Music and Fashion have always been interwoven. Musicians always had a say in fashion trends and often disrupted the fashion industry. Whether it be via namedropping in a rap/hip-hop song, collaborating with brands and labels to make exclusive collections or just their fans wanting to dress like their favourite artists.

Each artist having their own sense of style that sometimes is so powerful and specific that it pours out into the entire genre that it becomes a uniform for artists in the same genre. We see this particularly with the re-introduction of Y2K, a fashion style that was mostly sported in the mid 90s and early 00s amongst black female r&b, hip-hop artists like Destiny Child, Aaliyah, Ciara, Missy Elliot. It then filtered into mainstream media and was further amplified through movies like bratz dolls, Bring it On, legally blonde and John Tucker Must Die. We’ve associated fashion style with genres of music so much that if a musician were to walk onto a stage with skin-tight leather trousers and a leather jacket, we would naturally associate them with the rock n roll genre, all that is left is an electric guitar.

Fashion has also been a fighting tool for musicians. Items of clothing were used to send or amplify a message be it political, environmental and/or sexual. Artists such as Madonna, David Bowie and Billie Eilish, all with different style of music and fashion but with the same message of sexual liberation. Musicians only wearing clothes by designers who are for similar causes as their own or wearing clothes with bold statement written, be it on shirts, jackets or woven into accessories have been used to further political awareness an example is the Black Lives Matter Movement that shines a light on police brutality on black bodies. Presently, we see more push with androgynous clothing telling us that clothes do not, should not define gender and/or sexuality. This ideology being backed by Harry Styles, Lady Gaga, Zendaya, BTS, Rihanna, Young Thug and Zendaya. 

In this editorial, we will be exploring different genres of music with their fashion influences. Experimenting with fusions of these musical genres to create unique looks. ~ Fejiro Ovah

Country x Punk

Punk is a genre founded in anarchism whereas country is rooted in American conservatism - combining the two styles creates juxtaposition and tension. Despite their conflicting ideologies, many similar design elements are adopted by both genres such as leather, bondage straps (or buckles) and sharp, black boots. People within these two subcultures all tend to wear their clothes with a sense of rebellion (irrespective of what they are rebelling against!) – for this shoot we wanted to fuse the two styles together and convey this unifying sense of rebellion.

 Key musicians we took inspiration from included the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith and Lil Nas X as well as designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Ann Demeulemeester and Raf Simons for Calvin Klein. Using many tailoring elements we aimed to convey the straight edge conservatism of Country which we then subverted with Punk, bondage inspired details such as leather materials, heavy silver belts and rope closures to the jackets.

Both looks were kept androgynous as we were inspired by the Punk attitude to dressing – with individuals like Patti Smith and the Ramones subverting gender norms through their fashion (the Ramones with their too small, shrunken t shirts and Patti Smith with her oversized menswear tailoring). The masculine look includes a blazer from Ann Demeulemeester who was heavily inspired by Patti Smith and punk – this leather blazer encapsulates the structured and tailored elements of Country alongside more punky elements such as the exaggerated shoulders, feminine high cut back and almost angry looking pointed lapels. The pleated tie neck blouse is also inspired by Patti’s romantic and Victorian take on punk.

 By combining these two genres we hope to bring Country away from its conservative roots and move it towards a more progressive and inclusive look. ~ Emily Guillard

Disco x Jazz

Disco and Jazz are two opposing genres at first glance; one is bold and loud, the other smooth and refined. Yet, both of them find common ground in their pursuit of pleasure. The 1920’s was a time of revelry, whilst the 1970’s emphasised revolution. Where Jazz had sequins, Disco had neon. They’re both dazzling, fun genres with a distinctive dream-like aura.

I took inspiration from films, especially Saturday Night Fever and The Great Gatsby. As I compared the styles of both, I found that they complemented each other well. The light from a disco ball bouncing off a sequined flapper dress was a particularly beautiful image in my mind.

I connected the genres together using accessories. If an outfit focused on Jazz, then the accessories would represent Disco. I also took vivid Disco colours and added them to the otherwise neural-toned Jazz style. The poses imitated dance moves, a definitive element of not only Disco but Jazz too.

Disco and Jazz are genres which embody having fun. They contrast to begin with, but overlap in many ways - including in their fashion. In unifying both together, it was like a dream come true. ~ Angel Hagacer

Electronics x Rock

Futurism and modernism facilitated and inspired the emergence of electronic music. These elements can be seen in the looks of the pioneers of the genre in which the editorial was inspired by – Kraftwerk. 

Kraftwerk’s were known for their sleek hair and clean looks, they used costumes in a different way and combined them with bold and futuristic accessories. They illustrate their belief in the respective contribution of both man and the machine which can be clearly seen in their music and style expression. 

Later on, rave culture emerged with even more bold, dark looking exterior and the looks were reflected by the heavy machinery techno sounds.

We combined the futurism and boldness with rock music, which is more down to earth, the sounds are natural, not computer made. David Bowie was an icon of glam rock, with bright and colourful makeup and outfits, especially known for his suits. We combined his signature suit and make up look with the futuristic elements of Kraftwerk's sleek hair and shades. 

In addition, we looked at soft rock and Fleetwood Mac and took the down to earth flowy natural skirt elements and wavy hair and combined it with the boldness of the techno culture.  

By this fusion, we’d like to bring attention to the interaction of the machine and the human. ~ Dominyka Kaukėnaitė

Jazz x HipHop

Jazz style represents clean and fitted outfits. It is rooted in New Orleans  in 1910, jazz music quickly spread around America and dominated pop culture in the 30s and 40s. One of the fashion icons for jazz is trumpeter Miles Davis without any doubt. He is known for innovative melody and pioneering compositions. He preferred a one button suit over a plain, white shirt with skinny tie. This became his, furthermore, jazz’s style. In contrast, the style of Hip-Hop stands in its rebellious and oversized outfits from the 1990s.

HipHop in this period reflected traditional African culture. Rappers lke Nas, Jay Z, Biggie, and 2Pac heavily influenced to build a HipHop fashion trend in ‘90s Their styles like sagging, which is wearing pants below the butt, gold rope chains, and brand labels such as Guess, Nike, and Versace were leading the trend.

We were interested in seeing how these contrasting genres would be blended together. The styling for a feminine model consists of a velvet textured dress and elegant jewellery, like a pearl necklace and gold hoop earrings. Whereas for the Hip-Hop we decided on a vintage denim bomber jacket, a bucket hat, Air Jordans. For the masculine look, we meshed two different styles through a clean white shirt and blazer with cargo pants, and timberland boots, bold jewellery like heavy chain necklaces, and a Rolex watch for that added eccentricity that is normally seen embodied in Hip-Hop’s icons. ~ Dabin Lee

kPop x Y2K

When you think of the Y2K era you think of flip phones, cute outfits, crazy jewellery, and showing quite a bit of skin. When you think of Kpop your mind goes to the talents of Korean makeup and the diverse stage outfits which cross all borders of fashion. Bringing the two genres together was smooth sailing as they blend well. Combining the aspects of each that make them memorable, makeup for Kpop and accessories for Y2K, to then emphasise them with blended clothing really pulled the outfits together.

These are outfits that we actually see nowadays due to the influence of GenZ and so the inspiration also lies in the very Tiktok idea of getting ready in your room with your friends to have fun and take pictures. ~ Natasha Kyalo

Latin x Grunge

On paper, Latin and Grunge are two very different genres of music, even more so in fashion. Merging the two genres allowed us to play around with a range of colours as well as silhouettes. From the bright and bold colour-blocking inspired by Latin pop to the more subdued dull palette of grunge fashion, contrast was key in creating these outfits. We also find potential in layering as we could mix various textures and prints together to make our looks more coherent thus, making our vision for this collaboration more realistic.

For the women’s look, our initial inspiration came from Becky G’s look from the 2019 Latin American awards where she wore a bright black-and-yellow printed gown with a black bodice. Although representing the elements of Latin-pop fashion, the colour palette itself was suggestive of a Latin x Grunge collaboration.

This then brought us into our research phase in which we found Selena as our main inspiration for our women’s look. Her iconic bejewelled black-and-gold bralette became our staple piece for our look, and we decided to bring the outfit into a grunge headspace by adding a leather jacket on top.

For the trousers, we went for a muted snake print which resonated with Latin-pop’s love for animal print whilst still adhering to the grunge colour palette. The overall look was a product of the performative and concert-esque element of Selena’s costumes, toned down by the wearability of grunge style in the everyday ~ Rommie Pinthatham

CREDITS

Editorial Director - Fejiro Ovah

Country X Punk

Photographers - Aubrey Dang, Renée Bennett

Models -  Kacper Brach and Joylynn Loh

Editorial Team + Stylists -  Emily Guillard, Fejiro Ovah, Rommie 

Makeup Artist - Fejiro Ovah

Disco x Jazz

Photographers  -  Katelyn York and Mark Cai

Models - Angel Hagacer and Taha Peerzada

Editorial Team + Stylists - Angel Hagacer

Electronics x Rock 

Photographers  -  Aubrey Dang and Muhammad Mustafa

Models - Fejiro Ovah and Sam Hewitson

Editorial Team + Stylists - Fejiro Ovah and Dominyka Kaeukėnaitė

Makeup Artist - Millie Saunders

Jazz x HipHop

Photographers  - Grace Kennedy, Renée Bennett

Models - Angel Hagacer and Leonardo Moraglia

Editorial Team + Stylists - Dabin Lee, Louise Brown

Latin x Grunge

Photographers  -  Katelyn York

Models - Ankitha Kumble and Khaleel Shazada

Editorial Team + Stylists - Rommie Pintatham and Fejiro Ovah

Makeup Artist -  Millie Saunders

Y2K x Kpop

Photographers - Tavishi Sharma, Zainab Oguntade

Models -  Kacper Brach and Johsin Xu

Editorial Team + Stylists - Natasha Kyalo, Tavishi Sharma

Makeup Artist - Natasha Kyalo