For the Record

Author: Emily Temple

It's undeniable that music and fashion are inextricably linked. We are unable to help ourselves from making assumptions about those around us based on the clothes that they wear - not only assumptions about what kind of music they listen to, but also whether they have a lot of money, whether they play sports, whether they are likely to put out on a Friday night. As a culture, we feel the need to lump everyone we see into stereotypical subcultural molds based on their appearance, especially when it comes to musical tastes and the array of characteristics that they seem to imply. For instance, that kid with the black-rimmed glasses, tight girl jeans and black Converse? Emo. The kid in dreads and flannel? Pink Floyd. Backwards hat and sagging pants? Rap. Popped collar? Dave Matthews. Right? I guess.

But what is the real connection between liking a certain genre of music and finding a certain style of dress aesthetically pleasing? And further, what is the connection between music and lifestyle? Is it just hero worship of rock stars or rap artists that leads their fans to emulate their style of dress? What about artists who are not hot rock stars, but are still a huge part of that certain subculture? Is it a desire to fit in with the same crowd of people who like the same music you do? If that's the case, where does the style you need to project in order to feel like one of the herd come from? Is there really something inherent in liking indie rock or R&B that makes you want to dress a certain way? Or does it come from the other end - does your style dictate your music choices?

Supposedly, the punk movement, including punk fashion, was a reaction to the soft, indulgent, and eventually commercialized hippie culture in the sixties and early seventies. Kutten, safety pins, mohawks, combat boots and the like all emerged in opposition to the previous dominant subculture aesthetic. The connection between punk culture and punk style is easy to draw: it was a rebellion against oppressive propriety and, let's be frank, everyone's parents. In that sense, the musical component of the culture fits right in. And no one can deny that a lot of the fashion influences do in fact come from the stars. The Ramones kick-started the punk movement in the seventies with their messy hair, black leather jackets and ripped jeans, but punk fashion grew to be much more than just an emulation. Rather, it became a personal and often very political statement, like the hippie lifestyle, but unlike most modern stylistic choices. Now, it seems like most subcultures have very little political or social agenda, but instead follow what seems to be a shallow, unfocused desire to look alternative, or to project their values of "cool" via fashion, the exact style varying largely with the type of music implicated.

I don't buy that everyone that likes a certain type of music is just naturally into the corresponding aesthetic. It just doesn't seem plausible, especially considering that some people, myself included, really enjoy a wide variety of music, and must therefore be extremely confused as to their own taste in clothing. I accept the idea of the desire to express political and social views via one's manner of dress, but I don't think that everyone who is into "emo" music or indie rock naturally wants to wear skinny girl jeans and black-rimmed glasses. Rather, it's something you learn. And the fact that you have to learn how to conform to a society of fashion based on the kind of music you happen to enjoy is what rings false to me. It's true that two people who like the same kind of music may be more inclined to like the same kinds of other things as well, and that those things might extend to fashion, but then again, they could be completely opposite from each other in every way except enjoying glam rock. To some extent, I accept the stylistic emulation of musical artists as an explanation for the correlation between musical taste and personal fashion, but again, some of the most beloved legends dress pretty neutrally, and some so outrageously that they cannot be copied.

I don't really have the answer. I would like to believe that our generation of subcultures is not just driven by the herd mentality and the desire to be "scene," that people don't always dress to "look" like the subculture to whose values they subscribe. I would like to believe that people involved in music-based subcultures wear what they do for themselves. But I wonder.