Music and fashion
Aspect of popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Music and fashion have long been closely linked. Artistic movements in music have often been associated with distinct fashions.[1][2] Both industries have also had considerable influence on each other. Many famous musicians have also had notable styles and influenced fashion.[3][4]
Pop
The Boston Globe described singers Cher and David Bowie as pioneers of shape-shifting in pop music.[5] Cher emerged as a fashion trendsetter in the 1960s, popularizing "hippie fashion with bell-bottoms, bandanas and Cherokee-inspired tunics".[6] She has repeatedly reinvented herself by adopting a series of visual personas,[7] for which Richard Aquila called her "the ultimate pop chameleon".[8] Billboard observed Cher's role in redefining visual possibilities for pop stars, allowing them to adopt multiple personas on and off stage.[9] The Independent's Alexander Fury traced Cher's fashion influence among female music artists such as Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, stating, "They all graduated from the Cher school of never sharing the stage, with anyone or anything."[10]
New York magazine acknowledged Barbra Streisand fashion sense saying "she embarked on a surreal, chameleonic, personal fashion quest" that single-handedly began the retro revolution in the 1960s.[11] American singer Michael Jackson inspired global fashion trends during the 1980s.[12] British Vogue called him "a fashion pioneer [who] initiated the trophy jacket trend in the Eighties".[13] His style included sequined gloves, a fedora, red leather jackets, sequined jackets, aviator sunglasses, black high-waisted pants, white socks and leather penny loafers.[14] American singer Madonna is known for having adopted multiple visual styles throughout her career. Author James Robert Parish wrote that her fashion during the 1980s helped create a new version of the blonde bombshell image.[15] Scholar Camille Paglia wrote, "[Madonna] has become a fashion icon more than a music pioneer".[16] Madonna's prominence enabled her to bring subcultural styles into the mainstream.[17] Various publications have credited Madonna with starting the underwear as outerwear trend.[18][19][17]
Country
Western wear is a category of men's and women's clothing which derives its unique style from the clothes worn in the 19th century Wild West. It ranges from accurate historical reproductions of American frontier clothing, to the stylized garments popularized by Western film and television or singing cowboys such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers in the 1940s and 1950s. It continues to be a fashion choice in the West and Southwestern United States, as well as people associated with country music or Western lifestyles, for example the various Western or Regional Mexican music styles. Western wear typically incorporates one or more of the following: Western shirts with pearl snap fasteners and vaquero design accents, blue jeans, cowboy hat, a leather belt, and cowboy boots.
Grunge
Grunge fashion refers to the clothing, accessories and hairstyles of the grunge music genre. This subculture emerged in mid-1980s Seattle, and had reached wide popularity by the mid 1990s. Grunge fashion is characterized by durable or hardy thrift store clothing, often worn in a loose, androgynous manner to de-emphasize the silhouette.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26] The style was popularized by music bands Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.
Heavy metal
Heavy metal fashion is the style of dress, body modification, make-up, hairstyle, and so on, taken on by fans of heavy metal, or, as they are often called, metalheads or headbangers. While the style has changed from the 1970s to the 2020s, certain key elements have remained constant, such as black clothes, long hair and leather jackets. In the 1980s, some bands began wearing spandex. Other attire includes denim or leather vests or jackets with band patches and logos, t-shirts with band names, and spiked wristbands. It can also include with heavier subgenres of metal: bullet belts, gas masks, and war gear.
Hip-hop
Hip-hop fashion (also known as rap fashion) refers to the various styles of dress that originated from Urban Black America and inner city youth in American cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Being a major part of hip-hop culture, it further developed in other cities across the United States,[27] with each contributing different elements to the overall style that is now recognized worldwide.
Mod
Mod, from the word modernist, is a subculture that began in late 1950s London and spread throughout Great Britain, eventually influencing fashions and trends in other countries.[28] It continues today on a smaller scale. Focused on music and fashion, the subculture has its roots in a small group of stylish London-based young men and women in the late 1950s who were termed modernists because they listened to modern jazz.[29]
Punk
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewellery, and body modifications of the punk counterculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like the Exploited to the dressed-down look of North American hardcore. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion. Punk fashion has likewise influenced the styles of these groups, as well as those of popular culture. Many punks use clothing as a way of making a statement.[30]
The early, pre-fame work of designer Vivienne Westwood helped pioneer the look of early British punk with her scene-establishing clothing shops Sex and Seditionaries in the mid-1970s, co-run with Malcolm McLaren who managed the Sex Pistols. Westwood was asked by then-partner McLaren to outfit the Sex Pistols, and Westwood's designs found a canvas on Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious.[31] Her early work with Sex and the Sex Pistols helped to establish her as one of the most influential British designers of the 20th century.[32]
Punk fashion has long been commercialized,[33] with well-established fashion designers like Zandra Rhodes,[34][35][36] Thierry Mugler,[37][38] Jean Paul Gaultier,[39][40] Stephen Sprouse,[41][42] and Anna Sui[43][44] using punk elements in their production and the first punk-influenced fashion spreads appearing in mainstream fashion magazines as early as 1976.[45]
