From New York boutiques in the '80s to Pharrell Williams' first Louis Vuitton collection, hip-hop culture has changed how we dress like none before it.

In Sharpstown Mall, the center of Houston's hip-hop scene, there's a small store called Belts of the World. They sell two-fist-big belt buckles encrusted with hundreds of rhinestones.

NPR's Juana Summers visits a new exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City that celebrates 50 years of fashion in hip hop music.

Originally popularized by New York City rappers like Max B and Jim Jones in the aughts, these colorfully iced-out belts with gigantic buckles are still co-signed by major hip-hop artists today.

This hand-scrimshawed burgee buckle jibes well with a canvas belt, salt-faded chinos and a simple pique polo. Boat shoes or white Converses optional. Think of the Kennedy men in Hyannis Port. Hand ...

B.B. Simon, famed for luxury belts with Swarovski flair, partners with DJ Siobhan Bell for a gender-fluid capsule blending hip-hop roots with modern style.

Beauty supply company WezTeck has created a durag with an adjustable buckle instead of strings to tie it and some call it innovative.

On February 8th, The Museum at FIT is celebrating 50 years of hip-hop style with a showstopping exhibition. This museum is dedicated to the art of fashion, and over the last five decades, hip-hop ...

Whether, it be the G-Unit spinner, an icy MMG joint or the famous Rocafella chain, there is nothing that screams hip-hop as owning one of these. Belts & Belt Buckles ...

Utilizing bits of vintage jewelry and semi-precious stones she uncovers at garage sales, flea markets and auctions, Thompson fashions elaborately colorful Hip Candy belt buckles that she sells ...

So right now, as Houston has grown into the ground zero of hip-hop, cowboy iconography — the buckles, the boots, the dusters — has been adopted by hip-hop artists.