Whose Music Are You Wearing?

They don’t even have a demo record yet, but the members of a fledgling South-Central musical trio already have dreams of a clothing line.

John “Hard Head” Taylor, 23, Shavoya “Notik” Flucas, 26, and Desi “Twyc” Hines, 21, make up the hip-hop-blues-soul group called S3 and were among the 300-plus people who showed up at d.e.m.o., a Montebello Town Center jeans-wear store last week. The trio came to get career advice from hip-hop music and clothing pioneer Russell Simmons, wearing the first item of their own design--black knit stocking caps embroidered with their S3 logo.

“Once we get the music out there, we’re planning on a clothing line,” said Flucas, who said his group has a 35-song repertoire.

Musicians aren’t just artists anymore. They’re entrepreneurs for whom a platinum record is just part of their vision of success. In the years ahead, it’s possible to imagine that a compilation of greatest hits just might mention an artist’s best-selling jacket.

Music and fashion have often amplified each other, but these days, the association means serious business, particularly when clothing labels can profit as much as or more than the record labels. Collections backed by hip-hop artists and producers are dominating stores’ young-men’s departments with such bestselling lines as Sean John, Phat Farm and Rocawear. The baggy jeans, rugged jackets and logo T-shirts that early hip-hop and rap singers pieced together and wore with a streetwise edge have become the backbones of commercial clothing lines--some racking upward of $100 million in annual sales. Like a catchy hook in a song, the jingling of that kind of change keeps ringing in the ears of other musicians hoping to capitalize on their own acclaim.

The rag trade’s siren song has lured artists as diverse as Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Snoop Dogg, Outkast and Carlos Santana to test the fashion waters. The thong man, Sisqo, flashed the dragon logo of his upcoming Dragon Collection clothes while he strolled the red carpet at the Grammy Awards last month. Stepping from show biz to shoe biz, Santana recently launched Carlos, a moderately priced collection of women’s shoes and boots that will be sold at West Coast Macy’s stores and help fund his Milagro Foundation.

In New York, the flagship Bloomingdale’s store is converting its Beatles boutique into a VH-1 rock shop. For weeks, Sean “Puffy” Combs, founder of Bad Boy Entertainment and the $100-million Sean John clothing line, has been in the news--both for his flashy $1-million menswear show last month in New York, and for his ongoing weapons possession trial there.

A personality, even one with notoriety, lends an authenticity that connects customers to the clothes. And as important, a celebrity can personify aspiration, said Heidi Muther, divisional merchandising manager for d.e.m.o.’s buying staff. And the music? “That’s what brings them in,” she said above the store’s booming soundtrack. “It’s about an experience. They’re here and walking around to the beat.”

Many hip-hop song lyrics often mention which brands are hot, and the music videos show how to wear them. “The thing about hip-hop, it talks specifically about the culture of the people, as opposed to love songs, which you have to interpret,” said Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Records. In between signing autographs for the mostly male, teenage fans, Simmons explained that many rap songs, like their jazz and blues predecessors, capture the frustrations and aspirations of the underclass.

“The whole real connection between the artist and the audience is what the culture is about,” he said, adding that hip-hop fans “are the best brand-building community in America.” He reeled off a list of luxury goods--from limited edition cars to platinum watches--that were first popular within the hip-hop community before they caught on elsewhere. “They are very sophisticated about culture and what they like.”

That simplifies the job of the stores, particularly when musicians come already equipped with an advertising campaign: Their videos. “They’re the most powerful marketing tool,” said Carrie Harris, a market representative for Directives West, a retailing consulting firm. “With videos, it’s not like you are taking a risk the way you do when you buy a page in a magazine and hope they see it.”

Millions of viewers not only watch the videos, but also soak up every detail, from the lyrics to the tilt of a cap. “LL Cool J wore FUBU hats in all of his videos,” recalled Amon Parker, marketing director for Natural Born Star. “The next thing you know, FUBU is a household name.”

That magic continues to work. “The musicians wear [the clothes] in the music videos, and they make it look good,” said Andrew Kim, 18, of Rowland Heights, who shopped at d.e.m.o. with his Baby Phat-attired friend, Paula Sangco, 19, of West Covina. “You don’t have to be into the music to wear it.”

Singers’ style, sex appeal and steamy videos in constant rotation have long had garmentoes praying for a chance to stitch up all that energy into a line of sexy clothes. Lopez, according to her spokesman, Alan Nierob, has been in talks with many people, including Andy Hilfiger, Tommy Hilfiger’s 39-year-old younger brother and employee. Industry sources have said she could license a jeans line called J. Lo, named after her hot-selling album. Spears reportedly also was negotiating with the younger Hilfiger, who declined to comment on the deals. Hilfiger, who started a record label with Quincy Jones in 1999, is reportedly seeking a new role, possibly outside of the Hilfiger company, as he attempts to build a music and fashion licensing business.

As hip-hop becomes increasingly mainstream, not just free-spending high-school and college-age guys are target customers now. Motown legend Smokey Robinson shows up in stores to help support Natural Born Star, the year-and-half-old children’s clothing line that he co-owns with his designing daughter, Tamla Robinson. Ads for Rock Star Baby, the new children’s line created by founding BonJovi member Tico Torres, features bandmate Jon BonJovi cradling an infant.

Musicians realize that licensing their names or even manufacturing clothes can be more lucrative than a simple endorsement, such as the 1994 endorsement deal with rapper-actor LL Cool J that helped transform FUBU from a small hat and T-shirt company into a power with an estimated $30 million in sales.

Rapper Jay-Z, along with Rocafella Records Chief Executive Damon Dash started the Rocawear jeans wear collection a year and a half ago without a major ad campaign. “We sold $70 million pretty much under the radar,” Dash said. Like other musicians, Dash and Jay-Z realized that owning a clothing company can be a sort of insurance policy in the fickle music business.

“Why get a couple points advertising it when we could control it?” Dash said. “It’s people taking control of their own destiny. It comes from the entrepreneurial spirit that got us into the music business.”

Fashion’s connection with music is not new. Jerry Garcia surprised fashion critics with his strong-selling tie collection that debuted 10 years ago; Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar grumbled about the difficulties of launching his short-lived Red Rocker clothing line in 1990. Now heading into music from fashion, designer Karl Kani announced in January that he started a record label called Kani Life.

But there are risks that when the records stop selling or the band members part ways, the clothing line dissolves--witness the fizzle of Refuge Camp when the Fugees started going solo. Not everyone has the resources to weather the tough fashion business. “I lost $8 million before I really got started,” Simmons said of his brand’s early days. Phat Farm is now a profit machine; it raked in sales of $120 million last year. Simmons expects sales of his year-old Baby Phat women’s line to surge from $12 million to $40 million in its second year.

A quick scan of the crowd lined up for Simmons illustrates music’s continuing power to add cachet to what are essentially simple and sometimes ordinary jeans and jackets. Teens of all ethnic backgrounds are sporting logos for Phat Farm, Sean Jean, Ecko and other urban jeans wear lines, often in a hookup--slang for a matching jacket and jeans. Though he’s not an entertainer, Simmons is credited with pioneering the hip-hop clothing connection and breaking down barriers in an industry that now eagerly embraces urban street wear.

“They used to tell us we were ethnic clothing,” Simmons aid. “I don’t accept that, [because] it’s limited distribution and expectations.” Nor does he like the label “urban” because the collections now are more than that; they’re lifestyle-oriented. Simmons, who started Phat Farm 10 years ago, recalled that his black-owned street-wear company was an anomaly at trade shows. Now shows such as the menswear giant MAGIC struggle to contain the crowds surrounding booths for Phat Farm and the like. In October 1998, Vibe magazine produced a spinoff show that featured DJs, skateboarders and break dancers, said Emil Wilbekin, editor in chief. Vibe has since abandoned producing the VIBEstyle show to concentrate on publishing, but Wilbekin said the show brought together music, fashion and the culture that produced them to illustrate their influence on one another. The growing strength of the market has also inspired the California Mart to stage its second Urban Suburban show from next week. .

Just as stores now approach street wear with a more fine-tuned sensibility, so too do the musicians approach the making and marketing of their lines. They’re a long way from the garish screen-printed concert T-shirts that used to link fans to stars. And they’re cleverly using every opportunity to show off their designs.

“When we shoot a lot of the artists for the magazine, they want to wear a lot of their own clothes,” Wilbekin said. “It’s self-promotion at its best.”