Misa Hylton facts for kids

Misa Hylton (born January 6, 1974) is a famous American fashion stylist and designer. She is known for being a pioneer in the fashion world. Since the 1990s, she has styled many hip-hop and R&B music artists. Some of her most famous clients include Lil' Kim and Mary J. Blige.

Hylton's unique style is often called "hip-hop glamorous." It has greatly influenced fashion trends in popular culture. Today, Hylton is a global creative partner for the brand MCM. She was also featured in the 2019 documentary The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion.

Misa Hylton's Early Life

Misa Hylton grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. Her mother has Japanese and Jamaican roots, and her father is African American. From a young age, Misa loved fashion and was a big fan of hip-hop music.

She would listen to hip-hop radio stations and imagine what the artists might wear. Her future boyfriend, Sean Combs (also known as "Puffy"), also grew up in Mount Vernon. He lived near one of Misa's childhood friends.

Starting a Career in Fashion

Hylton began her fashion career when she was 17 years old. She was still a high school student at the time. Her first job was helping on a music video for the group Jodeci.

Her boyfriend, Sean Combs, invited her to the video set. Together, they convinced Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell to let the group wear combat boots, hoodies, and backward hats. This was a new and fresh look for the time. Combs later introduced Misa to other artists at Uptown Records. These artists became some of her first clients.

Styling Famous Artists

Misa Hylton became well-known for dressing Lil' Kim and Mary J. Blige. She saw them as her main inspirations. It was hard to find clothes for Lil' Kim, who was very petite. This led Misa to start designing clothes herself.

Hylton designed and styled the famous purple jumpsuit and pasty that Lil' Kim wore to the 1999 VMAs. Misa focused on being creative and taking risks with her early designs. She felt this was part of being in the "hip hop generation."

For Lil' Kim's "Crush on You" music video, Hylton found inspiration from the movie The Wiz. She also styled Lil' Kim for her first solo album, Hard Core.

Building Her Own Business

When she was 21, Hylton started her own company called Chyna Doll Enterprises. This company provided stylists for music video shoots, magazine covers, and public events. Chyna Doll Enterprises styled many famous artists.

• Aaliyah
• Faith Evans
• Jodeci
• Q-Tip
• Foxy Brown
• Dru Hill

By the age of 25, Hylton had earned one million dollars as a stylist. She also styled Sean Combs, Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, La La Anthony, Mase, Terrence Howard, and Mary J. Blige for her "Not Gon' Cry" music video.

Facing Challenges in Fashion

Misa Hylton has spoken about the challenges she faced as a young woman of color in the fashion world. The styles her clients wore were sometimes called "ghetto fabulous." Misa preferred to call it "hip hop glam." This style was not always accepted by the mainstream fashion world at first.

She would even buy luxury fashion items for her clients using her own credit card. When Lil' Kim became more recognized after a MAC campaign, fashion houses like Galliano started to notice Hylton's clients. Hylton once shared that Versace is one of her favorite brands. This is partly because they featured Naomi Campbell as a model when dark-skinned models were rarely used by major fashion houses.

Hylton often works with designer Dapper Dan. They created custom shorts for rapper Trina using twenty-dollar bills. They also styled the Fendi Zucca print suits for the "Let's Get It" music video.

Recent Work and Achievements

In 2012, Misa Hylton opened the Misa Hylton Fashion Academy. She started it with co-founder and stylist Jai Hudson. This academy helps teach new stylists.

Hylton was featured in the documentary The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion. The film is about how fashion plays a big role in hip-hop culture. It first showed at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.

In February 2020, Harlem's Fashion Row honored Hylton, April Walker, and Dapper Dan. They were recognized for their important contributions to the fashion industry.

Misa Hylton is a global creative partner for the brand MCM. In 2018, she designed the fashion for the "Apeshit" music video by Beyonce and Jay-Z. She also designed special MCM chaps and a western hat for Megan Thee Stallion's performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in July 2019.

Hylton also styled and directed the fashion for Paper magazine's November 2020 photoshoot with Flo Milli. This included a custom denim bustier, panty, pasties, and headwrap.

In 2021, Hylton launched her INC fashion collection for Macy's department stores. This was part of Macy's 'Icons of Style' campaign. The campaign aimed to promote and show the work of Black American style-makers and designers. Other designers included Ouigi Theodore and Zerina Akers.

Misa Hylton's Impact on Fashion

Hylton often dressed her clients in Western-inspired clothes in the 1990s. An example is Mary J. Blige's "All That I Can Say" music video. This trend has been linked to the "Yeehaw" style that became popular in 2019.

She is known for shaping how women rappers dressed in the 1990s. These styles are still thought to influence women artists today. Celebrities like Rihanna have said that Lil' Kim, one of Hylton's main clients, inspired their fashion sense.

For example, Cardi B's gold chained headdress from her "Money" video looks similar to styles Hylton created. Also, Cardi B's matching red fur and bob wig from "Backin it Up" are traced back to Hylton's choices for Lil' Kim.

Hylton encouraged her first professional styling clients, Jodeci, to wear modern, casual clothes. This included hoodies and backward hats, instead of the formal clothes and dress shoes that were common then. This new look went on to influence R&B fashion. It is still a reference point for artists today.

Personal Life

Misa Hylton has three children. Her son, Justin Dior (born 1993), is with her ex, Sean Combs. From her marriage to music executive Jojo Brim, she has a son named Niko (born 1997) and a daughter named Madison (born November 1998).