The Influence of Album Art
Written by: Elisa Peters
Concept by: Ian Street and Elisa Peters
Photos by: Nia Harrison
Graphics by: Ian Street
Models: Mikayla Buneta, Preslee Crowl, Caleb Moll, Mavis Parks, Hal Lueking
As music becomes increasingly integrated into the lives of Gen Z, seemingly interconnected with almost all social media platforms, it was bound to intersect into the fashion world in some way. As social media users, we follow our favorite music artists. We keep up with their latest music drops and watch as they collaborate with fashion designers to dress them for special events. Even so, we see them work together with fine artists to create album art, visuals for music videos, or graphics for merchandise. This intersection between art, fashion, and music comes full circle for all parties involved: music artists, social media users, and fine artists.
One specific way in which we, as the wider general public or average social media user, can feel as though we are involved in the intersection between fine art, fashion, and music is to create outfits that are based on album covers. It could be as simple as picking out the color palette of an album cover and styling those colors into an outfit. Moreover, by looking at the identifiable shapes or images on the small squares of our screens, it is easy to find inspiration for outfit building straight from our favorite albums. It could even be the aura or aesthetic that an album exudes, whether it be from the music or cover art, that influences the clothes that you decide to wear.
For example, model Mikayla Buneta wears a white crochet shrug over a floral corset top along with green low-rise jeans and loafers. She accessories with stacked necklaces and styles her hair into two low buns to showcase the little pearls along her eyes that accompany her makeup. This look was inspired by the album art from Beatopia, beabadoobee’s second studio album. The pastel spring colors and ethereal scribbles that make up the line work from the album cover reflect the daintiness of Mikayla’s outfit. This aesthetic is not only achieved through the clothes that Mikayla wears, but also from a combination of variables: her makeup, her hairstyle, and her demeanor. This just goes to show how much music can influence our style, self-expression, and mood.
After all, with the influence of social media on the rise, the production of many varying art forms including music, fashion, fine art, design, etc. will continue to be intermingled and seen in collaboration with each other. These dynamics between art forms, especially among fashion and album art, will influence each other forever. Therefore, next time you are looking for outfit inspiration, look back at your favorite album cover.
From Left to Right: House of the Holy by Led Zeppelin - Preslee Crowl, Beatopia by beabadoobee - Mikayla Buneta, Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers - Hal Lueking, Mother Earth’s Plantasia by Mort Garson - Mavis Parks, PORTALS by Melanie Martinez - Caleb Moll