The crossover between music and fashion usually flows one way; musicians-turned-designers create collections in an attempt to make their mark on the world of style—most notably Kanye West, but also Rihanna, Beyonce, and even Justin Bieber, with his Fear of God-blessed merch. But what does it look like when fashion figures want to stake a claim in the music world? What does “fashion music” even sound like?
We’re not sure that "fashion music" has a specific sound, but it does have a specific home, if recent projects from Farfetch, Alexander Wang, and Burberry are any indication: Apple Music.
Tuesday, Farfetch and Apple announced a new partnership that will allow the retailer to make use of Apple Music streaming technology to host its own music. Content will include “#TuneTuesdays,” playlists curated by Farfetch editors based on whatever is happening in their world at the moment, and “Songs from the Shoot,” which consists of music played, as you can probably guess, from the site’s photo shoots. They launched the partnership with a playlist direct from the set of a recent editorial with the singer Maxwell, and there will be more to come soon. "We have an amazing lineup of people, from designers, to actors, to musicians—along with the Farfetch team—which will make for an amazing, eclectic collection of music," says Farfetch chief marketing officer Stephanie Horton.
For Farfetch, the decision to work with Apple Music was easy. “Apple has always been at the forefront of technology and innovation, which is how we see ourselves at Farfetch,” Horton explains. “So, it was a natural, organic partnership.” This alliance is the latest addition to the mini-trend of fashion companies working with Apple Music to share playlists directly related to their brands. (Complex reached out to Apple regarding the company’s partnerships with fashion brands, but we have not received any comment as of press time.)
In June, Alexander Wang became the first fashion designer to partner with the streaming service, after Burberry became the first fashion brand last fall. The Alexander Wang channel features playlists with one-word, all-caps titles like “CHILL” (Rihanna, Dej Loaf, Post Malone), “VIBE” (Meek Mill, Bobby Shmurda, YG), and “WIP” (Ariana Grande, Juicy J, more Rihanna). The playlists are an insight into the Alexander Wang brand—he famously plays hip-hop during his fashion shows, utilizes rappers like Vic Mensa in ad campaigns, and notoriously loves to party. But, it also gives the designer some more credibility as a music tastemaker, a nice complement to his comfortable spot as an influential fashion figure. When Apple gives you the first-designer-with-a-music-channel co-sign, that’s saying something big.
And it’s saying something big about Apple, too. For years, the company has been positioning itself as a luxury brand, as opposed to just another tech company. You can see that most clearly with the launch of the Apple Watch. “Apple products were always high end, but now they're shooting for being downright rich,” wrote Patrick Kulp at Mashable during the Apple Watch product launch last year. He cited the Hermes co-branded Apple Watch, the rose gold iPhone, and the brand’s traditional focus on design as examples of the ways in which the company has always treated its products in the same manner that a luxury fashion house treats theirs. Even the “grandiose celebrity-packed product launches it holds a few times a year,” Kulp said, are pretty similar to designer parties and events held during Fashion Week. And don’t forget Apple’s general refusal to make any of its products inexpensive.
By partnering with respected, high-end names like Farfetch and Wang, Apple Music can get a little of their luxury shine. And it’s a pretty low-risk/high-reward strategy, unlike when musicians take a stab at fashion design. If no one buys Fenty Puma by Rihanna when it hits stores this fall, Puma may not want to give the singer another chance to design clothing down the line. But, if no one listens to Alexander Wang’s “VIBE” playlist, neither Apple nor Wang will really suffer at all. Simply having Apple and Wang fans know that the playlist exists is enough to meet both companies’ goals—the association ultimately matters more than the play count.
