By Philippa Flynn

For years we’ve seen artists reiterate styles from our parents’, grand-parents’, even great ancestors’ eras, working them into their own style and coming out with something completely unique and authentic. Where do we see this most? Music. And who does it best? The Girls.
Fashion and music have partnered since before I bet you can remember. Giving us style in the music industry has become an expectation, but ask a female artist who their style icon is and you can safely bet it’s a lady, or maybe gent, who began their career years before us. I guess it’s to be expected. We look up to our predecessors and typically imitate what we see and hear and if you were to make a list of the people who most influence today’s style, it will more than likely include the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn, Grace Jones and Coco Chanel to name but a few. But it’s the present day that we’re interested in. Today we constantly see their style reiterated in today’s music, especially via ladies such as Lady Gaga, Paloma Faith and Beyoncé. Its well known Gaga considers everything she eats, breaths and speaks to be ‘art’, citing Grace Jones as her all time style icon, using her dramatic stage outfits as inspiration for her own. For the Lady, the bigger the better, taking it to the extreme; controversial or stylish - you decide. As the video for her last single Telephone featuring Beyoncé has been seen over 80,000,000 times since its release, I’m assuming you’ll know what I mean by the coke cans in her hair? The hair stylist for the shoot, Danilo, spoke in an interview about Gaga’s love for the sixties and how he had used the same idea on Naomi Campbell back in 1990 for an Azzedine Alaïa shoot. Gaga loved the idea of using them as rollers, as did her fans, adopting them at her gigs and twittering pictures of them to her.
Moving onto one of our own, Paloma Faith names Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page as her icons, stating them ‘incredible’ and she ‘wants to go back to the 1940’s’ where she can wear clothes ‘with all those really nipped-in waists and big bums’. Finally a girl who’ll embrace her curves, dress to suit her shape, rather than promote size zero. These eras definitely did that, showcasing hourglass figures all round when we were unable to escape girls with beautiful, full silhouettes. Sure, Paloma’s a little edgy, but let’s face it – she gets it wrong, but oh so right. She puts her own twist with it, like a banana on her head? Yeah, like that love!
Onto a global superstar: Beyoncé is as famous for her music as she is for her bum. Why not though? She embraces it and she looks confident. Isn’t that what we should be? She recently stated that she loves the looks in the seventies, especially from Cher and Diana Ross, simply for looking like superstars and never playing it safe. You may have caught her in Dreamgirls, where she played Deena Jones living in the sixties, obviously the film epitomised the fashion back then, angelic dresses and afro-ahoy. Then she played Etta James in her life story. Just check out the hair. It’s easy to see where so many ideas for short crops come from; it’s all been done before.
Integrating old school glamour, clothes and make up into their music, long may our girls continue to show off our icons style and continue their legacies. Vintage or not, be unique, but give it your own stamp. Be confident and embrace what you have.