Music industry lead on the fashion industry

Music and fashion go hand in hand in the sense of music can influence fashion, also fashion could influence music too.

Music is not just about music anymore, it is also about other things. It is the designers who are able to exist musicians in furthering their career, also expanding their popularity by looking at album cover design. Album cover design is the first generation of the designers' role comes in. So, let's talk about how is the music industry lead on the fashion industry. When there's music, ofcourse there's album cover, so one of the reason that who buys the album cover is the musician fans, second is the design of the cover. Is it look nice? If yes, we will buy it too, and we will visualize their styles, dressing. That is why music fans tend to follow or copy the looks of them from their favorite musicians which then create trend in the fashion industry (Nzei-Ebosele, 2015).

In the 80s saw the emergence of dance music, country music and new wave like rap, RnB, rock and roll. There were more significance on fashion accessories, women who wore large scarves, leather trench and fur coats, big and spiral hair styles. One musician that greatly bring up the trend of fashion in the 80s is Madonna (Nzei-Ebosele, 2015).

Besides, the famous American hip hop group- RUN DM, as known as the first hip hop group merge with rock and rap. Most of their album cover were in Adidas brand because Adidas formed a long-term relationship with Run DMC.

(Maximum Run DMC album cover, Run DMC)

Not only that, in 1986, Run DMC had a track of new album that hit up the fashion industry too. The album is 'My Adidas', it is also the beginning of modern hip hop style sensation, sneaker culture and  product endorsements (Pratt, 2014). 

They also have a billboard of their album, with adidas logo on it, suit up with adidas clothes. This is also a way to promote their new album, new song and also the fashion part, which is what they're wearing. As this is 80s' trend, people also start to dress up with hip hop look.

However, the fashion legacy of Run DMC and their shell-toed Adidas is much more than the evolution of a new revenue driver for performers and brands alike (Pratt, 2014). Hip hop style, streetwear, sportwears brand- Adidas are increasingly intimately relationship between music and fashion, in some way or another that affected by the group (Pratt, 2014).

Moving to 90s, we saw the growth of hip hop and rap music from the previous years which is 70s and 80s. Although all these are popular, electronic music that was introduced in 80s was now in demand in the 90s too. It is a mainstream that every kind of the musics mix together. So that the top hit of this decade include tracks from top musicians like Snoop Doggy Dog, Jay Z, Ice Cube and the list goes on (Nzei-Ebosele, 2015). So they were also brings up those wash denim, high waist jeans, oversized sweaters and crop tops insanely in this decade.

I have found that, nowadays the fashion and music, like denim, high waist jeans, even korean style are all repeating the same thing from all these decades like 70s, 80s and 90s. Music and fashion will never end this long-term relationship until the doomsday.


References

Nzei-Ebosele, N. (2015) 'Influence Of Music Industry On The Fashion Industry', 29 April, [Blog] Available at: https://augfashion.com/2015/04/29/influence-of-music-on-the-fashion-industry/#more-87 (Accessed: 21 June 2016)

Pratt, R.M (2014) ' Run-D.M.C.'s 'My Adidas' and the Birth of Hip Hop Sneaker Culture', BusinessofFashion, 18 July, [Online] Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/video/run-d-m-c-s-adidas-birth-hip-hop-sneaker-culture (Accessed: 23 June 2016)