The Style Council: Reliving four decades in music fashion

David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars?’

Glam rock may have existed before David Bowie, but no-one did it quite like him. This daring, chameleonic fashion icon defied any and all rules of fashion, pushing the limits of gender conformity with his outrageous, make-up heavy looks. Filmed during his Ziggy Stardust era, the glam rocker’s fourth music video ‘Life On Mars?’ defined his look in the ’70s. His powder blue suit, electric eye make-up and bright red mullet were unforgettable, foreshadowing what was to come: more bold looks that played with silhouettes, colours and a painted face – including Aladdin Sane’s iconic lightning bolt.

Madonna

Her Madgesty burst onto the pop scene in 1983, permanently changing music and fashion. Working tutu skirts, haute couture scrunchies, fingerless gloves and crucifixes, it was impossible to ignore the influence of the Queen of Pop. From her layered pearls, to her unapologetic dark roots and sheer shirts, we fell in love with her style – even if we didn’t want the conical bras.

Jackson’s Thriller

You know what we’re talking about. That jacket. While the King of Pop had already been carving out his own unique style, making the humble white sock iconic and rocking a single glove like no-one had, or ever will again, it was his Thriller jacket that embodied what the ’80s were all about. Bright red with razor-sharp shoulders and black piping, it was the ultimate power jacket, and became one of the most copied cuts of the decade. The iconic piece went on to sell for $1.8million at auction in 2011, described by its new owner as “the greatest piece of rock memorabilia ever”.

Boy George

Showing that the Culture Club wasn’t just a name but a lifestyle, the leader of London’s peacock punks, Boy George, saw ’80s fashion as art and provocation. With his gang of ‘Blitz kids’, including Leigh Bowery and Stephen Jones, Boy George defied traditional ideas of punk and masculinity, using fashion as a gender-bending experiment in anything goes. Through dramatic make-up, extravagant outfits and an unparalleled hat collection, Boy George turned the club scene into a colourful catwalk, attracting attention, headlines, and even comments from royalty. The queen’s late sister, Princess Margaret, once walked by Boy George in all his glorious maquillage and remarked, “Who’s that over made-up tart?”

Kurt and Courtney

When ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ hit the airwaves in 1991, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana were set to not only transform the music of the ’90s, but the fashion. The single’s heavy rotation on MTV introduced Cobain and co to the masses, including their grunge aesthetic of thrifted wares and unwashed hair, which stood in stark contrast to the rainbow-bright, hyper-stylised, neon-pep of the ’80s. For girls, Cobain’s girlfriend Courtney Love was similarly influential; Love’s bleached blonde, bedhead hair was almost as iconic as Cobain’s, and her ability to rock a barely-there slip dress with heavy Doc Martin boots echoed Nirvana’s ability to blend edgy with vulnerable, hardness and romanticism. Cobain and Love’s charisma and infamous relationship made them into fashion icons, and the grunge trend was inescapable.

TLC

TLC’s ‘Waterfalls’ wasn’t just one of their most famous songs, it was also the video that brought sport crop tops and voluminous pants to the masses. Adapting the baggy pants of male hip-hop artists into a strong and feminine trend, the trio’s signature style was often copied, rarely bettered. TLC’s femme take on hip-hop was later emulated by other artists, and their influence was unmistakable, even when it was given a rockier or grungier edge, like Gwen Stefani in No Doubt’s ‘I’m Just A Girl’ video the following year. Stefani may have traded the large jeans for cargo pants and thrown on her signature red lipstick, but the silhouette was all TLC. The band also became iconic for their co-ordinated outfits, marking an era of in-squad fashion later emulated by Destiny’s Child.

Fall Out Boy

The post-hardcore, confessional style of emo music may have emerged in Washington DC in the mid-’80s, but it took until the 2000s for the genre and fashion to really break through into the mainstream. Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy became a fashion icon, rocking some serious eyeliner, skinny jeans, studded belts and a poker-straight fringe that fell across his eyes – oh, the hairdo that made the GhD a must for the outcasts as well as the popular girls! The Converse trainers that had served us so well during the grunge years now found a new fanclub, as they fit in perfectly with the checkerboard accessories, stripy tops, band tees and lip piercings. This trend has been forever immortalised in a million MySpace selfies.

Britney and Xtina

The utterly manufactured rivalry between these former Micky Mouse Club friends was a way of defining what kind of teenage girl you were; were you a good girl like Britney, or a bad girl like Xtina? Either way, you had a host of iconic fashion looks to try and emulate. Of course, Britney’s breakout smash ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ was an instant classic, sending women everywhere back to shorten their school uniform plaid, and tie their hair up in pigtails. But when Christina Aguilera decided to sex up her image in contrast to Ms.Spears’ virginal, girl-next-door image, the ’90s got naughty.

With ‘Come On Over’, Christina ushered in the era of jeans cut so low your entire pelvic bone was on display, with some belly piercings and chains to round off that ’90s glam look. Christina’s Moulin Rouge-inspired look in the 2001 ‘Lady Marmalade’ video, meanwhile, made wearing bustiers in public wholly acceptable, before ‘Dirrty’ the following year made skunk-streak highlights, nose piercings and bra tops all the rage. Thankfully the assless chaps never went fully mainstream, but they did make many an appearance come Hallowe’en. Fashion came full circle when both Britney and Christina performed ‘Like A Virgin’ with Madonna at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, both decked out in sexed-up bridal lingerie. Madonna and Britney shocked the world by sharing a kiss, showing that Madge still had the ability to cause a scene.