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A new apparel design studio opened in Detroit’s Pensole Lewis College {PLC}; urging Black shoe and fashion designers to be their true selves. The space pays homage to iconic hip hop streetwear brand Walker Wear and its founder April Walker was in Detroit for its ribbon cutting ceremony.
In her career that spans over four decades, Walker spoke to Divine Magazine’s Darralynn Hutson on her impact in hip hop fashion.
“One of the biggest things that have changed since I started in the game is technology. Technology has really really changed the game in terms of us being allowed to have access to more information. Because time is moving expeditiously and it’s changing daily which means that if we’re starting a business today, we have to be thinking about ten years from now,” voices April Walker. “I’m thinking the same way in my business, right? Where are the pain points, where is the world heading and how are we being solution-driven. I’m thinking about across the planet, especially for those in my economic culture, a system of Black and brown people. That’s really important to me because our dollar still has so much value. I still see an under-representation of us in spaces where there is a plethora of us already but we don’t have the resources and we don’t have the access still. I have to be a part of that solution.”
Streetwear
As the visionary designer behind Walker Wear,April Walker has etched her name as one of the pivotal figures helping to define the very essence of streetwear. In the early 1990s, Walker’s Brooklyn-based brick-and-mortar store became the birthplace of what we now recognize as modern streetwear. At a time when fashion was dominated by high-end brands, Walker saw an opportunity to craft a uniform that reflected the urban culture, drawing from hip-hop’s growing influence. Her designs fused practicality with bold aesthetics, rooted in the experiences of the people she saw around her every day.
“With all of the experience that I’ve had now, what I’m focused on is how I can be of service to the next generation of designers. And I’m unlearning some of the things that no longer serve me. And I’m really leaning into that uncomfortable zone but being OK with that,” says Walker. “I’m learning to really re-listen to my own voice in terms of always chin-checking myself when it comes to ideas because I feel like society has one narrative but we don’t need to always feed into society’s narrative.”
Started From the Bottom
Walker Wear became best known for her oversized cuts, vibrant colors, and bold logos—trademarks that would come to define the streetwear movement. Making a way for other women of color to pursue streetwear in a male dominated street wear industry was always her mission from her days in her brick and mortar store. The, then-21-year-old Walker, took a loan from her father to open her made-to-order shop, Fashion In Effect, during her junior year at SUNY New Paltz. The store took off, immersing itself into hip-hop culture; selling custom made denim 2-piece suits to local graffiti artists, dancers, mc’s and newly-signed rappers.
“One of my biggest challenges initially was how to navigate this space because it was a very misogynistic time in hip hop and I look back on it now and I just say that was on Go for protecting me,” remembers Walker. “Being that it was so different then; you had video vixens and all those things at that time so I knew from the beginning that I wanted to be taken seriously so the first thing that I did was to let the product lead. Meaning that I didn’t initially put it out there that I was a woman that was primarily at that time doing menswear because it was a man's world. I didn’t even know if they would receive it from a woman who was making clothes for me.”
Walker’s break into styling came when hip-hop duo Audio Two became her first clients when she styled the cover for their 1990 "I Don't Care" album and video. This direct connection to hip hop birthed the Walker Wear brand, the first women-owned urban menswear venture.
“I remember having a conversation with my father and I was asking him, because I was thinking about starting Walker Wear, I wanted to know what he thought. His response was if I had to think about it and second guess my decision then I knew the answer,” says Walker. “It wasn’t that he was confirming to keep my face away from the brand but his response told me not to chance it. So I pushed the product in front. We have already gotten great responses and it grew organically from there even before anyone saw my face.”
Famous images from the '90s showcase hip-hop legends such as Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. and Mike Tyson sporting the Walker Wear distinct logo, and its impact only grew. Walker's signature fits were donned by the late Detroit-born singer Aaliyah, Shaquille O'Neal, and LL Cool J. Streetwear began to permeate into pop culture and aided in the emergence of lines like FUBU, Phat Farm, Baby Phat, Detroit-bred Pelle Pelle, Sean John, and Rocawear. The era-defining decade flipped urban fashion from a New York-based indulgence to a global export, and those like Walker who were part of its origin story had a front-row seat.
50 Years of Hip Hop Fashion
With a nearly 40-year tenure in fashion, Walker's legacy has been captured in programs such as documentary "The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion" and "50 Years Fly," as well as archived in exhibitions like "Women in Streetwear" (which she curated for NYC's Port Authority Bus Terminal), Kunsthal Rotterdam's "Street Dreams: How HipHop Took Over Fashion," Museum at FIT's "Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style," and "¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today."
Today, Walker, is the author of "WalkerGems: Get Your Ass Off the Couch," and continues to share her knowledge of the fashion industry with up-and-coming designers and has plans to launch WalkerGems Digital Academy to make this information even more accessible. And her work can be seen on the walls of Detroit’s PLC as the April Walker Apparel Studio.
“I started my business because I honestly fell in love with the hip hop culture; it was a time in the 80s much like now, when you were dealing with so much of the same thing; police killings, oppression, fear and the media painting this picture of Black and brown people looking bad. I found that to be the complete opposite,” says Walker. “From NWA to Public Enemy, they both had messaging that spoke to me that I could relate to and it meant that someone was amplifying our voices.”
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