Inspiring, traveling the world, hanging out backstage – such are the activities of those lucky women who were chosen to accompany the rock stars who captured the hearts of young girls everywhere. Long gone are the days of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan he is still an inspiration, so why not consider the style of the lovely ladies who inspired him and so many other music icons.
There is arguably a strong relationship between art, music, fashion and popular culture – these things all inevitably connected to Rock and Roll. Yigal Arzrouel stated that the inspiration for his fall collection was 60s icon Francois Hardy who is mentioned in a poem by Dylan featured on the cover of his album released in 1964, her style has clearly had an effect seeing French actress and singer is still inspiring designer collections nearly 50 years later.
Bits of Hardy’s and many other 60s icon’s style could be spotted in New York this season – from Rolling Stones muses Marianne Faithful and Anita Pallenberg to Led Zeppelin groupie Audrey Hamilton, the always alluring rock and roll lifestyle clearly intrigued and inspired New York Designers this season. Designers often look to the past for inspiration and as far as I’m concerned towards the muses, girlfriends, wives and even some groupies of rock stars is a good direction to look into and a pleasant trend to see on the FW 12 Runways. Nostalgia induced fashion fever could be spotted at Rag and Bone, Rodarte, Tess Giberson, Timo Weliand, Vera Wang, and at the surprisingly pleasant Rachel Zoe show.
With long printed and sheer dresses and moody color palates designers took their audiences back to a time when the Rolling Stones were all the rage and when their girlfriends and muses were luminary fashion figures. This season we saw a range of inspiration from the mod-classic 60s days of Beatles’ muses Pattie Boyd and Jane Asher to the Early bohemian 70s and in effect rock and roll inspiration ranged but the I’m With the Band look eventually evolved to appear overall dark and moody. Nicole Miller’s vintage inspired collections included a heavy dashing of prints that were more than likely to be seen on Stones girls like Marianne Faithful and also included black, sheer, sulky songstress looks with crushed velvet jackets and lace tops. Nicholas K took a seriously-somber direction with black leather, fur, western hats, slouchy sweaters and a dashing of dark tye-dye modernizing the Muse look while also hinting at other fall trends like Frontier chic and Goth inspired.
However, for those who are more inspired by the groupies than the wives, girlfriends and muses – a Penny Lane in the film Almost Famous-esque shearing jacket is imperative and can be found at Doo.Ri and Reed Krakoff. Although Kate Hudson’s Penny Lane was a glorified groupie, her style was not to be contested – other fashionable groupies included Chris O’Dell who everyone from Mick, Bob Dylan and Ringo had allegedly been fond of – but hey, no judgment despite her status as super-groupie she did definitely have amazing off-beat style.
To move on from girlfriends to wives, at Rachel Zoe a Bianca Jagger-like white suit with a mod twist made an impact, accompanied by of course the Stylist/Designer/Reality Star’s favorite thing on earth– fur; of course a bit of fur is the perfect way to add a bit of fun to this trend – and of course it isn’t just the girls behind the guys – the Female Rock stars and chantuses are always a source for fashion tips layer over a gauzy black sheer Stevie Nicks number or throw over a mod mini-dress. The major thing is these girls weren’t just the chicks behind some of rock and rolls biggest legends, they were the arbiters of style in the 60s and early 70s – as models, actresses, musicians and sometimes just groupies they were the faces of these trends back in the day and the rock and roll-lady look is maintained through their stunning photographs – popular sources of inspiration for designers, editors, stylists and fashion folk alike.
The New York chic set and girls all over the fashion globe should definitely take notes from these icons of the past this season and incorporate velvet, sheer, long skirts, bohemian hats, and ethnic prints into their wardrobe. Maybe they’ll be able to inspire someone creatively or even be someone’s muse – although groupie-esque behavior is not necessarily encouraged this pre-punk era rock and roll look will never be not cool.
By: Margaret Duffy
