Impact of Music on Fashion. A Case of Apparel Fashion Trends among East African Artists from 2010 To Date

Abstract

Music is a universal language of humanity. It has power to bring positivity and entertainment in people. Different emotions are attached to music due to its ability to easily relate with everything and everyone. Music brings people together in different ways on several occasions because it is a source of communication. It is an ideal way to express feelings which we fail to express verbally. The expressions and emotions attached to music are not only expressible in words but also by the outfit portrayal. There has been notable temporal variability in apparel fashion among East Africa music artists since 2010s. With the advent of more sophisticated technology in music, the reach of East African Music commonly called Bongo has widened and so has the fashion consumed in the music industry. This study sought to examine the impact of music on apparel fashion focusing on trends and variability among Bongo music artists in East African countries with specific focus on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The objectives of the study were to assess the socio-economic determinants of apparel fashion in Bongo music and to make a comparative spatio-temporal analysis of fashion among the three East African counties in the last 12 years. The study used 10 contemporary (bongo) artists sampled from across the three countries. Selection was based on the artists having been consistently in music industry for at least two years to the time of this study. In each country, YouTube views were used to select ten artists with the highest views. The study also used randomly sampled 50 bongo music fans from online following. Employing descriptive techniques, the study used interview schedules, video watching and desktop review to collect data. SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data and findings presented in tables and charts. There was a close relationship between fashion consumption across the three East African countries. While early 2010s had a characteristic larger (buggy) clothes that had a larger body covering, the current fashion in the music industry reveal a total opposite fashion. However, the type of apparel and amount of money spent on fashion varied significantly depending on the artist and the song. Results suggested that artists used expensive apparels to attract increased attention and following particularly online fan base. The style of fashion was determined by market demands. More than 30% of the online fans felt that the fashion used by artists and dancers were more revealing to arouse emotions and attachment to particular songs and artists.