It’s been 12 years since A$AP Rocky released “Fashion Killa”, with a video featuring fashion’s favourite popstar, Rihanna. They may not have been dating at the time, but fast forward to 2025 and the couple have just welcomed baby number three. Not only that, the rapper is now a veteran “fashion killa” – as announced today, Rocky is due to receive the Fashion Icon Award at the 2025 CFDAs. And it’s about time.

Since first catching our attention back in 2011 with his debut mixtape, Live.Love.A$AP, the Harlem-born artist has consistently proved himself as passionate about fashion as he is about music. In the music video for his 2011 track “Wassup” he wears Comme des Garçons, Y-3, and Raf Simons, while shaping modern streetwear as we know it. 

“I’m going to be a fashion icon in a minute,” he told GQ back in 2012. “I mix streetwear with high fashion. It’s never been seen before.” He’s been loyal to Dior since the days of Kris Van Assche, has catapulted several streetwear labels into the mainstream (Hood By Air, Needles and even Supreme), and has been growing his own brand, AWGE, since 2014. It was announced earlier this spring that A$AP would be Ray-Ban’s first ever creative director, while he continues to work alongside brands such as Moncler and Puma.

“I’ve been into fashion since birth,” he told Interview magazine in 2012. “I grew up in the ’hood, and everybody in the ’hood wants to compensate for being in poverty, so they want to look good to keep themselves up. That’s been embedded in me. My father, he kept me in the Jordans and Guess stuff and all that other shit, so it was just like I grew up on that fashion shit.”

Erykah Badu was the recipient of last year’s CFDA Fashion Icon award, with past winners including Naomi Campbell, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams and Lenny Kravitz. Rihanna picked up her icon award back in 2014, draped in one of her most famous looks to date: that glittering Swarovski gown and fur shawl. Now, both parents of Riot, RZA and Rocki will be certified fashion icons (and if the kids’ recent custom Dior looks are anything to go by, they’re already the best dressed children on the planet). It’s high time A$AP Rocky was recognised for his services to the industry, and his outfit come November 3 will no doubt be one for the fashion history books. 

Scroll through the gallery above to take a look back on A$AP Rocky’s greatest looks.