Working on the Gold Chain Gang

THE MOVIE: “New Jack City.”

THE SETUP: The law versus urban crack dealers. Led by Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes, pictured), a gang of New York toughs do bang-up business and strike it rich until two police officers (Ice T and Judd Nelson) bring them down.

THE LOOK: For those who have never descended into the big-money world of crack, the dealers’ garb will be a shock. Some looks are as breathtaking as those of the best fashion houses, and costume designer Bernard Johnson (“Bingo Long’s Traveling All-Stars,” Broadway’s “Bubbling Brown Sugar”) says he accurately re-created street fashions. When we meet Brown and cohorts Gee Money (Allen Payne) and Kareem (Christopher Williams), they’re still mid-level dealers, but their clothes are the movie’s most exciting. The uniform: velour sweat suits. The accessories: high-tops, berets and baseball caps worn backward or sideways and bold gold jewelry--single chains as thick as rope, pendants the size of butter dishes, three or four fingers’ worth of rings, single hoop earrings and massive, Las Vegas-style watches. Surprisingly, as the drug kings’ fortunes rise, their jewelry diminishes in size and quantity because they must look inconspicuous, Johnson says. As they climb the trafficking ladder, they trade in sweats for weird custom-made suits--in bright colors with strange collars--that are a cross between those worn by Arsenio Hall and the ones seen in “Dick Tracy.”

THE SOURCES: Johnson custom-designed everything, including the velour lounge wear, the fat gold watches and other jewelry. A few recognizable labels include Adidas sneakers and Kangol caps.

THE PAYOFF: This street style is haute vulgar, especially the jewelry. It could be an inspiration for top-drawer fashion designers like Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld and Franco Moschino, who follow the street scene and deal in the outrageous.