Watch now: The Hype HBO Max

These days, I’m paying more attention to examples of sewing in pop culture. I came across The Hype on HBO Max recently and I’m hooked.

Describe The Hype HBO Max

The premise of The Hype: find the best new streetwear designer.

Streetwear refers to creative fashion expressions that are made and seen on the streets of LA, New York and other major cities. Tees, sweats, denim, ball caps, and sneakers are streetwear staples. Street fashion is bold and often relies on juxtapositions to make statements. An outfit (“a fit”) might mix elements of tailoring and DIY, for example, or might incorporate vintage and fresh elements.

Streetwear is influenced by pop culture– see the DC-inspired challenge looks above. In turn, streetwear wields enormous influence over mainstream design. For example, dress sneakers—quilted leather, bold metallic accents– have street in their DNA.

DIY fashion is inspired by street. (Take another look at that upcycled denim jacket above–it inspires me to thrift some denim and experiment with my own looks.)

Athleisure designers also take inspiration from street. These sweats from Adidas are an example of how large retailers are incorporating street into their products.

Those laces on the black hoodie don’t serve a necessary function, but they do add a design detail that recalls shoe lacing or even corset lacing. The bold graphics on the Jeremy Scott sweatshirts are intended to draw you attention.

Familiar Show Structure

The Hype’s format follows the model set by Project Runway. Each week designers are given a challenge and asked to create looks that meet the challenge and display their own design aesthetic.

Here’s where it differs from Project Runway:

• Scope: fewer designers (10) and fewer episodes (eight).
• Lookbook: each design is photographed and saved for each designer’s lookbook, which factors into the final judging.
• Sewing support: competitors get some overnight sewing assistance. They leave a “tech pack” with instructions and the unseen sewists complete as much as they can in the allotted time.

This difference from Project Runway is significant. On PR, sewing skills are crucial. On The Hype, however, design and vision are more heavily weighted. This difference creates more space for creative individuals who are less-than-expert sewists. If your design work challenges fashion boundaries, they want to recognize you on The Hype, regardless of your sewing skills.

The Hype is my new DIY inspiration

As a white, middle-aged, cishet woman in the Midwest, I’m not the main audience for streetwear. The heart of streetwear is young, multicultural, city-dwelling innovators.

I’m definitely part of the audience for The Hype, though. As I spend more time thinking about personal style, DIY, and sewing, I’m always interested in new inspiration. I’m loving these ambitious streetwear designers as they share their ideas, process, and creations. I’m inspired to see what I can do in my own wardrobe to elevate some hoodies beyond the typical comfy slouch.

I’m ready to start season 2 right now.