STYLE: FASHION : Standouts in the Crowd

Judging by the up-to-the-moment crowd that turned out for Salt-N-Pepa and R. Kelly’s recent concert at the Greek Theatre, the young and hip are swapping the everyday for the elegant. Industrial workwear in giant sizes has given way to softer-looking clothes, sometimes even designer labels, that are merely roomy. Extreme fashion statements have been relegated to hairstyles, fingernails and jewelry.

What people weren’t wearing was notable--no sports or Afrocentric clothes. Quite a few guys ditched their sneakers for cowboy boots or thick-strapped sandals with socks. They also traded baseball caps for newsboy caps, or simply a Michael Jordan bald head with an earring or two.

Even though football, basketball and baseball apparel appears played out, the athletic look isn’t dead. Rap divas Salt-N-Pepa came onstage wearing Everlast wrestler suits and hockey jerseys (like other rappers, they’re fans of the fashion but not the sport). They also wore black push-up bras and striped tops that were cropped above the bust to look like little more than bands of fabric attached to sleeves.

In the audience, female fans had creative ideas, too: hers-’n’-hers matching outfits, long knit dresses, nose studs and chokers made of wooden beads and raffia. Elaborate, one-of-a-kind hairstyles were astounding for their complexity. Hair was plastered to the head in serpentine spit curls, piled up into lacquered beehives, sprayed into early Supremes pixies, sliced into asymmetrical zigzags and extended with fake braids.

Male fans wore sunglasses well past sunset and chose one of two fashion directions: the casual designer vest with relaxed trousers or the dressy Cotton Club suit with offbeat vintage details. “Look at this,” said Philip Nappier, in a dapper double-breasted suit, as he removed his derby to show off a vintage Stetson label. “Showing up without the hat and glasses, we’d look like anyone else.”