When we look back on the 70s, 80s and 90s – who do we take our fashion inspiration from? Musicians. Over the last few decades, musicians have had an unmitigated influence on our clothing choices and sense of style. The 80s spawned a generation of bleached blonde girls who got in trouble for wearing ripped jeans and the 90s grunge movement owes a lot towards Kurt Cobain.

With Willkay, the designer and illustrator who created “Bland Brand” for my previous Covent Garden window, I spoke to him about creating some of his signature monochrome line illustrations for 101 Brick Lane inspired by his previous work of music artists.

We discussed what artists were the most iconic, and recognisable over the past three decades of the 20th century, and who had careers that also spanned over a significant portion of those decades, and were responsible for kick starting trends.

The final decision was David Bowie, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Kurt Cobain. These four to me, are a perfect example of musical influence on fashion. Four were chosen as there were to be six mannequins in the windows, three male and three female, which were two more than usual. The illustrations were to be hung in between the mannequins, spanning from 70s to 90s.