BBC Four, Radio 6 Music and BBC iPlayer present The Sound of Style – a season celebrating the love affair between fashion and music

This September, BBC Four and BBC Radio 6 Music will be collaborating to present, The Sound of Style, a unique season dedicated to the love affair between music and fashion

The season will feature a bespoke collection of programming exploring how these two titans of creativity share a passionate, colourful and inextricable relationship.

Find out what we have in store across the BBC.

And it all starts on BBC Four

Kicking off this special season is BBC Four'sOh You Pretty Things.

The three-part series explores the relationship between British rock and pop music and the fashions that have accompanied it. Following the cut and thrust between British subcultures expressed through two sides of British creativity - music and fashion. From the mid-60s to the early 90s, the series reveals a fascinating cultural and social history of Britain and looking at the enduring legacy which is still influencing artists, designers and the high street today and features musicians and fashion designers who created and were at the heart of the scene.

In a first-time collaboration between BBC Four and 6 Music, the soundtrack to each episode will be curated by a 6 Music presenter - Don Letts (episode one), Stuart Maconie (episode two) and Steve Lamacq (episode three) - bringing their expertise of music with an alternative spirit to showcase the social history, sounds and looks from the decades covered. Lauren Laverne will have the covetted task of narrating the series. BBC Four will also be broadcasting classic vintage films from each of the eras covered in the TV series, including Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.

Episode One opens in 1960s looking at the story of how the love affair between music and fashion and shopping began and how it became the most colourful and powerful expression of our identity amid the huge cultural and social changes of post-war Britain, from Cilla Black’s Biba dresses, the emergence of the Mod movement and Roxy Music’s glamorous art rock.

Episode Two, against the backdrop of economic decline and industrial turmoil in the 70s, tells the story of how musicians and fashion designers collaborated, leading to the creation of extravagant stage personas. They used clothes to create fantastical characters with elaborate stage shows which shocked, surprised and delighted in equal measure. Punk followed and was even more about image and performance than many of the bands that had gone before.

Episode Three enters the 1980s and the age of the music video. Fashion became a big industry and the visuals of a performance were all- important with stylists brought in to perfect the look, exemplified by Duran Duran’s iconic video for ‘Rio’. The late 80s bought Soul II Soul’s funky street style which opened the doors to black music and urban fashion, followed by the club culture trends in the 1990s. And today, the relationship between music and fashion has become increasingly complex – the fast-paced world of the internet is changing the face of the music industry and damaging record sales whilst fashion, meanwhile, grows apace as people become increasingly obsessed with defining themselves through images shared online.

6 Music

In keeping with its own alternative spirit to the season, 6 Music will be featuring tailored programming with originations and through its regular shows featuring special guests exploring further the themes of fashion and music. And each week, the network will be styling its music and chat around the decade covered in that day’s episode of the TV series.

Contributors to the season include, among many, BIBA founder Barbara Hukanicki, Zandra Rhodes, Brian May, The Kills’ Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince, Soul II B Soul's Jazzie B, Pam Hogg, Rick Wakeman and Suzi Quatro plus a bright selection of ordinary people who have had their lives transformed by the joy of British music and fashion.

In Never Mind the Cobblers, Gemma Cairney meets shoemaker Terry de Havilland. Known in the trade as the rock ‘n’ roll cobbler, his designs for winkle pickers, platforms, wedges and stilettoes were worn by the scene setters of the day from David Bowie, Cher, and Debbie Harry back, and the likes of Amy Winehouse, Alison Goldfrapp and top models more recently. People queued from dawn till dusk to get their hands on a pair of his shoes. Gemma speaks to Terry plus his fans iincluding Noel Fielding Ana Matronic, and Viv Albertine about the impact he has had through his fantastical shoe designs (Sunday 21 September, 1-2pm).

Also on 6 Music, in Making a Scene, Lauren Laverne sifts through the history of British fashion to look at how musical subcultures have helped shape our style from the Teddy Boys onwards. She’ll be joined by leading British fashion designers and the alternative musicians that inspired them including the visionary Pam Hogg - the woman who styled Siouxsie Sioux, Debbie Harry and Alison Mosshart, who explains how to launch a scene (Sunday 21 September, 4-6pm).

John Cooper Clarke, the bespoke and bespectacled Bard of Salford, will be spinning an hour’s worth of quality tracks with a definite nod towards the sartorial. He’ll be joined by his tailoring mate, the Savile Row taught Tom Baker, who is joining John to give listeners an insight into why Sam insisted on Mohair and where Eddie got those Pink Peg Slacks (Sunday 28 September, time tbc).

For his weekly programme, Iggy Pop will be recording a fashion-themed show, featuring his own music choices and personal anecdotes - from the benefits of wearing leatherette to strolling around London in satin pyjamas and slippers back in ’72 (Sunday 5 October, 4-6pm).

Influential DJ, filmmaker and Grammy winner, Don Letts selects songs and tells tales illustrating his unique path and direct involvement in music and fashion trends from the 60s to the present day. Don’s eclectic taste and style takes in everything from the Jamaican ska his father played at dances, through to rock, soul, funk, disco, punk, dub and hip hop to the sounds his son Jet (a third generation DJ) plays and beyond (Sunday 21 September, 10pm-midnight).

As Don puts it, "Unknown to many, where I stand today is the direct result of a magical combination the British are so good at - style and music (well it's magical when you get it right!). When I left school my further education came via the Kings Road, Chelsea, where I worked in various fashion boutiques before eventually managing the legendary 'Acme Attractions' one of the two coolest shops on the road back the mid to late seventies - the other being Malcolm McLaren and Vivien Westwood's 'Sex'. These two shops provided key ingredients to the punk explosion of which I am a product.”

Mary Anne Hobbs welcomes fashion expert and former singer and guitarist with The Fall, Brix Smith, who delivers a 3 Minute Epiphany on why music needs fashion(10am-1pm, Saturday 11 October).

Stuart Maconie and Mark Radcliffe have lived through the iconic fashion and music movements since the late 60’s so will be reminiscing and sharing their own tales of these times. Plus they’ll be welcoming guests to the show, including cape-wearing prog-rock god Rick Wakeman, and the once-mirror-hatted, tartan-besuited, Noddy Holder, who were key figures and central to the scenes during the heady ‘looned days of the 70s (Monday-Friday, 1-4pm).

And Gideon Coe will be theming two shows as part of the season; one with music that celebrates clothes and another with music celebrating bands who attended art school (Thursday 18 September and Thursday 2 October, 9pm-midnight).

6 Music will also be broadcasting a range of documentaries from the archive, including The Look of Music, the Sound of Fashion presented by Malcolm McLaren, and You’ll Never Be Sixteen Again, a history of the British teenager introduced by John Peel which focuses on changing fashions and pop culture from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Keep on checking the website for exclusive clips and content – including a special 6 Music photo story featuring iconic shoe designer Terry de Havilland, galleries and audio and video clips from 6 Music, BBC Four and iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer exclusives

BBC iPlayer will be the place to go to get a style fix from London Fashion Week in a collection of three exclusive programmes.

Viewers can find out about the hottest new trends straight from the catwalk with Daisy Lowe, meet the glamorous celebrity front-rowers with Abbey Clancy and go behind the scenes with Susie Bubble.

Susie Bubble Backstage sees Susie Bubble (aka Susie Lau), founder of world famous fashion blog Style Bubble get the inside track backstage at some of the biggest shows at London Fashion Week Spring Summer 2015. Susie navigates us through the hustle and bustle of backstage prep, where hairdressers, make-up artists and stylists have just a few hours to get the models ready… just enough time for Susie to dive deep into the rails and rails of designer clothes and find out what it takes to pull off these amazing shows (Tuesday 16th September).

In Abbey Clancy On Frowers, model, presenter and Strictly Come Dancing champion Abbey Clancy is guide to the illustrious world of the front row. From Hollywood A-listers to British stars, Abbey will find out how these ‘frowers’ get to that hallowed line of chairs and what their picks of the week are (Wednesday 17th September).

In Daisy Lowe On Trends,Daisy Lowe takes viewers on a journey through the catwalk trends of Spring Summer 2015. Find out what’s in and what’s out, as Daisy rounds up this season's style highlights (Thursday 18th September).

Plus, a new BBC Four Collection will be available on BBC iPlayer, featuring archive programmes about great British designers including Vivienne Westwood and Julien Macdonald.