I can't stress enough on how much Married to the Mob annoys the living daylights out of me but I'm not going to deny the fact that they do a great job at marketing themselves. For most people, the first female street brand that comes to mind is Married to the Mob but aside from their marketing skills, there really isn't anything else to them. There is no real sense of design, unless cramping the item of clothing with nothing but the brand name and cheesy pussy power slogans are your kind of thing. Also for the record, this is NOT street couture. There is absolutely NOTHING couture about t-shirts and other items of clothing that have simply been screen-printed on.
They even leech of other brand's trademark successes. Supreme much?
(Off the record though, I don't think much of Supreme either. Substance over hype, man.)
There are a ton of female street brands out there that do a way better job, and I think it's about time they gain more recognition. So to start off, here are my top 5 in no particular order:
1. Not Bad for a Girl
I've been following this British brand since they first started out in 2006 and I've grown quite a soft spot for their typography-based designs and tributes to women in hip-hop history. :)
Now THIS is street couture. Instead of just promoting female empowerment in the street culture through slogan tees and pretty graphics, they actually incorporate high fashion into their collections.
Their shirt designs are pretty hot but I didn't think much of this brand until I saw their collaboration with Adidas early this year. Finally! Sneakers made for women that AREN'T in a girly colourway nor in model that has already been customised over and over. Mama Clothing's originality has got me on their side. :P
Oh and going back to what I said earlier about M.O.B. biting, don't you think the concept of this shoe was used on their recent collabo with Nike?
Just a little background history: Claw is not only one of the big names in the female Graff scene (though she is no longer active) but also the fashion editor of Swindle mag. So what do you get when you put her knowledge of fashion, all that 90's influence and that infamous throw-up together? I call it some kind of wonderful. ;)PS: Her jewelry line is divine but be sure to check out Cubannie and Hayley Mei's for equally good stuff.
Being the most recently established makes this the baby of the list. They seem to be going the direction HellzBellz is so I forsee a lot of good stuff from them in the future. :)
And that's all for today, children. Play safe. :)
