Streetwear

To coincide with the launch of a rather interesting book entitled Streetwear by Steven Vogel I'd thought I'd throw this out there: Am I wrong in saying that Lily Allen's recent contributions to the corporate money making machine of the high street are 'streetwear'? If anyone professes to 'be street' it's her, right? Look at the above example, taken from her recently launched capsule collection/collaboration for New Look. The piece in question features a grafitti tag inspired embroidery detail. Grafitti = street, right? So, is it safe to say that frilly dresses on girls are 'street'? I'm confused. Most of Hollywoods A-list wear frilly dresses, yet, they are so far removed from 'the street'. So, how does it actually work? Who decides what is 'street'? More to the point I wonder how Steven Vogel decides what is 'street'. More still, I wonder to what extent the female streetwear contingent feature in the Thames & Hudson produced title. I guess I should take the few sheckles I have in my pocket and invest in a copy, or shimmy down to Borders and rustle through the pages whilst perched on one of their minty green jumbo cord sofas. Better stiill, maybe I shall brave it this evening at the book launch party in Shoreditch, where I would surely have the ripe opportunity to ask these many things of Steven himself. I'd like to settle it once and for all. What, in this day in age, is 'streetwear' and more interestingly, what ISN'T?!