Celebrities and high-end designer clothing go hand-in-hand. In hip-hop, rap, drill, grime, and the like, you can often struggle to get to the end of a track without at least one mention of a designer label. It's a status symbol, a flex, perhaps even a foundation of the genre.
What you're unlikely to find, however, is a shoutout to fake designer; until Skepta shared his love of fake Gucci.
Let's throwback to 2016 quickly. When Skepta dropped "That's Not Me" from his fourth studio album Konnichiwa, the DJ turned MC had crowds across the globe shouting, "used to wear LV/Gucci, put it all in the bin 'cause that's not me."
This was a far cry from the Skepta of old, that often flexed both brands from head to toe. At this point in his career, Skep' hadn't fully transitioned into the Fashion Week icon that he is today.
From Nasir Mazhar to Astrid Anderson and his iconic all-white Cottweiler "Shutdown" tracksuit, the Konnichiwa era was dominated by low-key and up-and-coming designers will more flair for street-certified pieces than extravagant high-end luxury.
Once Virgil took over at Louis Vuitton, the brand found itself back into the star's wardrobe, and his fashion icon saga truly began.
So, LV is back out of the bin; what about Gucci?
Skepta's recent Instagram stories spoke volumes, with the MC declaring, "the faker the Gucci, the better."
In a series of posts, he said, "I been flexing fake Gucci since 2017, look how Gucci tried the Eminem 8 Mile trick and did it to themselves." The comment referenced their monogrammed pieces emblazed with "FAKE."
He continued, "It just don't hit the same. It's gotta be fresh out the market, I repeat...the faker the Gucci the better."
The final post in the thread saw him post a picture of a monogrammed mesh cap captioned, "Gucci will never make a cap better than this fake one. No cap, no pun!"
While it's almost unheard of an international musician, especially in rap genres, to declare their love of fake designer clothing, it does fall well in line with Gen Z's open love of fake clothing, as seen on TikTok and Reddit.
With someone of Skepta's level of fame being open about buying fakes perhaps this is the beginning of a Fucci renaissance.
One thing is obvious, though: we won't be seeing a Skepta x Gucci collection anytime soon.
