The revolution of streetwear fashion over the past 50 years can be attributed to hip-hop artists who used their musical influence to redefine fashion trends. Androgynous fashion formed as a defiance of traditional gender norms, combining feminine and masculine features to better represent an individual’s identity.
Lil Uzi Vert (Uzi), 29, is a chart-breaking punk and emo hip-hop artist who is also considered an icon in androgynous fashion. They made national headlines by pairing a distressed suit and pleated skirt with a facially implanted $24 million pink diamond at the 2021 Met Gala.
A few days after International Non-Binary Day in July 2022, Uzi updated their Instagram bio pronouns, and a few days later, posted on Instagram in a shirt reading “they/them.” Uzi addressed this in a June 2023 interview: “Taking the time to figure out who you are is a big part of what it means to be alive.”
Rather than defining their identity for the public, Uzi chooses to focus on expressing it: “Think about fashion: gay and trans designers are some of the biggest talents out there, and gangster-a** guys wear their stuff without a thought. What you make is what matters, not how you identify.”
They also told Vogue that they don’t piece together outfits the same way they make music.
“The way I pick my fit out every day is, I just reach and grab and put anything on. Course I’m going to put the best anything.”
In their humble manner, Uzi acknowledged that their extensive and expensive wardrobe choices would not be possible without their rap success. By unapologetically combining masculine and feminine pieces to reflect their identity, Uzi has been paving the way for gender-bending fashion.
In an interview with The Hollywood Fix, Uzi humorously elaborated, “I bought everything in the men’s section.” They aren’t afraid to mix brands either, as they mentioned in “Endless Fashion”: “I sold my soul for Chrome Heart mixed with Carhartt.”
Staying true to their Philadelphia roots, Uzi’s outfits marry urban streetwear with inspiration from luxury designers such as Virgil Abloh. They said it themself in “Myron,” “I wear more Supreme than a hypebeast.” Optimizing convenience with backpacks is one way that Uzi maintains personal style, even if they’re Goyard.
Uzi’s style is also embellished through their body modifications. They ended up switching out their infamous forehead piercing for a regular barbell after an incident at a festival in 2021. “I had a show at Rolling Loud and I jumped in the crowd and they kinda ripped it out … I still have the diamond so I feel good,” they explained to TMZ.
Their 2018 classic can almost match that amount of bling: “New patek on my wrist, white diamonds and them shi*s hit pink.”
Most of Uzi’s body art can’t be easily swapped though, and this was an intentional decision of theirs as they discussed back in 2017. Four days into working at a grocery store was enough for Uzi to know that conventional employment wasn’t for them. So, they immediately tattooed the word “faith” beneath their hairline, ensuring that rap was their sole path to financial success.
“I can’t go in nobody’s office with a suit on with this sh*t on my face, I got to focus on what I want to do,” Uzi said. When asked about their favorite tattoo in December 2023, Uzi responded, “None of them, I’m trying to get them removed, all of them, I want to go corporate.”
Over the past decade, Uzi’s music has evolved to the point that they now proclaim themself as a rockstar. The same passion that Uzi channels into their music can be felt through their show-shopping looks. It’s a matter of which mode they want to use to illustrate their creativity. But Uzi recently seemed to have a change of heart.
“I don’t really want to make music like that no more, I want to make, like, women’s clothes,” they said in an interview with TMZ published on Dec. 24, 2023.
Uzi put out their single “Red Moon” the following day; it is their most recent song to date. When Zane Lowe, the global creative director of Apple Music, asked Uzi, “Who knows you …. Who do you keep close?” They answered, “My clothes.”
Throughout their 26-minute conversation, Lowe explained how he viewed Uzi’s influence: “If Beyonce is like the queen of everything, and Drake’s like the king of the charts, I think you’re the king of the kids … I think you speak really direct to them.”
Referring to Uzi before they changed their pronouns, Zane Lowe said, “In the future, you’ll be able to see a lot of trends, attitudes and openness influenced by [them] — but [they] will always be ahead of that.”
Zoe Rakarich can be reached at [email protected].
