Fashion and celebrity endorsement have gone hand in hand for decades - as far back as the 1800s, merchandise was being produced that featured the names and images of popular operetta and stage stars of the time. In recent years, bands have increasingly harnessed the power of the fashion brand tie-in, and vice versa; this is a move that can be traced back, in part, to The Beatles launching of their own clothing line and boutique store in London in the 1960s.

We run through some of the other major players in the music field who have cozied up with fashion labels to become band brands all of their own.

Neil Young

Both the fashion and music worlds threw us a curveball with the unforeseen pairing of iconic singer-songwriter Neil Young and clothing and accessories label Supreme. The music legend was the label’s campaign face of 2015, and his image appeared on both advertisements and T-shirts put out by the streetwear brand. As part of the marketing launch, Supreme also released a video interview with Young, that was intercut with live footage from one of the megastar’s gigs.

Previous campaign faces for Supreme include Kate Moss and...wait for it...Kermit the Frog.

Madonna

Madonna has always positioned herself as a brand as much as an entertainer, and she has collaborated with a number of designers and fashion houses over the years. Madonna also has her own clothing line, the aptly named ‘Material Girl,’ which she has run with her daughter, Lourdes, since 2010.

The Queen of Pop has endorsed Versace in campaigns dating from the 1990s to today. The 2015 collaboration was concerned with overhauling outdated and irrelevant ideas regarding the image of a businesswoman, and Madonna’s sassy, sexy, yet super smart vibe underpinned this aim perfectly. The 2015 campaign also saw Madonna front Versace’s eyewear campaign, with the superstar modeling the label’s collection of designer glasses while dripping with jewelry.

Sonic Youth

Formed in New York in the early 1980s, Sonic Youth was an innovative, edgy rock band that was a major influence on many other bands of the next two decades, including Nirvana. Kim Gordon, the frontwoman, launched her own label X-Girl, in the late 1990s, and went on to design a capsule collection for the label Surface to Air in 2012, and a range for Urban Outfitters in 2014.

Gordon maintains an ambivalent attitude towards the fashion world, despite working within it, expressing during interviews that she doesn’t see her career as a fashion designer as being on a par with her other career as an artist making music. Ouch.

Bono

Surprised? So was I. But although he’s here on the list, it’s a technicality, really, as the U2 frontman’s fashion line was set up with the aim of helping to bring about positive and dynamic change to communities in the African continent through fair trade deals, rather than via direct aid payments. The label, Edun, has also deliberately played down any connection with U2.

In 2009, nearly half of the company’s share capital was sold to luxury conglomerate LVMH, but the ethics behind the label have been fiercely maintained, with 80% of clothing production happening in Africa. Sustainable manufacturing is also important to the brand, with recycled, upcycled, and organic materials used wherever possible, and local artistry supported as part of the label’s overarching ethical mission statement.

In September, Edun opened its first retail store in New York. Did Bono sell out? Maybe. But if you sell out to help save the world - I think we can let this one slide.

The Pop Stars Following Fashion

And a quick round-up of some of the rest of the pop star contingent that has endorsed fashion and eyewear brands or set up their own lines:

Rhianna - the pop princess created her own fashion line, Fenty, as well as fronting a campaign for Puma in 2016.

Justin Bieber - has been happily fronting Calvin Klein’s campaigns since 2015; his wife, Hailey Bieber, featured in photo shoots for the brand, too, in 2019.

Taylor Swift - as well as modeling for Keds, Swift has her own fashion line; a collaboration with Stella McCartney that launched in 2019.

Gwen Stefani - the former front-woman of No Doubt’s clothing and accessories line, L.A.M.B made its runway debut in 2004, and is still going strong.

Lady Gaga - like her pop-godmother before her, Madonna, Lady Gaga has a long-standing association with the Versace brand, fronting campaigns and acting as the face of the label.

Blurring the Line

The divide between bands, pop stars, and fashion has long been indistinct, and the line grows more blurred by the day. The fashion world recognizes the vast power of celebrity endorsement, while the stars of the music world understand the potential to grow their audience and influence (as well as their bank balance) by a tie-in with some of the world’s most coveted designer labels.

This fusion makes for a heady mix, and has driven the proliferation of today’s celebrity culture and reality programming, in which the line between the real and the produced, the sincere and the staged, is harder than ever to discern.