Fashion And The Music example essay topic

The 1960's were the beginning of the new youth culture. Young people suddenly had power, they wanted to have a say on what was going on at that particular time. The best way to do this was through the music, hence the universal language. Music was used as a way to express emotions about everything, and to make political and other statements. Fashion reflected the music by making a statement and expressing personal opinions. The 1960's clothing styles developed along simpler, more youthful lines.

It was the decade that had it's own fashions directed specifically at teenagers. Before the 60's, teenagers dressed like their parents. The Mod movement of the early 1960's originated as such a youth subculture. However, by the mid 1960's it had evolved into a more generalized yet at the same time more outrageous form of fashion. It led to an explosion of the youth culture, which gave all teenagers a style of dress they could call their own.

This style was very revolutionary but it eventually influenced the fashions of the entire decade for people of all ages, changing fashions from mass-market clothes all the way up to the haute couture industry. 1960's "fashion became more youthful; they became simpler, shorter, and brighter". 1 By the middle of the decade fashion was turned on its ear, as elements of styles initiated by the young permeated the clothing of all ages and all classes. Elements such as short skirts, bright colours, graphic patterns and unusual materials found their way into mainstream and haunt couture clothing. So, from a mainstream fashion that was fairly conservative we can identify a gradual change that continued until the mid 1960's, when it finally affected all areas of fashion. After all, young people were beginning to be a force to be reckoned with.

This gradual change seemed to occur alongside the development of the music movement. The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, just to name a few, were adored by thousands of fans who listened to their songs and copied the clothes they wore. 'The Beatle jacket designed by Pierre Cardin in 1962 was a big hit for the Beatle fans, worldwide". 2 Jimi Hendrix wore bright fabrics, clashing colours and jewellery.

Hendrix was an inspiration for the young youth, expressing his self and feelings through his music and using fashion as a statement. Pop idols started using fashion in their lyrics as fashion had such an influence on the youth. The pop group The Kinks had a song, which went", They seek him there, His clothes are loud, but never square... He's a dedicated follower of fashion". 3 Fashion started to become part of the music. Underground music played a very big part in fashion inspiration for that time.

Bell-bottom trousers were very popular in the 1960's. They were fitted to the knees and then flared out into very wide hems. Everyone loved them. There was even a song by Louden Wainwright devoted to them. It was called ' Bell-Bottom Pants' " Everybody's got the bell-bottom pants Ain't got the pants you ain't got a chance At the pop festival, rock festival, folk festival or the dance Oh baby, them bell-bottom pants". 4 Teenagers were the driving force for fashion; the combination of music and fashion gave teenagers a sense of identity, a statement of self expression.

In the late 1960's you had two main different groups, the Mods and the Rockers. Mods, short for Modernist, consists basically young men, mostly white collar workers. They wore their hair in a pudding-basin or French-cut style. "They were considered dandies, compared to the other, more masculine subculture of the time, the Rockers".

5 The Mods clothes were streamlined. They wore tailored slim suits, often in mohair, and with single-breasted jackets. Their suits differed from the boxier, more conservative suits, which most men at the time wore. Many mods wore more flamboyant clothes. Portobello Road was home to 'I was Lord Kitchener's Valet', a store, which sold old military clothes and movie costumes. This shop provided many mods with their outlandish clothing, such as vintage Royal Guards jackets, or long military coats, to which some mods sewed fur from other old coats onto the cuffs and collars.

For more casual wear the mods wore Sta-press trousers, slimmer in cut, and Fred Perry of Ben Sherman shirts. The Mods were particularly known for their trademark parkas, which they wore while riding their Vespa scooters, another component of the Mod movement. Mod girls often sported black leather coats, short slim skirts or slim trousers, and black boots. By 1964, Mod bands had been established. Most notable among them were The Who and The Small Faces.

Keith Moon, The Who's drummer made Mod fashion history with his t-shirt featuring a target symbol. This simple graphic design became the trademark of the Mod subculture. 6 So as you can see pop idols were having a big impact on fashion. 819 w.

1973 saw the end of the Vietnam War. Drugs were used as escapism from the war, which reflected the fashion and the music. The music was getting very drug orientated with secret messages believed to be in the lyrics. The youth started to wear loud clothes with wacky colourful designs, which was the start of the hippie era. The youth culture were deeply affected by the war and it had such a big impact on them.

They started a campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The logo for the campaign became the peace sign. It was designed in 1958 by Gerald Horton and consisted of two superimposed symbols, the semaphore letters "N and D ", which stand for " nuclear disarmament"7. The 'peace sign' was later adopted by Moschino and used as his corporate identity.

8 Glam rock's emergence into popular music couldn't have come at a better time. By the late 60's and into the early 70's, rock had reached its evolutionary peak. Not everyone wanted 20-minute epic songs from the progressive groups of the time, nor the dawn out guitar and drum solos of the hard rock bands. "What rock needed was a back to basics, get dressed up, be freaky. 'Get Down And Get With It' approach. And that's what glam rock also known as glitter rock produced".

9 T-Rex, Slade and Sweet were among the ringleaders of this new music movement that built itself around fashion fantasy and challenged the gender rules. Glam fashions, inspired by the glam rock movement, were unlike any seen before, and outrageousness was the only rule. Glitter platform boots, sequined jumpsuits, feather boas, and feminine frocks on boys were common gear for gender bending at its most outrageous. Glam became the ultimate freedom of expression for a sexually explosive decade. At a time when most of the world was peace loving in bell-bottomed denim and earthy looks of leather sandals, glam rock took fashion to the extreme. These were the kids who didn't want to protest about the war, they wanted to play, to be stars on the stage and to shine.

10 It was the decade for major changes in fashion. Wide lapels, open collars with no ties, Puk a shell necklaces, and polyester, vested leisure suits. It was the decade of 'Afro' and long sideburns. Females wore bell-bottom hip huggers with halter-tops and Ditto jeans became the first must have label jean. In the 1970's Disco was the underground music. Disco wasn't just a type of music, but a way of life.

The disco scene was huge and performance dancing was popular with variations of the shake still around with Jazz tap as the new energy. Disco dance clubs created a venue for a new kind of clothing called disco wear, which was based on stretched clothes and light reflecting fabrics that shone under disco lighting. Disco wear was memorable for its hot pants and Spandex tops. Shiny clinging Lycra stretch disco trousers in hot strident shiny colours with stretch sequin bandeau tops were often adaptations of professional modern dance wear that found itself making an impact in discos as disco dancing became serious. Gold lame, leopard skin and stretched halter jumpsuits and white clothes that glowed in Ultra Violet lights capture the era perfectly. Men still wore bell-bottoms as in the 1960's, and women's dresses were ruffled and loose, usually stopping at the knee.

The men wore bell-bottoms, a jacket over a coloured shirt with gold chains. Platform shoes became big on the dance floor. Disco gave way to dress codes and a door screening policy. People had to have tried to look right to gain entry to clubs. Disco wear was never acceptable for daywear, but for night it was the only possible wear to be seen in. The colours were loud and clashing making a statement that the 70's were becoming an era of 'Saturday Night Fever.

' 11 The film 'Saturday Night Fever' of 1977 exemplified this way of life as John Travolta emphasised how important it was to release all the pent up energy of the working week on the weekend. 12 Disco was everything that Punk the anti fashion anarchic movement was not. Punk began as a very small scene in the 70's but was not short lived... The 1980's saw a new music emerge and with the new music came a new fashion.

As in the 1960's, there were two distinct groups, the new Romantics and Punk. New romanticism emerged in the UK music scene in the early 80's as "a direct backlash against the austerity of the punk movement". 13. At times it became a catchall term for quite desperate bands working within the pop world, and consequently works better as a description of a specific time rather than sound or style. "While punk railed against life on England's council estates, the new romantics celebrated glamour, ostentatious clothes and hedonism". 14 The fashion in the 1980's was very weird and crazy.

The trends of the 80's changed almost every two years. This was a very weird decade, not just for women, but men and children also. The rapid changing of clothing was different each time. There were a lot of things that affected the way people dressed in the 80's, things such as music and religion. In the beginning of the 1980's women mainly wore bell-bottoms and little t-shirts.

During the 70's, women began to wear more trousers in the workplace, which reflected more in the 1980's. Cut-off clothing, such as jeans with cuts up on the back pockets and shirts and sweatshirts that revealed almost everything you had to offer were the latest fashion. Women were wearing shoulder pads to make them look more masculine so they could feel equal to men in the office. Music idols such as Madonna, LL Cool J, Run DMC, Prince, Michael Jackson and Cher affected the way people dressed.

These music stars had their own style, which people liked and copied. Some of the clothing was not available in the shops so people had to make their own clothing. Duran Duran were the undisputed leaders of the New Romantics as no other band came close to achieving their success. A series of slick, film-like videos made their rise to stardom overnight. Their fashion-model good looks and glamorous vibes didn't hurt either, but without heavy rotation on MTV, not nearly as many people would have caught a glimpse of the boys. And not nearly as many teenagers' walls would have been plastered with their posters!

Spandau Ballet only had one hit in the US, but they were household names in the UK. Although they never quite achieved Duran Duran's heights of popularity, they charted earlier. Their fashionable cutting-edge threads and make-up made them favourites amongst the London nightclub circuit. But their flamboyant style was short lived as by '83 they had revamped their image into slick soulful crooners and scored their biggest record " True"15. Madonna influenced a lot of teenagers of this era; she deliberately set out to shock people with her outrageous fashions. She wore tight fitting underwear, corsets and black tights on stage and started a fashion for the bustier top.

"Once, when unable to find anything to tie her hair back with, she used an old pair of tights and immediately started another fashion trend". 9 The 1980's brought two very different styles in. One style ruled the business world especially with the women. Women's business suites had broader shoulders.

With the help of shoulder pads, the suites resembled those of the 30's except with much brighter colours such as yellows, blues and pinks. The second fashion fad started with exercise. Exercise became a big deal in the 80's and exercise clothes became bright and worn casually. Lycra and spandex became popular materials to be used, usually coloured in brilliant greens and pinks. Teenagers were the main driving force behind this new trend.

By the late 1980's House and Hip Hop had emerged into the UK's underground scene. Disco eventually collapsed when it started spilling over ground. But the underground scene had already stepped off and was beginning to develop a new style that was deeper, rawer and designed to make people dance. Imported from Chicago and New York House music had arrived. House wasn't the only music to come from the other side of the Atlantic; it brought an urban sound with it " Hip Hop". Many people thought that Hip Hop would fade away quickly like the disco craze of the 70's.

Its roots are strictly urban, as people like Grandmaster Flash and Curtis Blow mixed rhythmic poetry with a ghetto beat. 17 Hip Hop remained a mainly urban black taste, until a transformation begun to occur. Hip Hop (or rap) began to cross over in to pop culture, as some rappers found themselves chart toppers. In the early 1990's bands such as N ivana had a big influence on fashion. The 'grunge look' was popular for both men and women. The 'grunge look' was mainly composed of loose fitting, baggy clothing.

Hair was worn very messy, almost as if the wearer had just rolled out of bed. With Rap and Hip Hop music also gaining in popularity, the 'thug' or 'gangster' look came into play. Groups like Kriss Kross started the popular trend, still in effect today, of wearing backwards baseball caps. During this period women's fashion begun to blend into men's, making trends unisex. 18 The mid 90's, alternative rock music was a major influence on fashion for men and women. Spiky hair and skate shoes and the 'skate punk' look was a product of this.

People also started to dye their hair in more than one outrageous colour such as pink, blue and purple. Around 96 a new band with a different image came along. The style of music was Indie music and the band was called Oasis. Once again we had the same pattern emerge, in comes a new music, and in comes a new fashion trend.

Bell-bottom trousers from the 60's and 70's came back in a big way but with a retro style. Everything that was old was now new again. The 60's motto's, 'Peace' and 'Flower Power' were now trendy and showed up on everything from jeans to school folders. Women's style became more 'girlie', for example baby doll dresses and long curly hair seemed to be a popular trend. 19 Shoes were also affected by this trend. The platform shoes of the 70's were back on the rise.

When it came to shoes, the motto was 'the higher the better. ' Music again became an influence for this trend; the pop group Spice Girls were notorious for their dangerously high platforms in every colour and style imaginable. During the 90's there was a healthy underground scene, in the late 80's early 90's House music arrived from across the Atlantic and was an instant hit. As for the UK we also brought new music into our underground scene. Hardcore which later turned into Jungle, them from Jungle to Drum and Bass and them by late 90's early 00's came the new, Speed Garage. The underground scene had a big following which brought its own fashion with it.

In the underground scene there weren't many idols being copied, it was more of create your own style. The one thing that really kicked off for the boys in the early part of the 90's were baggy jeans that were exploiting drugs. Makes like D ready, Toking, NASA and Karl Kan i were the brands to be seen in. The rave scene wasn't about certain individual people; it was about the music, which was perhaps the reason as to why fewer idols were being copied. To an extent Hip Hop idols were being copied, artists such as Snoop Dog, Dr Dre, and Tu Pac had an impact on the youth with a gangster style image.

The girls dressed similarly to the girls who were into Indie music but in the clubs less was more. Hot pants and knee high boots with skimpy tops seemed to be the fashion, but on the street they wore bell-bottoms, platform boots and even dog collars which all looked very sixties and retro. By the late 90's, early 00's the rave scene got smarter, it wasn't now just about the music but more about the image. People were more concerned about how they looked, fitted jeans replaced baggy jeans and shoes replaced trainers. Designers such as Moschino, Iceberg and Dolce Gahanna were now the brands to be seen, this also applied for the girls.

As for the Indie kids their style also changed. Indie music mutated into Punk music and artists like Oasis and Blur were taken over by bands such as Blink 182 and Limp Biscuit, who carry and portray a skater / rapper image, which was becoming a big trend for a lot of teenagers in the 00's Today, Hip Hop artists are becoming big idols; new artists such as Emi men and D 12 are braking through. Their music is vastly dominating the music world. The Hip Hop world appeals to many, from the music to the clothing. It is a universal style of music unlike the rave scene and the skaters it doesn't categorise you into a particular group. The rave scene has now started to produce idols, artists that are breaking through the underground scene and onto the Pop scene.

UK Garage bands such as So Solid who had a number one hit ' 21 Seconds' have now become idols, their clothing; ghetto, street-style, may be seen as adaptations of clothing worn by American Hip-Hop artists. Underground music inspires the club fashion; club promoters are now banning trainers, caps and hooded tops from the clubs allowing the scene to become more sophisticated. Artists within the scene such as the MC's are writing lyrics about clothing, and are consequently advising us on what to wear and what not to wear. Well-established Hip-Hop artist have begun a new craze; producing their own clothing labels. Artists such as LL Cool J who has his own range Fubu, Jay Z with Rock wear and P. Diddy with Sean John are all some of the biggest brand names in the shops today. Pop Idols have had such a big impact on fashion that they are now becoming fashion houses.

Throughout my dissertation I will be showing evidence gathered through my research proving that the music industry has had a big influence on teenage fashion since the 1960's. I have collected evidence from a number of sources to support this argument. To prove my case, I shall discuss the music industry and its influence on teenage fashion in each decade since and including the 1960's, showing this effect to have been a continuing phenomenon throughout the last five decades and into the present day. My argument will be structured by answering specific questions applied to each decade, starting with the 1960's. The first section of each decade will comprise an introduction to the socio-political climate of the time, providing the background against which the specific types and music and fashion were set. From there, I shall move on to look at the sponsorship links between specific designers and pop stars, to show advertising motives may have been an explanation for some of the music industry's influence on teenage fashion.

The next section will show how specific pop stars became 'idols' who were copied by their teenage fan base, thus explaining how teenagers came to drive the fashion industry. Then we shall consider how 'underground', I mean movements like disco, and later, glam rock, new romantics and, in modern times, garage, jungle, hip-hop, etc. Finally there will be a brief conclusion of the findings in each section before my main conclusion in which I shall sum up all the findings from my evidence. From the evidence I have gathered through my research you can clearly see that the music industry has a big influence on teenage fashion trends. The first evidence I had of this was from the Mods and their rivalry with the Rockers, two different styles of music and two different styles of fashion.

The frontiers for the Mods were mod band 'The Who' who had a big influence on their mod fans. Evidence of this was when Keith Moon, The Who's drummer made fashion history with his t-shirt featuring a target symbol, which was a big hit for all Mods making a statement. 1970's were an era for Glam rock and Disco music to emerge. T-Rex, Slade and Sweet were among the ringleaders for the Glam rock movement, with outrageousness as the only rule. Glitter platform boots, sequined jumpsuits, feather boas, and feminine frocks. As for the disco clubs they created a new fashion called disco wear.

Disco wear was memorable for its hot pants Spandex tops, Lycra trousers and stretched halter jumpsuits. Fashion in the 1980's was weird and crazy; the trends seemed to change almost every two years. During the beginning of the decade it was very much like the 1970's, women mainly wearing bell-bottoms and a t-shirt. As the year progressed so did the music, which reflected the fashion. Thousands who copied their unique fashion styles adored idols such as Duran Duran, Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson. Evidence of this was when Madonna used an old pair of tights to tie her hair back, which immediately started another fashion trend.

In the late 80's early 90's Hip-Hop music emerged into the UK scene, which had a big influence in teenage fashion in the 1990's. Idols such as Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr Dre, and Tu Pac kicked of yet another fashion for yet another decade. This style was the gangster look, which consists of baggy jeans, hooded tops, trainers and a baseball cap, mainly promoting drugs. While the decade was moving on so to was the music, which again brought a new fashion. Indie band Oasis were the cause of this new image. Bell-bottom trousers from the 60's and 70's were back in a big way, which had a retro style.

As for today as so many pop idols have such a big impact on the fashion world they are becoming the designers themselves. Uk Garage stars So Solid, have just launched their clothing range, which has immediately had an impact. Hip-Hop idols were the first to do this, which has brought them success in the fashion industry. Unlike in the previous decades you had designers making the clothing for the pop idols, which promoted their clothing range as well as the idol, you now have the idols designing their own fashion range which gives them more promotion and success..