Hip-hop fashion is a distinctive style of dress originating with
African-American youth in The 5 Boroughs (New York City), and later
influenced by the hip-hop scenes of Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia,
East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), Detroit, and The Dirty South among
others. But hip-hop fashion wouldn't be the fashion known today without the
helping hand of a man called "The Shiny Suit Man".

The rise of hip-pop in the late-1990s, primarily the work of Sean "Diddy"
Combs, known locally around New York at that time as the "Shiny Suit Man"
brought elements such as loud, flashy PVC aviator inspired suits and
platinum jewelry to the forefront of hip hop in an effort to add a new
vivid dimension of color and flash to the videos produced as a marketing
tool.

Combs, who started his own sean john clothing line, and clothing
manufacturers such as Karl Kani and FUBU brought hip hop fashion to the
mainstream, resulting in a multi-million dollar hip hop fashion industry.
But who is Sean John Combs? And what was his contribution to the ever
growing hip-hop fashion?

Sean John Combs

Sean John Combs, also known by his stage names such as Puff Daddy, P.
Diddy, and now known as Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer,
actor, dancer, entrepreneur, and men's fashion designer. His popularity in
the industry brought him three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music
Awards.

Combs was also the founder of the every growing recording company, Bad Boy
Records that produced famous hip-hop artists and personalities including
The Notorious B.I.G, Craig Mack, Dream, Carl Thomas, Faith Evans, Father
MC, 112 and Total. As well as producing for Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Usher,
Lil' Kim, TLC, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, SWV, Aretha Franklin, and others,
and forming The Hitmen, an in-house production team.

In 1997, Combs recorded his first commercial vocal as a rapper under the
name "Puff Daddy." His debut single, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" spent six
weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album, No Way Out was a #1
album and won the 1998 Grammy Award for best rap album.

In 2002, he was featured on Fortune magazine's "40 Richest People Under 40"
list and was placed number one in the list of the top ten richest people in
hip-hop.

Business Ventures and Sean John

His business interests under the umbrella of Bad Boy Entertainment
Worldwide include Bad Boy Records, the clothing lines sean john and Sean by
Sean Combs, a movie production company, and two restaurants.

In 1998, Combs started a clothing line, sean john. It was nominated for the
Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award for Menswear Designer
of the Year in 2000, and another in 2004. Sean John is a clothing founded
by hip-hop mogul Sean John Combs in which the name was taken from Combs'
first and middle given names.

Part of what made sean john clothing popular in the streets of the urban
community is the people that represents the brand. These people includes
rappers such as T.I., Fabolous, The Game, Daddy Yankee, basketball stars
including Dwayne Wade and Tristan Sooklal, plus models Tyson Beckford and
Kevin Navayne, and Combs himself.

"I always had the idea that I would start my own apparel line, but I wanted
to make sure the timing was right and that I had the time to devote to it,"
said Combs in an interview. Since its launch, Sean John has recieved
critical and commercial success. Through the support of both the fashion
community and retailers, sean john has quickly grown from an urban label to
an international brand.

Sean John has often appeared at the award ceremony for the Council of
Fashion Designers of America held annually in New York. For five
consecutive years since 2000, Sean John has been nominated for its
excellence in design. In 2004, Sean John was awarded the CFDA Men's
Designer of the Year award.

In November 2008, Combs launched his latest men's perfume under the Sean
John brand called "I Am King." On November 24th, 2008, he unveiled a new
Times Square billboard for the "I Am King," line to replace his iconic Sean
John ad. The giant billboard is currently the largest print ad in Times
Square.

In addition to his clothing line, Combs owns an upscale restaurant chain
called Justin's, named after his son. The current restaurant is in Atlanta;
the original New York location was closed in September 2007. Combs is also
the designer of the green Dallas Mavericks alternate jersey.

Controversies Within the Sean John

The clothing line became controversial in 2003 when it was discovered that
factories producing the clothing in Honduras were violating Honduran labor
law. Among the accusations put forth were that workers were subjected to
body searches and paid sweatshop wages. Charles Kernaghan of the National
Labor Committee, who first exposed the factory, is quoted in the New York
Times as saying, "Sean Puff Daddy obviously has a lot of clout, he can
literally do a lot overnight to help these workers."

In late 2006, MSNBC reported, "Macy's has pulled from its shelves and its
Web site two styles of sean john hooded jackets, originally advertised as
featuring faux fur, after an investigation by the nation's largest animal
protection organization concluded that the garments were actually made from
an animal called a "raccoon dog".

Combs said he had been unaware of the material, but as soon as he knew
about it, he had his clothing line stop using the material. In 2008 he
appeared in a Macy's commercial.

Sean John Combs has been in the fashion industry since the
time that hip-hop fashion gave rise to new and profound
clothing lines. And Sean John is there at the turning point
of hip-hop fashion.

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