Sacha Jenkins’s breezy survey traces the history of hip-hop fashion from rap’s origins on the streets of the Bronx to today, when the likes of Jay Z are as much at home in the Faubourg Saint-Germain as they are in the hood. The overview starts with African American styles of the 19th century, then goes on to include such bizarre flowerings as Melle Mel’s superhero costumes and the gravity-defying stovepipe coiffures of Kid ’n Play, as well as clothing stars such as Dapper Dan. He was the tailor responsible for all those late-80s garments emblazoned with YSL, Vuitton and other logos, and is credited with having introduced sampling to fashion just as the pioneer DJs introduced it to music.

The film offers a scholarly commentary on aspiration, self-projection and the street-level appropriation of couture exclusivity – though you sometimes wish Jenkins would bring in a Marxist pundit to analyse rap’s latter-day fixation with affluence and the pre-eminence of the mogul entrepreneur as an icon. Among musical luminaries featured are Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, A$AP Rocky and Nas, who also produces under his name Nasir Jones. The film might have engaged more with rap fashion’s sexual politics: the clothes featured are largely men’s, and gay identity only really gets a look in at the end, though 70s disco culture surely played a key part in the evolution of these styles.