Gunna’s most recent album, One of Wun, reflects something new about his life and selfhood that is also seen in what he wears. There’s a singularity to them. Which isn’t to say that his style is one-note – it’s never been. Rather, he’s making bolder, more personal choices. Life shifts tend to impact our appearance that way. While one person might dress up to combat feelings of despair, another will dress as inconspicuously as possible to hide themselves or feel more stable amid uncertainty.
We mostly see rappers grapple with those tensions through their lyrics. Their songs, and narratives, often help us contend with our ways of being in the world. Gunna’s new project is full of that. But his renewed sense of self brought on by overcoming more than a few hiccups within the industry is being brought to bear through his clothes.
The artist told Apple Music he’s “wearing clothes differently now,” emphasizing that “it’s not just about the name. It’s more like really where it come from or the cut of it.” It’s refreshing to hear a rapper articulate this kind of relationship to what they wear. Despite hip hop’s undeniable influence on fashion, well, everywhere, some are still quick to dismiss it as merely a status-flaunting flash. Gunna is still doing that. “Prada Dem” basically is that. And it is, in fact, okay. Though it may be overstated, ostentation is part of what makes the genre a culturally distinct global phenomenon. And Gunna isn’t afraid of stepping outside the box while remaining unapologetically faithful to the hip-hop aesthetic, mainly in his jewelry. He’s rewriting the playbook.
Was the outfit he wore that Rihanna ended up copying for Halloween the first taste of it? It might’ve been two years prior when the Georgia native posted a picture carrying a blue quilted Chanel flap bag. As one might expect, the rap community and commentariat thought it was a flop–perhaps unfit for and certainly unexpected of a dark-skinned Black male rapper of his type. Talking about buying a woman a Chanel bag in a song is accepted, even welcomed. Wearing one is a different story. But that didn’t stop him from showing it off.
That same year, he told Hot97’s Nessa Diab. “If it were for them to like, I woulda gave them the bag,” the rapper said. Later in the interview, he names himself alongside Pharrell, A$AP Rocky, and Young Thug as artists who dress well. Possibly! Any rapper grouping Marni and Isabel Marant with brands like Yves Saint Laurent in their lyrics has that potential.
Kitchens’ 2022 Met Gala look – where he wore a Thom Browne mohair cape and suit and bedazzled Hector bag further cemented him as a pop-cultural clotheshorse. His song “Met Gala” probably got more streams that day than when it first dropped. But what is most appreciated about his presence at the event was seeing a mainstream rapper on the carpet in a kitschylook that still managed to pass sartorial muster.
And he’s continued wearing what he wants. Of course, his new fitness journey and the man behind his style evolution, Bobby Wesley, plays a role in that. For the XXL Spring 2024 issue, Wesley styled the rapper for the magazine’s cover story. In the spread’s most dapper photo, and the styling for his “Bittersweet” music video, Gunna wears KidSuper. He also attended the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear show in January.
He was a fixture at a few Paris Fashion Week presentations, dressed in a slick, red leather overcoat at Amiri and carrying a Marc Jacobs-era Louis Vuitton fanny pack at the Vuitton show. (Both Gunna and stylist Law Roach were sporting white fur bags from the designer’s Fall 2006 collection there). But most appealing is how Wesley has refined the artists’ slightly off-kilter sensibility. If Gunna’s clothes ever read as experiments before, they now draw attention to a man who knows his limits and how to push them. They center him, which great style should. And that seems to be what the rapper wants for himself. His styling advice for you? “Do you, don’t do them.”
Wesley expresses that since he began working with the rapper that they were thinking of ways to clean up his image. He mentions that in the past couple of years that Gunna has been putting in the work to look great physically–the bright clothing he once wore is not a part of this newer era. “Chic, polished, and elevated is the direction we chose to go.” He shares the artist being able to wear sample sizing is a very proud moment.
The stylist explains that the key brands he’s been working with in recent months include False Perception, who create a lot of the tees Gunna wears and a Parisian denim brand Paradox Paris. He also notes Emilio Pucci is always willing to help out too. “I chose to work with these brands because they all love Gunna professionally and supports his movement. And it was very important to Gunna that we kept these brands in tune with what we had going on,” Wesley adds.
The rapper’s input is a guiding light too. Wesley points out that Gunna is very specific about how clothing sits on his body. “New collection pieces always attracts the eye first, then the shape of each piece is what determines if I select it for Gunna.”
Gunna is hardly alone in pushing the boundaries of menswear these days. Other hip hop artists and athletes are making statements about themselves and the state of masculinity through their clothes. Before, it was the more artsy types who were moving things along. Now it’s the ones you’d least expect it from. Men everywhere are testing fashion’s waters to shape, discover, or reconstruct their masculine identities. It’s never been more culturally acceptable to walk out of the house in, say, a kilt. Gunna himself wore a pleated corduroy skirt to Sacai’s most recent men’s show. It’s figures like him–the kind of man who other men might look to for fashion leadership–that allow that kind of flamboyance to play out in consumer culture.
It’s no surprise that the rapper is launching his own clothing label, P, in June, given that celebrities have leveraged their influence to start such ventures for a while now (Wesley has been working with him on this). But Gunna is an artist who’s built an entire personal brand around fashion, so it’s a fairly organic outgrowth. I’m on the fence about it. As a fan who listens to him just about every day, I’m eager to buy whatever product he’s selling. I’m also aware that the world doesn’t need more stuff. Either way, we’re curious to see what’ll be in the full drip. Many including myself are most likely already started to think about what they’ll be wearing to his concert dates mainly the one in London come July.
