London fashion week: rock on the catwalk

WHILE the fashion world has always looked to musicians for inspiration - my local butcher sold out of sausage necklaces just hours after Lady Gaga revealed her all-meat dress - the transaction works the other way as well. You can look to London Fashion Week for more than just the next big thing in cardigans.

Pop's future stars are there too, wafting across catwalks on soundtracks to the runway shows. When they aren't playing live, as Lily Allen and Cat Power have done at Chanel productions, their songs will appear on mixes put together by self-proclaimed "music stylists" who offer another sensory brand extension to go with that latest fragrance.

There is the odd name that might be recognised by those of us who dress more like Paul McCartney than Stella. Steve Mackey, former bassist with Pulp and now husband of powerful stylist Katie Grand, selects the music for Topshop's catwalk shows.

Topshop is known for wanting to show its hip music taste to the world - and in the past, Mackey has given before-they-were-famous airings to the likes of Little Boots and Ladyhawke at Fashion Week. This year, however, he's straying from the cutting edge. Fashionistas visiting Waterloo's old Eurostar terminal for the Topshop Unique show at the weekend heard William Orbit's ambient reworking of Aquarium, from the French Romantic composer Saint-Sans's 1886 work Carnival of the Animals, as well as Barry White's Let the Music Play. Celestica, by Toronto electronica duo Crystal Castles, is more up-to-the-minute - but as the clothes are apparently "intergalactic and grunge-fused", something fusing Spacemen 3 and Nirvana might have been a cosier fit.

New York-based DJ trio The Misshapes (named after a Pulp song) are even better suited to fashion soundtracks, featuring a model among their number in the striking Leigh Lezark. They have toured with The Killers, Scissor Sisters and Courtney Love and were at Henry Holland's House of Holland show on Friday. This time the London designer says he's inspired by "Seventies glamour, disco and New York nightlife", though at a recent Holland show it was all about hip hop - the music featured fast-rising female rappers Nicki Minaj and Kid Sister.

French trio Nano de Clausel, Alexander Maxwell and Laurent Ballot take things further as Mode-F. They've composed original, semi-classical electronic music for A-list names including Louis Vuitton and Givenchy.

For something more accessible, look to Burberry.The British label has been courting an array of posh blokes with guitars to model in its adverts (Gwilym Gold, of Golden Silvers, and Samuel Fry, from Life in Film, feature in the current campaign), provide music for its catwalk shows (The Maccabees, One Night Only, Razorlight) and record exclusive videos of live performances for its Burberry Acoustic web channel (facebook.com/burberry).

It's risky - looking at the Top 40 over the past year, indie bands seem to be unfashionable right now. But it's more important to Burberry that they're British, skinny and look good in an expensive shirt.

Even more off-trend is a new album, also called Burberry Acoustic - The Collection for London Fashion Week. It's available in the iTunes store from Monday as well as the clothing stores Browns, Cruise, Matches and START.

Compiled by the brand's chief creative officer, Christopher Bailey, it features tracks by more Burberry-affiliated young bands including Patch William, Good Shoes and Ramona, as well as less well-known numbers by David Bowie and Elton John. But what's this? Status Quo? Admittedly it's the unrecognisable ballad Everything but how unhip can you get? Could ponytails and white socks be making a comeback? I wouldn't put it past the only industry more fickle than pop.

• London Fashion Week runs until tomorrow (londonfashionweek.co.uk)