Abstract:
This thesis demonstrates that mUSIC stars who attain cultural icon status
heavily contribute to the fashion styles of the time. Where as style and music have
always had a connection, icons such as Britney Spears are now dictating popular style
so much so that music artists are becoming full-fledged fashion designers. While
much analysis is devoted to Britney Spears, her largest contributions do not lie in the
rise of teenage sexuality, but in establishing music artists as vehicles of consumption.
The artists' signature has now become a brand and ~ term "signabrand" has been
created to define such a trend. To understand such a shift, a review of past literature
devoted to fashion and music, largely consisting of subculture theory is examined,
followed by a combination of content analysis, political economy, fashion and
postmodem theory to address how music stars attain icon status and guide style.
