Commentary

Rock and roll music has been linked to youth, rebellion and dissent since its birth. The culmination of non-conforming attitudes, suggestive lyrics, and the crazed reaction of fans made this music appalling to older generations. However, as time has progressed and the early fans have matured, rock has become more acceptable and woven into the thread of pop culture.

It’s no mystery that music and fashion have been inherently connected for decades. Some may not agree with me, but I’m of the thinking that music inspires fashion. It’s definitely not the only influence, but it does have a critical role in what music fans are inclined to wear.

Let’s take a look back at trends that were inspired by music:

Rockers like the Rolling Stones impacted a generation of youth around the world with their rough, leather-clad rock image during the 1960’s. This resulted in a dispute between the ‘rockers’ and ‘mods” (who were obsessed with HIGH fashion during this era). In the mid 60’s, the two groups of fans collided in brawls in the United Kingdom over the differences.

Musicians also adopted style trends like hippie garb and custom-made outfits, all of which affected the 60’s style of dress. For instance, the Beatles popularized Nehru jackets and wore them during their famous Shea Stadium performance in 1965. Even the Austin Power’s movies of today depict the style with these coats.

And, let us not forget the anti-establishment overtone of punk music and the defiant lifestyle. The classic punk rock look among U.S. musicians threw us back to the T-shirt, motorcycle jacket, and jean ensemble of American greasers of the 1950’s and the aforementioned British rockers of the 1960’s. The initial haircut typical of this scene was short and choppy until the infamous Mohawk and Deathhawk emerged on the heads of punk artists and their followers.

When Disco danced its way onto the scene during the 1970’s, flashy urban styles hit the mainstream. John Travolta’s infamous butterfly collars in “Saturday Night Fever” is the perfect example of this phenomenon. Quite different from the punk style, which also created some tension between fans in the United States.

By the early 80’s, New Wave began making a mark on the fashion scene, marking a break from the mainstream rockers who favored jeans, hippie clothing, and the flamboyant disco style. The 80’s fashion trend was characterized by doing everything ‘bigger’ and the hairstyles of this period of music definitely proved that.

Then, there was the popularity of grunge in the late 80’s and 90’s, which created a fashion all on its own. 80’s hair glam bands and metal fans were still able to wear those ripped jeans. All they had to do was add a flannel shirt and dirty shoes to the mix in order to portray the grunge look. Fans put down the Aqua Net and ratting comb for big bouffant hair to make this particular transition.

Nowadays, music and fashion trends are not only intertwined but down right inseparable. The bond is just as influential as it was in the 60’s, 70’s, infamous 80s, etc. if not more. So, it’s safe to say that the influence of music is perpetual and takes on many forms, including the most visible – clothing. From indie to rockabilly and hip-hop to emo, there are more current fashion trends today than ever before, due to the abundance of different genres of music now available. As genres of music classification become more defined, artists’ “uniforms” appears as important as the music being played on the radio and in venues around the world.

In every shopping mall, you can buy fashionable clothes motivated by music. And, with the availability of shopping on the internet, fans have continuous access to online resources to keep up with the trends. However, fashion is becoming such a major aspect of current music scenes that misclassifying people’s musical tastes by what they’re wearing is commonplace. And, people who don’t portray the “look” of their musical taste tend to endure comments and glares from followers who do. Often, people tend to dress to fit their group, but stereotyping an individual by their attire isn’t fair, is it?

Fashion is supposed to be fun and an outward appearance of expression. If someone doesn’t dress a particular way based on their music preference, who really cares? Even though music inspires fashion, it really has no bearing on how each of us of relate to a band, song or melody. So, I still throw on my Converse for a concert because they’re comfortable not because it may be an indie band that I’m watching at the moment. I wear my eyeliner not because I’m going to see The Cure, but because I look like crap without it.

So, to the girl that thinks she’s not emo enough and secretly listens to R&B when her friends aren’t around… I say be who you are, listen to who you want and remember in the end only you know how music affects you and why you listen to what you do in the first place. You don’t have to jump on the bandwagon of a certain fashion or look a certain way just because everyone else does. Trends change, and everything eventually comes back full circle.

On a personal note, if windbreaker bangs would resurface with the leg warmers that are coming back, I’d be running for that can of Aqua Net or Paul Mitchell “Freeze” and bring the 80s back in full force. Now, that was my favorite trend. What’s yours?

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