Fashion Quarterly | What you'll find in Fashion Quarterly's new autumn issue

The Music Issue.

When it came to the merging of sound and vision, David Bowie was in a league of his own. His dynamic style was a form of self-expression through which he became a symbol of self-invention (and reinvention), and thus cemented his place in pop culture history. He redefined gender norms, shattered stereotypes and pushed the boundaries of fashion with an influence that can still be seen some 50 years after his career began. And so it was, just four weeks before FQ’s music issue went to print that news broke of Bowie’s passing. We had already planned to honour Ziggy, Aladdin and The Duke within our pages but the star’s death made this issue all the more poignant for me and my team. Our Golden Years shoot (page 112) and Let’s Dance style edit (page 32) are a nod to his brilliance.

It would have been easy to create an entire issue around Bowie alone, but there are so many more fashion muses in the world of music who we naturally felt couldn’t be left out. The Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road album cover was the inspiration behind our celebration of 60s British style (page 68), while the alluring androgyny of Patti Smith made her the perfect muse for showcasing autumn’s suiting trend (page 56). By taking style cues from these musical legends, we celebrate autumn’s key trends in our unique FQ way – a greatest hits, if you will.

We also seized the opportunity to catch up with a number of modern muses in town for solo shows and the summer festival circuit, including Texan crooner Leon Bridges (page 82), and Megan James from Canadian electro-pop duo, Purity Ring (page 46), who played St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in February. Also at Laneway making his debut as Scuba Diva was Lorde’s keyboardist, Jimmy Mac. He speaks to us about going solo in Diving Deep (page 126).

The unifying forces that drew us to this issue’s featured artists weren’t just their undeniable musical talents and enviable stage personas, but their style credentials, too. With that said, we’ve picked out the best of autumn’s sumptuous knitwear, perfectly tailored outwear and must-have accessories to help you build your own rock star wardrobe and stamp your mark on the season ahead. I’m sure you’ll agree our picks are worth clearing space in your closet for.