For the DrJays.com team, the first day of the MAGIC trade show, held every February and August in Las Vegas, is always Streetwear.

The bustling tradefloor at MAGIC 2007.

The Streetwear section is the most vibrant and energetic area of the convention center during MAGIC, and where all of our top brands (excluding Sean John and Coogi) choose to set up their booths. The size and placement of these booths immediately speak to the success and longevity these brands have been able to garner.

The power players have enormous booths (some with multiple floors!) sporting hardwood floors and fixturing that make you feel like they’ve been here all-year long, waiting for MAGIC to come back around. For the most part, these booths stay in the same place season-to-season, having carved out their permanent place within the marketplace.

Behind the big booths is the Campground. This area, properly named, houses many of the smaller t-shirt brands. The rustic, woody appointments and anti-war graphics on the tees make you feel like Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin could come around the corner at any moment. Who said there’s no such thing as a 21st century hippie? The rest of the Streetwear section is full of smaller brands going after more niche markets. You’ve got your Goths, your Bikers, your inner-city blinged-out t-shirts, your Skaters. Every aspect of street culture is personified in the clothing that is displayed.

There is an art to walking Streetwear. You want to move briskly through in order to cover the massive amount of real estate, but you want to make sure you don’t miss the next big thing. Just as the sizes of the booths speak volumes, so does the warmness of the reception. The bigger brand have ‘receptionists’, gatekeepers stationed at the front that will ask you “Who are you here to see?” or “Do you have an appointment?” We may peek our heads in and wave to a familiar rep or two, but generally we like to keep it moving.

The smaller brands, on the other hand, go out of their way to lure you in. Entire basketball courts with basketball games being played on them, Rolls Royces and old-school Cadillacs parked straight on the floor, and countless promoter minions armed with glossy flyers are only some of the eye candy used to lure in us buyers.

And, of course, what would the Streetwear section be without some scantily-clad models? What can we say, sex sells!

Nelly and the Apple Bottoms models at MAGIC 2007.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Society, Style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.