Aspecto, Birmingham

I only realised this chain of stores existed when I came to uni in Nottingham and ever since have become quite a fan. There is a nice mix of clothes and feature some key players within the urban 'progressive streetwear' realm. The Birmingham store sits within the ground floor of the Pavillion which is more well-known for its Disney store and places to eat rather than decent shops... perhaps this reflects Aspecto's brand image of being slightly off-centred and out of the blue!?
I like the way that Barbour is stocked and arranged so tightly amongst streetwear brands such as Money and Stussy and Clarks (classics!) footwear is on show next to Adidas Y-3's, to me this store portrays today's streetwear/urban inspired consumer in the way that there is an unforgiving attitude to collaborating old with new and taking inspiration from past trends and key styles, mixing them up and spitting them out as something fresh and unique. I feel from looking at the type of consumer I see myself aspiring to or within the urban cult there is a stronger sense of individuality and spotaniety in the way in which people dress/express themselves using clothing. There is a clear move away from the stereotypical XXL, big-brand-bling vulagrity and 'cheese' of the 90s (thank god) which can definately be seen within the music. Artists such as 50 Cent, The Game and the whole commercial club-style hip hop icons have slowly deminished and now we are left with the uprise of (what was) the underground of back-pack rap & elctro-hop with artists such as Kid Cudi, J Cole, Drake, Theophilus London and the super-individual characters such as Will.I.am and Kanye West which now inspire the fashion industry more so than ever! It is now cool to be seen in Oxfam or 'vintage shops' or to borrow your Dad's loafers and deck shoes.

A result of styling becoming much more eclectic with a more open sense to what is deemed fashionable/accepted (which is now pretty much anything)... even Jay-Z came out of semi-retirement to rebrand himself from his old image into a more fashion savvy, upmarket, modest fashionista wearing "ALL BLACK EVERYTHING" This shift has seen a gap in the market for stores such as Aspecto and Size? and local inde's to move into, stocking an eclectic mix of classic and fresh streetwear brands.

That was then...

This is NOW...
"Oversize clothes and the chains... we off that" <<(Listen.)