{"id":218,"date":"2024-12-14T01:06:20","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T06:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/lao354-f24\/?p=218"},"modified":"2024-12-20T21:41:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T02:41:44","slug":"gender-wealth-a-dual-performance-behind-bad-bunnys-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/lao354-f24\/gender-wealth-a-dual-performance-behind-bad-bunnys-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender & Wealth: A Dual Performance Behind Bad Bunny\u2019s Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout his career, Benito Mart\u00ednez Ocasio, more commonly known as Bad Bunny, has not only had an impact on the Latin music industry but also distinguished himself from other male reggaeton artists. Since his formal entry into the music scene in 2016, he has challenged societal norms visually through his bold and transformative fashion choices. As a reggaetonero emerging from the hypermasculine genre of Latin trap, his evolution in style serves as a performance of both gender fluidity and wealth. From the start of his career to the present day, there is a visible shift in Bad Bunny\u2019s appearance and fashion choices, which is closely paralleled to the amount of success he has acquired throughout the years. There is also a consistent play with gender norms at different points in his career, but this engagement has ranged from subtle to explicit, revealing a deliberate and evolving approach to self-expression and advocacy. His early days embracing bright, flamboyant streetwear to recently modeling designer handbags in Vogue point to a dual relationship between gender and wealth that define Bad Bunny\u2019s fashion trajectory. This visual evolution is particularly significant within the context of reggaeton and Latin trap, genres traditionally steeped in hypermasculinity. Through this lens, Bad Bunny has become not only a style icon but also a symbol of progress for the Latin music industry, with the ability to attract audiences globally and turn heads with an outfit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hypermasculine Context:<\/span><\/h2>\n

To understand this fashion evolution, it is important to consider the Latin trap culture that Bad Bunny began his career with. Luis Rivera Figueroa (2021) provides a necessary basis for understanding Puerto Rican trappers, describing them as a \u201csexual-driven, violence-oriented, and wealth-flaunting masculine performance\u201d (92). He further contrasts the trap scene from contemporary reggaeton music for its explicit and vulgar lyrics that featured the typical masculine performance found in the genre, particularly in a \u201cpornographic register\u201d (94). These were the dominating attitudes of the Puerto Rican trap genre, which consequently formed a hegemonic hypermasculinity that was typically associated with not only Puerto Rican trappers but Latin artists across the region that adopted this culture. When Bad Bunny entered this scene, he would adhere to this hegemonic performance by hypersexualizing women in his lyrics, presenting as a drug lord, player, and pimp in his music videos, and name-dropping luxury brands to make his material success known. However, he would simultaneously diverge from this framework through his fashion, which Rivera Figueroa described as \u201cunconventional,\u201d \u201ceccentric,\u201d and his \u201cdistinctive quality\u201d (95). It is significant that it was not his music that differentiated him from other trap artists during this period; instead, it was his appearance that was out of place and made him attractive to the media. As Rivera Figueroa points out, emerging trap artists were able to take advantage of the \u201cprecious cultural capital\u201d that this dominant form of masculinity offered them, but Bad Bunny, despite following the vulgar narrative through his music, garnered more attention and fame through his transgressive fashion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To fully grasp the transgressive nature of Bad Bunny\u2019s fashion choices, it is important to consider Malcolm Barnard\u2019s (1996) theory of fashion as a form of communication and its role in reflecting and reshaping cultural norms. Barnard\u2019s work explores how clothing not only signifies individual identity but also interacts with societal structures such as hegemony, which he defines as \u201cthe situation that exists when certain social groups\u2026in positions of dominance are able to exert their social authority as a result of their power appearing and being experienced as natural and legitimate\u201d (95). Fashion as a form of communication then, reproduces these positions of dominance but also has the power to reshape them and appear natural. This is why Bad Bunny\u2019s fashion is distinctive amidst the hegemony of hypermasculinity in the trap genre: it communicates a reformation of the current dominant norm. The source continues by describing hegemony as a \u201cmoving equilibrium,\u201d suggesting that cultural norms, including those regarding gender and power, are not fixed but must be continuously re-established. Bad Bunny as a disruptor of hegemony has the power to continuously disrupt his own positions of power, especially as he becomes more comfortable with ideas of self-expression and identity. A similar framework can be seen within the genre of hip-hop, where the diversification of rap introduced a more stylish genre, one that married heavy gold chains and baggy pants with high fashion leather and fur (Wilbekin, 2020). This combination replaced the purely urban style that characterized hip-hop and can now be seen as natural and legitimate due to fashion\u2019s power as a form of communication. Bad Bunny\u2019s evolution in fashion reflects this dynamic, as his bold statements through clothing since the start of his career serve to disrupt the existing equilibrium of masculinity in Latin trap and, eventually, reggaeton and Latin pop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Early Trap Style:<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Various Bad Bunny red carpet looks from 2016-2018.<\/p><\/div>\n

It is impossible to visualize a fashion evolution without first viewing Bad Bunny’s early trap style. The image above depicts various red carpet looks during his trap era and leading up to the release of his first full album. At first glance, it is easy to be attracted to the bright colors he employs in each of his outfits, but a closer analysis demonstrates some degree of adherence to the hypermasculine aesthetic described above. Designer logos, flashy accessories, and streetwear staples such as denim are featured elements that are synonymous with the style of Latin trappers. Some of these red carpet looks incorporated pieces from high fashion houses like Gucci and Prada (Takanashi & Destefano, 2023). Despite his attempt to flaunt his wealth in true trapper fashion, Bad Bunny’s early trap style was already beginning to challenge the rigid norms of hypermasculinity within this genre. His use of eccentric patterns, vibrant colors, floral combinations, and clashing prints overpowers any attempt he could have made to present a masculine performance. These were the looks that distinguished him from his peers and challenged traditional gender norms, including his use of painted nails. Even in his early career, Bad Bunny used his style to hint at the fluidity and individuality that would come to define his public image, and the media were certainly paying attention.<\/p>\n

Subtle Gender Fluidity in “Caro”:<\/span><\/h2>\n