Joh Fox (M.D. Hobo Clothing)

Like any proper fashion ‘icon’, David Bowie rejected the idea of fashion, invented his own, and his styles were appropriated by the music industry and sold back to the audience. Bowie patented the international ‘white soul’ boy.

In his ‘Young Americans’ era, he successfully assimilated black radio influences from Philly soul, and he managed to pick up on black American folky/ghetto club style. The great thing is that he reinterpreted it to suit his persona. His look wasn’t a slavish copy of ‘black’ culture, but it wasn’t totally ‘white’ European, like Kraftwerk, either.

Any forward-thinking chap at that time, with taste, in the pre-punk era would have to have been influenced by either Bowie or Brian Ferry. This is evident in the look of bands like New Order, and then Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet.

Iggy Pop, of course, was the original shaman/wildman of music, a performer who had nothing to do with the ‘rose-tinted’ hippy view of matters, and was hellbent in his own expression, which was almost Dionysian.

The silver lamé trousers on the cover of ‘Raw Power’are pretty moment-defining. He always performed close to his animal nature, and yet his nature is very well-styled. In the early ’70s, this was seen as pretty disturbing.

LL Cool J’s sense of style came from his own irrepressible charisma, sex appeal, talent and humour. He is the ultimate ‘B-Boy’. He’s best known for wearing Addidas, shellsuit bottoms, the Kangol ostrich-feather red cap, and no top, gold roll chains and ghettoblaster.

Rap and hip-hop have been a huge influence on contemporry styles. The arrival of Public Enemy meant that white listeners allowed for a crossover… people could justify it intellectually. The onset of MTV and the amount of play given to black r’n’b music has been a huge influence too. Currently hip-hop informs fashion on so many levels. The baggy pants, worn low on the hips, for example, crossed over to skater fashion.

For me personally, Joe Strummer was important. He successfully fused punk, reggae, soul, hip-hop and rock. He was a real white soul brother. The Clash were the first to stencil messages onto their clothing. They rehabilitated rockabilly and invented guerrilla rock style.

The ‘Radio Clash’ video epitomises their ability to absorb and assimilate culture, and reconstitute it in a way that was true to their own experiences and cultures. The video captures a unique hybrid of punk, B and latin culture that the city seemed to be teeming with at the time. It was a kind of a landmark – and I still love it.