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Conclusion

Music has always been a huge influence in the fashion world, it has influenced many designers as well as clothing brands. Throughout history the different musicians that were the icons of their decade have had major impact on what the next trend or fashionable style of clothes will be for that particular decade.

Throughout my blog I have discovered that the punk style has been a very prominent influence in the world of fashion since the 70s, which was very much loved and adored by Iggy Pop. Then later on in the decade Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren decided to open the first hard-core punk store in London called Sex. This store was a huge hit with the Sex Pistols, as well as the teenagers at the time, as punk was the next big thing in the mid 70s and 80s. it gave people freedom, as well as showing rebellion and flout. It was very freeing as people (especially the younger generations) felt liberated as well as having a chance to gain individuality and be bale to stand out from the crowd. However, as any fashion trend or style, it started to become mainstream, that’s why different adaptations as well as subcultures started to arise from it, as people wanted to stay original. Kurt Cobain was one of them, yet, accidentally. He is remembered to this day as one of the most influential fashion icons of the day, but the way that he became one is by being himself. The way that grunge was born was because the frontman of Nirvana Cobain, was quite penurious in the beginning of his career especially which lead to him wearing anything that he could find at charity shops and anything that he could afford for a cheap price, this lead to him mixing and matching different patterns and layering his clothes, which were the main two features of the grunge look. From the brighter colours of grunge, and the wearing of Doc Martens and Converse, the mall-punk was born which Avril Lavigne represented very well.

Being punk was not just about wearing black and ripping up your clothes it also included making people feel slightly uncomfortable, and this was done very well by people like David Bowie, who would wear dresses on his album covers as well as wearing leotards on stage matching it with colourful make up.

Musicians have had a massive influence on the world of fashion throughout the decades, and we are very thankful to them because without their input, many fashion designers would not have gotten their inspirations and the fashion industry would not have gotten as far as they have to this day.

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My favourite song by Avril Lavigne

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Collage of Avril Lavigne in the early 2000s.

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Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne became a massive fashion and music icon in the 2000s. She became famous with her two very well known singles, ‘Complicated’, and ‘Sk8er Boi’, thanks to these two singles her first album ‘Let Go’ sold over 15 million copies worldwide and has been the number 1 hit single.

Most teenagers have gone through the Avril Lavigne stage especially in the 00s, by wearing bright colours, with many shades of black involved. Lavignes style is punk-skater, she would be seen dressing up in a tomboy style.

In the music video that she recorded for ‘Sk8er Boi’ she was wearing a green graphic t-shirt, with some lose fit ¾ length jeans and black and white, stripped knee high socks. The punk style has lingered in the fashion industry since the 70s, and has been a prominent element in the way that people have dressed. The rebellion was very noticeable in Avril Lavignes style and the way she would act in her music videos.

In ‘Sk8er Boi’ and ‘Complicated’ videos Avril Lavigne was seen wearing a black and red stripped tie with a simple t-shirt or a generic white vest top. In the videos she was also presented as a rebellious teenager that liked to cause chaos and mayhem, which she reflected well with the clothes that she chose to wear. In 2003 she appeared on the red carpet with one of her famous looks, she wore a silky corset top with some pink lace outline around her breasts, matching black leather bracelets on both of her writs, and black lose trousers which had vertical bright pink stripes as well as the same bright pink colour accents around the pockets, and crossed belts which connected both of her legs together.

Lavigne is not just a singer, she is also a fashion designer as she has launched her own fashion brand, Abbey Dawn in 2008. The name of her clothing brand comes from her nickname that her father has given her when she was younger. The style of the clothes that the clothing brand features, are 2000 punk style, with many hot pink colour accents, as well as animal prints, such as zebra and leopard and striped patterns, as well as having studded footwear, especially platform heels, which she likes to wear on the red carpet especially. Avril Lavigne has stated that she likes to try on all the clothes and shoes before they get put up for sale as she wants all the clothes that she sells to look just right and fit perfectly. She has also worn some of her jewellery on stage at her shows before the accessory pieces have been featured in her clothing store.

Overall, Avril Lavigne is a very expressive personality, who is also very individualistic and likes to inspire young people to be comfortable in their own skin, which is one of the main aspects of the punk style. Her personal style doesn’t involve a lot of effort to achieve as she wears a lot of simple, lose fitting clothing, especially trousers, and trainers. The trainers that she wears are the skater brand shoes, this gives a sense of casualness to her look, and makes it obvious that Lavigne prefers comfort over looking good. Her accessories are also a very big part of her look as she was always a huge fan of black leather studded bracelets and wearing bright coloured ties around her neck. Her style always reflected a sense of androgyny as she was always comfortable being herself and dressing the way that she liked, and not because it would please other people, and that is what made her a punk-style icon.

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My favourite son by Nirvana

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Collage of Kurt Cobain in the 90s.

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Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain started Nirvana in 1982 but didn’t become famous until fairly later. He has been described as ‘Antithesis of the macho American man’ by Alex Frank. Cobain was a feminist who was also interested in gender politics, and would often be seen in magazines and on stage wearing women’s clothes, such as floral dresses and skirts. He blurred the lines between masculinity and femininity, forcing the public to accept the fact that clothes are purely pieces of fabric, which don’t change anything about who you are or what gender you were born.

Kurt Cobain was always very poor, even throughout most of his career as the frontman of Nirvana. He lived out of his car for a good amount of time, because of his money situation he was not able to afford any first hand clothes, let alone designer clothes. As Cobain was the catalyst for grunge fashion, he became a fashion icon accidentally, he just simply could not afford clothes and that would be the reason as to why you would always see Kurt Cobain in mismatched patterns. The reason as to why he layered most of his clothes, such as flannel shits and jackets, is because he lived in western Washington which was very cold. He bought most of his clothes from charity shops, Army-Navy surplus stores and from thrift stores, if his jeans had torn, he would saw a patch onto them, the style of grunge was very self-made, and that is why it is said to have quite a few similarities with the punk style. One of the unfortunate legacies that Kurt Cobain has left behind is the heroin chic look. Cobain was very insecure about how skinny he was due to his heroin addiction; this is why he would wear baggy wool cardigans as well as loose jeans.

Marc Jacobs was the first designer to be inspired by the grunge movement and he exhibited this in his Spring 1993 collection for Perry Ellis. Well known models such as Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell walked down the runway wearing many layers of mismatched clothes and patterns, that looked like they were from a thrift shop, but really they cost hundreds of dollars.

One brand that Cobain was a massive fan of was Converse. He would wear them so much that the white rubber on the shoe would go grey and brown, and the fabric would have holes in it. one brand that Kurt Cobain was never seen wearing was Doc Marten, even though Docs are hugely associated with the grunge look. Cobain just simply could not afford them. In 2007 Doc martens had an ad campaign which featured Kurt Cobain, joe Strummer and Sid Vicious sitting on a cloud wearing Doc Martens, this campaign was very controversial and even made Courtney Love complain to the company about the ad, which lead to Doc Martens pulling the ad and firing their advertising agency.

The grunge movement was a very freeing movement, which encouraged young people to feel comfortable being in their own skin, and embracing the more natural look. It also had a very DIY side to it, similarly to punk. You didn’t require to have money to be a part of this movement, as the whole point of the grunge style was so that you could spend as little money as possible, and invigorate people to live a more minimalistic life style with only having a few outfits, that is where the layering of the clothes comes in handy as you can layer less in the summer and more in the winter. Even though Cobain became a fashion by accident he will always be remembered as the guy that was not afraid to be himself and do what he believed in, whilst doing it all in his Converse.

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My favourite song by Cher

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Collage of Cher’s most infamous outfits

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Cher

Cher’s career first took off in 1965 after she released her first single with Sonny Bono ‘I Got You Babe’. She has always been known for her Avant-Garde sense of style, always surprising the audience with different looks that push the boundaries, she wants to captivate her audience and not let them take their eyes off her.

In the 70s Cher was highly influenced by the soft edges, and bright colours, she was very much dressing in the bohemian style, whilst reflecting her hippy side, as she would most often wear flared jeans or trousers with looser tops, her long and straight dark hair also added a lot to the look as she embraced her natural beauty. In the 70s her career really started to take off, due to the help of her husband Sonny Bono, who was 11 years older then her, and who she married in the bathroom of her apartment, with souvenir rings, for wedding bands. Bono would help Cher by getting her gigs as a background singer for bands such as the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers. When Cher started to gain a lot of fame in the 70s, a toy company called Mego started to produce Cher and Sonny fashion dolls, which at one point were even more popular than the Barbie doll.

In the 80s Cher was more influenced by the Punk scene, she would be seen wearing cropped, black leather jackets with a leotard that consisted of barley any fabric and reflected the ripped up look. She also was a fan of big, dark, curly hair at that time, which went quite well with her dark coloured punky outfits.

Cher has always worked very closely with Bob Mackie, who has helped her create and design most of her famous looks that we know her for to this day. Fro one of the Oscars nominations Cher wanted to dress up, so Bob Mackie and Cher came up wit the idea to copy one of the outfits from the Cher Show, recreating the outfit all the way to the smallest of details. However, the most famous outfit that Cher has worn was to the Academy Award show, as she wore the two piece co-ord, which was covered with black sequins, she covered her shoulders with an oversized black, silk kimono, and had her hair spiked up into a Mohawk, she has said that this was her favourite outfit, “it made me feel like a queen.”

Designers like Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, have also been inspired by this infamous outfit, as similar Mohawk as well as the models wearing the colour black have appeared on the catwalk in the more recent years.

Cher has really left a huge imprint on the world of fashion, as not only the general public but fashion designers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian keep on taking inspiration from her, and her outfits. Not only does Cher hold the title of being the only number 1 ranked artist a Billboard chart for 6 consecutive decades but she also has left a huge footprint in the world of Avant-Grade fashion.

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My favourite song by David Bowie

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Collage of some David Bowie’s most iconic looks.

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David Bowie

Bowie started off his career in in the early 60s, since then he has released 27 studio albums. He was very well recognised for creating different alter egos that would reflect the album that he is releasing, the genre of music that he is creating, as well as the style of clothing and the fashion movements that he is interested in at the time.

With the release of his 3rd album in 1970s ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ came a very boundary pushing album cover. Bowie was featured laying on a vintage sofa wearing a silky dress with a bright floral pattern, as well as long wavy hair. This was the era when Bowie was very interested in androgynous fashion, which at the time was very controversial and uncommon; however, bowie was not afraid. In 1971 he released another album called hunky dory which also reflected his interests in androgyny in the album cover. He is pictured wearing a blue and black fur coat, with matching blue eye shadow and soft pink lipstick as well as having long blonde hair to compliment the look. Like most artists, David Bowie also had a muse which he took inspiration from, which was an American/German singer and actress Marlene Dietrich. She was mostly known for her androgynous sex appeal, as she would be seen wearing men’s suits with a top hat and smoking a cigarette, this was very strange and atypical at the time.

One of the biggest turning points for David Bowie in fashion was when he created his two different alter egos, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, the birth of these alter egos was born after he became close friends and had collaborated with one of the most influential fashion designers of all time, Kansai Yamamoto. Yamamoto was the most influential Japanese designer in the 70s/80s, with his bright coloured, Avant Garde clothes. Bowie started gaining a lot of interest in space and space travel around this time, which influenced his alter ego Ziggy Stardust as well as the album ‘The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust’ which was released in 1972. Bowie was influenced by Yamamotos jumpsuit designs, as they reminded him of the astronaut’s suit, as well as singer Legendary Stardust Cowboy. This was also the time period where Yamamoto designed the famous black and white, stripped, oversized jumpsuit for David Bowie which we all recognise to this day. The oversized style was very popular in the early 70s, as well as psychedelic patterns, which Yamamoto was known for. Bowie was also very much in love with silver platform boots, as well as boots with stars in it, as this related to his obsession with space.

A year later Bowie released his next album called ‘Aladdin Sane’. Aladdin was his next famous alter ego that was a continuation of Ziggy, which David bowie described as “Ziggy goes to America”. The album was loosely based on his brother Terry who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. This is also the time period when Yamamoto designed the flamboyant, knitted leotard that Bowie has worn many times on stage as well as in photo-shoots.

As David Bowie became bored of the space themed looks, he decided to take his style in a completely different direction, and for his next album cover of ‘David Live’ he was seen to be wearing the iconic blue suit created by Yves Saint Laurent in 1974. This suit was a very light and bright blue colour, with the classic 4 button jacket, as well as oversized, baggy, pleated, trousers.

The ‘Thin White Duke’ was another famous look of David Bowies that not only inspired the creative director of YSL Hedi Slimane, but keeps on appearing on catwalks year after year. It’s a simple white shirt with large, 70s style collars, worn with a simple black waistcoat and well-fitted pleated black suit trousers. This look is from the album which was released in 1976 ‘Station to Station’.

In the late 90s Bowie started working closely with the upcoming, talented fashion designer Alexander McQueen, for his 1996 tour. Alexander McQueen has also created the well known ‘Union Jack’ coat that Bowie has worn on his ‘Earthling’ album cover in 1997.

David Bowie will always be remembered as one of the most influential icons in the music industry as well as the fashion world. He has always been boundary-breaking and fearless of any controversy that he might be facing with any of his outfits. Bowie dressed in the clothes that he liked and wore the designs that meant something deeper to him, not just because he liked the way it looked. He always found meaning in everything he created and felt passionate about, his music and his fashion was very personal and contextual, and that is why he was and always will be one of the most inspirational and influential people in the world of art.

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My favourite song by the Sex Pistols

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Sex Pistols- Anarchists

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Sex Pistols

Leaving the peace-sign-holding 60s and entering the anarchy-filled 70s, one of the most influential punk bands of all time had been born in 1975.

The two consecutive decades could not be more different from one another; whilst the hippie 60s featured soft edges, colourful and pattern filled clothes as well as flowy fabrics, such as loose fitting jackets, flared jeans and trousers, and long hair the 70s did the exact opposite, and this was prominent mostly in the UK. Ripped-up-controversial- slogan t-shirts were a massive hit, paired with tight ripped trousers and of course a studded, short, black leather jackets and of course to finish off the look, messy-gelled spiky hair.

In 1974 a boutique run by Malcolm McLaren his girlfriend-at-the-time Vivienne Westwood had opened on Kings Road in London. This clothing brand was the start of the punk movement. The two high-school friends Steve Jones and Paul Cook had decided to form a band originally called The Strand, who mainly took inspiration from The Who and 60s mod music. The boys would always be seen hanging out at the shop owned by McLaren, as well Glen Matlock who worked there at the time. The Sex Pistols established themselves as a band when one day Steve Jones saw John Lydon in the Sex shop where they would all frequently hag out, Steve liked the look of John, who look “a bit different”, with green hair and a self-made ‘I HATE Pink Floyd’ t-shit which appealed to the band members. And this when they became the Sex Pistols. Malcolm McLaren stayed as they manager and they set off to perform live at any clubs and venues that would take them, due to their extreme style and ‘rough-around-the-edges’ music.

The band affected everyone they performed in front of, no matter if they liked the Sex Pistols music or not, they were purely influenced by their raw aesthetic and sound. The young kids represented the UK’s deteriorating economy at the time, and their aesthetic was heavily influenced by that. Anti-social behaviour was very prominent due to the lack of money that most people experienced at the time, and the Sex Pistols were no exception. Paul Cook remembers the times when him and the rest of the band were left with no choice but to steal music equipment, and who’s a better person to steal from than David Bowie. Cook remembers going backstage after the shows where the equipment were left over night and taking them for themselves. As these times were hard for everyone, people had to become a lot more creative at obtaining clothes. This what the band did, they would get most their clothes from the Malcolm McLaren owned shop, however, the rest they would make themselves. John Rotten would rip up his old trousers or saw them up in different fashions, and pin them with safety pins, as he didn’t want them to fall down and expose his arse.

Later the shop Sex went through a rebranding period and changed their name to Seditionaries, this when Vivienne Westwood started to create t-shirts with controversial slogans and image on them. One of the most famous one is the two cowboys who had each others genitals touching, which of course, in the mid 70s was highly unacceptable and contentious. However, the band loved these designs especially Sid Vicious, who’s most iconic look was the red t-shirt with a Nazi swastika on it and a black leather jacket, this look sparks debates even in today's day.

When the song ‘Anarchy In The UK’ came out it reached number 38 in the charts before getting removed by the record label. Around the same time Vivienne Westwood designed and released a top that was called ‘Anarchy in the UK’ shirt, which featured the slogan “Only Anarchists Are Pretty” on the front of it, as well as an image of Karl Marx who was a famous economist.

The Sex Pistols ended up breaking up 3 years later in 1978, after the lead singer John Rotten left the band due to many disagreements with McLaren. Even though the band had a short run they will always be seen as one of the most influential bands to ever exist, as they represented the whole entirety of the punk movement with they contentious music, as well as their rebellious style and aesthetic which encouraged young teenagers to be themselves and be brave and fearless, which I believe was very important especially in that economic climate in the UK, as the youths needed something to cling onto and this style seemed like a head-turning and fashionable option at the time.

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My favourite song by The Stooges 1969