Boutiques bring street style to Bloomington

Jay-Z is a hip-hop style icon. Wiz Khalifa performs in skinny jeans. Lupe Fiasco films music videos wearing oversized sunglasses. And the three of them have all placed clothing orders at Bloomington street wear clothing boutiques.

Dope Couture and Green Bananas mark the widespread growth of the street wear trend.

Originally popular in New York and Los Angeles, Bloomington has become a midwestern hot spot for those looking to update their wardrobes.

Street wear is a style inspired by both hip-hop and the streets. It is known for bright colors, skinny jeans for men, vintage high-top sneakers, baseball caps and
graphic T-shirts.

Because rappers and hip-hop stars have popularized street wear fashion in the media, the movement often obtains a reputation of solely being popular amongst the African American community and those heavily immersed in hip-hop and
rap culture.

Dope Couture employee Adulis Netabai said street wear is more regional than racial.
Most of the customers who go to the boutique are students from the East and West coasts who shop for street wear fashion because they know it’s hot right now.

Dope Couture opened its doors in 2009. Located on the corner of 6th Street and College Avenue, the store looks unassuming from the street.

A dark, tinted window with colorful, high-top sneakers are on display. An “open” sign on the door with a cartoon grenade epitomizes the store and movement.

The store tries to incorporate the playfulness of colors and graphic art into high-end fashion.

Walking inside of Dope Couture, you are transported from the quaint streets of Bloomington to a high-end boutique, usually only found in big cities. Each shoe has its own shelf. The hats, also on shelves, are grouped together by style.

Along the back wall, clothes hang from a sleek, stainless steel pole hoisted about 6 feet of the ground. Dark, mahogany wood shelves hold jeans and T-shirts, only catering to two styles per shelf.

Dope Couture was the first street wear store in Bloomington and made a splash locally and globally. The store does more business online than in person, filling orders from New York to Hawaii to Saudi Arabia.

Seeing widespread demand for street wear style in Bloomington, residents Ian and Shane Carter opened Green Bananas clothing store in September 2010.

The brothers had been making custom T-shirts in a barn between Bloomington and Nashville before deciding to open up shop on the corner of Third and Lincoln streets.

While Dope Couture caters to a high-end market, Green Bananas aims for a more local clientele, marketing to families and printing Little 500 T-shirts.

Green Bananas emphasized that street wear is not just for the trendsetters. The store is also selling women’s and children’s apparel.

“Being from Bloomington, we have the local crowd,” Ian Carter said. “We don’t cater to just college students. We want the whole family to be fresh.”

With two street wear stores less than a mile apart, one would imagine competition would cause a concern for the store owners.

“With only two stores like this in town, there isn’t a serious threat of competition,” Ian Carter said. “I think that Dope helps spread the word to people in Bloomington that these kind of clothes are out there.”

In the fickle fashion industry, no one knows for sure what will be “in” next season. The introduction of two street wear stores in Bloomington in the last few years shows the demand for street wear even in this small town.

With ever-growing popularity among the masses and celebrities, this trends looks like it’s here to stay.

With the help of the Internet, street wear can easily tap into its global audience while standing strong at home, whether that be Bloomington or Paris. 

“It’s almost like a cult following,” Netabai said. “Each year it gets bigger. People can relate to it, whether they’re from the streets or not.”