Charnas, New York Times bestselling author of Dilla Time and The Big Payback

Sowmya Krishnamurthy is a music journalist and pop culture expert. Her work has been featured in Time, Rolling Stone, Complex, XXL, Playboy, Highsnobiety, and NPR. She is a graduate of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion and The Blueprint: Inside the Business of Roc-A-Fella Records.

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