Music more than any other influence has been able over time to shape fashion, marking real cultural and social turning points, giving life to subcultures, generational trends, breakthrough movements, new identity logics and forms of expression and belonging. With the advent of the video clip, the union has become inseparable. There are videos stuck in the collective imagination for a single iconic look, like Michael Jackson’s red leather jacket in Thriller or Shania Twain’s leopard-print suit in That Don’t Impress Me Muchor the reinterpretation of Marilyn’s pink dress sported by Madonna in Material Girl and the dramatic looks of Queen. Sometimes, through music videos it is even possible to trace the evolution of fashion in mass culture or identify elements, silhouettes and colors that inspire today’s designers. Here you are the 10 music videos they have had more impact on the fashion world.
David Bowie, Life On Mars? (1973)
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The setting is reduced to zero, an aseptic white space and in the center he: David Bowiewith his alien presence and hypnotic movements. Nothing else is needed to keep us glued to the screen. Her look is emblematic of the 70’s and at the same time it could not be more current: the celestial suit, the mullet orange, metallic electric blue makeup and bright lips. It could very well be confused with the eclectic melee that animates today campaigns of Gucci. He is eccentric, out of line, impossible to pigeonhole into a definition of gender or even to imprison himself in the label of being human: he is a fantastic creature who came down to earth to teach us to free personal expression from the constraints imposed by society and to shine with own light.
Madonna, Like a Virgin (1984)
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A very young girl moves between the canals of romantic Venice Madonna in a black top close-fitting covered with chains and rosaries around the neck, with showy drop earrings, eyes outlined by slightly shaded black pencil and then red lipstick, dyed hair, electric blue bolero and matching leggings. It is an iconic video, a piece of history that encompasses all the key elements and it provocative spirit of style 1980s.
Nirvana, smells like Teen Spirit (1991)
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TO Kurt Cobain just need a pair of jeansa striped shirt worn over a long-sleeved white T-shirt and ruffled hair for forever mark an erateaching us that style is more a matter of attitude. With smells like Teen Spirit officially born on grunge.
Spice Girls, Wannabe (1996)
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Nothing screams squad goals like the video of Wannabe. Who proclaims himself children of the 90’s he probably has the Spice Girls as spiritual matriarchs. As in a team of superheroines, the quintet presented itself as a varied assortment of different personalities encapsulated in instantly recognizable personal styles: Victoria Beckham aka Posh Spice embodied 90s minimal chic made of mini and tight cuts, straightened hair and total black; Emma aka Baby she was the cute and ultra-feminine one, with her hair often gathered in tails and braids and the white dresses; Geri aka Ginger it was that of the most eccentric, sparkling and daring outfits; Mel C aka Sporty and Mel B aka Scary were the sportiest ones with references to streetwear and hip-hop style – the latter with a preference for motifs animalier -. Among so many legendary moments given to us by Spice, Wannabe contains the stylistic manifesto of a generation.
Britney Spears, … Baby One More Time (1998)
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Playing the good girl gone bad, Britney created the character of irreverent and mischievous schoolgirlwith pompoms in her hair and braids as a naive girl and then the completely deconstructed school uniform: the Parisian, the low-waisted miniskirt and the shirt knotted on the front that reveals the bra – Miu Miu took notes from here for Spring Summer 2022 -. With this video, the singer has brought to life a character destined to inspire an entire strand of pop culture, from Mean Girls to Ariana Grande – who more than once played with quotationism in his videos.
Avril Lavigne, Complicated (2002)
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In a world of Paris Hilton, glitter and total pinka seventeen-year-old Avril Lavigne descends among us as the patron saint ofunderground. He performs for the masses from the stage of Top Of The Pops like J-Lo and Shakira, but she is different-from-other-girls ™does not sell sex and winking gazes, on the contrary it is a champion of outsider. Incarnation of the cool girl, Avril debuts with Complicated And breaks with the system: she is washed out, irreverent, funny, transgressive, without rules and without restraints, the friend ready to lead you on the wrong path, one who shows up with only male friends because “girls are boring”, one who gets kicked out of the centers commercial because she rides in it on a skateboard, one with which to amiably get into trouble to get out of it with a good story to tell over a beer sitting in the deserted parking lot of a nameless city lost in the saddest province of America. She is there anti-fashion rebel which ends up dictating trend: hers tank tops white and the slip top fascianti, i cargo pantsthe shoes chunkyis the other side of the Y2K style that we see revisited every day between street style and social media.
Lady Gaga, bad Romance (2009)
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Today Lady Gaga is one of the most acclaimed and respected stars of our time, he has done everything, including duet with the legendary crooner Tony Bennett and win Best Song at the Oscars (for the film A Star is Born), but his arrival on the pop scene literally turned the world upside down. With her platinum blonde wigs, huge glasses and avant-garde stylistic choices – including even an outfit of animal flesh – was so extra, so bold, bold, out of the line, that from the discussion it ended up marking a sort of cultural catharsis. Among all the videos of him, bad Romance is the one that establishes the most direct link with fashion: Gaga sports a series of looks that will remain forever engraved in the history of costumeborn from eccentric and provocative vision from Alexander McQueen. The also appear Armadillo shoesamong the most talked about designs ever.
Lana del Rey, Video Games (2011)
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Each video of Lana del Rey is a fragment that has helped to create a very specific visual universe, but Video Games was the first, the one that paved the way for the birth of sad Tumblr girl and perhaps even the whole concept of aesthetics that dominates today’s fashion, so it’s important to start from here. Despite her doll-like look, Lana was 26 when she posted this video clip on YouTube: a mix of footage archive of vintage films and homemade footage from her computer webcam, then edited together by the singer herself on iMovies. Already in the execution, we are faced with a new world: there is no need for large productions to release a hit single. Wrapped in aglamorous old Hollywood aura, between Lolita, Jackie O ‘and the reincarnation of Priscilla Presley, Lana was both devil and holy water. In Video Gamesshe basically put it all together – the aspirational essence of the Old Money aesthetic, the vintage cars, the cheerful vespa rides, the skater culture, California palm trees and sunsets, the grainy shots of Photo Booth – and, beautiful and depressed, we gave a narrative made of nostalgia, sick loves and eternal dissatisfaction that for some reason in the 10s of 2000 reigned supreme without sparing anyone.
Beyoncé, Formation (2016)
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It has been a while since there was so much talk about a music video before Queen B came up with this masterpiece which is Formation, a complete work that blends music, photography, fashion and politics in a perfect way tableau vivant representative of an era. In this video poster of the black culture, Beyoncé wears a light silk dress by Gucci standing in a sinking police car, he sports a gothic look at the American Horror Story: Coven with a black hat and maxi vintage dress, she leans out of a moving car wrapped in one white fur by Fendidances with her all-female gang swathed in Gucci-inspired sportswear, sits in a signature white lace dress Alessandra Rich and hat Chanel surrounded by her ladies like a queen in her own summer residence. Each scene is an unforgettable fashion moment.
Billie Eilish, when the party is over (2018)
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The voice of a new generation, Billie Eilish brings the classic to the headlines look of the e-girla mix of emo, punk and accents street. If the single bad guy the video of when the party is over contains all the new aesthetic code launched by the singer: billions of chains around the neck, sports and oversized dresses that hide the shapes to counteract the objectification of the female body, colored hair – which over the years have undergone various transformations – and then a black liquid and dense, which the singer drinks resignedly and ends up gushing from her eyes. It is simple and at the same time disturbing. Like other singers before her, Billie proposes a fashion idea at odds with most pop culture mainstream – boasting highly sexualized icons like Ariana Grande or the Kardashians – in favor of a mix of references to the 80s and 90sstyle skater And attitude rebellious, accents stonercore, influences from the gaming and from cyberculturewhich has become the aesthetic manifesto of Gen Z.
The history of fashion in 10 music videos that marked an era