The increasing demand for accessorizing has given to use of the weirdest items possible as fashion accessories.
Big, visible headphones are no longer synonymous to rap artists and gansters who popularized it back in the 90s. According to fashion Bloggers; “A great pair of headphones is indisputably a fashion statement.”
In 2015, when Dolce and Gabanna featured headphones on the runway, audio accessories officially became fashion accessories. Some have even become more expensive than a standard car, as Hollywood stars has pushed the fashion statement a notch higher by purchasing custom made, top designer one with Swarovski crystal embellishments.
Designer headphone prices have soared across board and could cost as much as £8 thousand, especially as names such as Beats by Dre are now seen as a status symbol and not just a tool for listening to music.
In 2012, the market research firm NPD Group reported that Beats by Dre, an audio-focussed subsidiary of Apple originally founded by the rapper Dr Dre, boasted a 64 per cent market share of headphones priced higher than $100. In August 2014, Apple’s acquisition of the company was the largest in the global tech behemoth’s history, costing around £2bn.
Those prices have been hiked even higher, even as Beats collaborated with Italian fashion house Fendi, in the label’s hand-stitched Selleria leather which went on sale for £950 and was sold out within a couple of days.
In Nigeria, the craze for stylish headphones is not only amongst young boys; girls too have joined the race to impress with headphones which can sometimes double up as head bands to keep your hair in place.
Why ditch traditional ear plugs for gigantic headphones? You might ask; Apart from the fact that modern designed headphones are generally more comfortable than some earpieces; reviews of the Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones II have shown comfort at its peak. The fact that some headphones are also wireless and Bluetooth connected, such as the Urbanears Plattan ADV wireless headphones makes it easier and more convenient for audio to be listened to and enjoyed while on the go.
To be fair, fashion and music do go together. According to the UK Guardian, the headphones craze is actually quite rational.
‘If you can afford to carry round a £400 smartphone filled with £500 worth of music, then it does seem like a false economy to listen to it with the cheap, hissy earphones that fell out of the box.
Better headphones also tend to leak less, which your fellow passengers will be grateful for. And there is some evidence that, by blocking out external noise more effectively, they also dissuade users from turning the volume up too high, which may protect their hearing in the long term.’
For music lovers, I guess the watchword is; ‘the bigger the better’!
Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson
