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ONCE supermodel Kate Moss and her former rock star boyfriend Pete Doherty exclusively personified the intoxicating relationship between music and fashion.

Now it is the designers themselves, led by Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada, Marc Jacobs and John Galliano, who have unleashed their rock 'n' roll alter egos.

This season fashion has jumped on the bandwagon with collections inspired by unlikely music muses including Amy Winehouse, Beth Ditto, Dave Grohl, Alison Goldfrapp and Justin Timberlake.

Music has had an enduring influence but resurfaces at different times, says Jessica Origliasso from Australian pop-rock band the Veronicas.

"Music raises such emotion and that's what designers want to do with their fashion," Origliasso tells The Australian. "Risk-takers, like Bjork, Gwen Stefani and Beth Ditto, they totally revolt against what the standard is and it's trendy not to be commercialised."

If a muse is meant to draw the attention of the media and consumers to designers then the tabloid tsunami of Madonna, Victoria Beckham and Winehouse must be fuelling fashion sales to the top of the charts.

Arianne Phillips, an Academy Award-nominated costume designer and stylist to some of the biggest names in music, including Madonna, Courtney Love and Timberlake, has witnessed the effect of her clients on global style.

"When you put a dress on Madonna it becomes something else, as opposed to (it being) on a model," reveals Phillips, who is known in the industry as the Material Girl's secret weapon. "It takes on another life and I've experienced the power of that time and time again with her."

These days, musicians don't blindly follow trends: they create them. The merging of fashion and music is such that festivals and events such as the MTV Australia Awards have become an alternative catwalk.

"At the MTV awards what we are wearing is just as important as what we are singing and presenting," Origliasso says. "People judge you straight away on who you are wearing and what designer you go with."

For the record, the Veronicas wore Camilla & Marc, actor Mischa Barton shone in Willow and actor turned singer Juliette Lewis strutted in Sass & Bide as MTV played the unofficial warm-up act to Rosemount Australian Fashion Week.

Despite having unlimited access to clothes, Jessica and her twin sister and co-performer, Lisa Origliasso, support alternative Australian labels.

"They are quite risky and they are not scared to go somewhere that hasn't been done before. It sums up what we think about music as well, which is why they (Australian designers) are so attractive."

Designers' love affair with music and musicians is blooming with Kate Sylvester, Romance Was Born, LifewithBird and Daniel Avakian all creating music-inspired collections.

Indeed, fashion's rock road trip has travelled all the way from Sydney to Chanel's front door in Paris.

Lagerfeld has turned Chanel shows into quasi music gigs with singers Cat Power, Lily Allen, Irina Lazareanu and Winehouse his bequeathed muses.

This mix of high and low culture is keeping the label's classic jackets on the backs of generations X and Y.

Winehouse doppelgangers invaded Paris Fashion Week with her signature eyeliner and beehive filtering through Dior and Comme des Garcons shows. The soul singer serenaded the new Fendi boutique with an exclusive in-store performance, the combined effect cementing Winehouse's position as the season's fashion essential.

Certainly, Marc Jacobs has long used music as his ultimate muse. Sitting in the front row of his February-slated New York show was Beckam aka Posh Spice.

A mistress of the cultural barometer, Beckham had recently completed the Return of the Spice Girls world tour. Having transformed from pop singer to fashionista and back, she recognises music's cache.

"There's a respect that comes with music compared to just being known as a fashion girl," observes Origliasso about Beckham's career backflip. "Music is much more rewarding because you're writing it and performing. That's the appeal with musicians: they are the creator and being themselves."

Ditto, the vocalist with US band Gossip and an alternative fashion fave, agrees: "Look at Victoria Beckham, there is somebody who was in the Spice Girls and totally became a walking caricature of herself, but knew it. A true artist, when they reach a certain success and become a stereotype of themselves will take that context and make that in itself an artistic statement. You have to work it."

And work it the canny Jacobs did when he cast Beckham in his label's spring-summer advertising campaign photographed by Jurgen Teller. This continues from a tradition started in 1997, with Teller shooting Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon performing in a Jacobs lavender-pink tulle dress.

With the luxury market booming across Russia, India and China, brands such as Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel have to choose strategically who to be associated with. For them, the nature of a muse in 2008 must inspire not only the designer, but also a diverse global audience. Who better to sing the praises of luxury brands than famous singers?

Louis Vuitton understood this when casting Keith Richards in its Journeys advertising campaign.

"I told them, 'I'll only do it if you make me a guitar case with the logo on it,"' the Rolling Stones' legendary guitarist and songwriter explained.

Also expanding Vuitton's audience is America's bling generation of singers, rappers and entrepreneurs such as Pharrell Williams, Usher, 50 Cent and Kanye West, who have a unique association with the luxury house.

When Williams become the face of Louis Vuitton's 2006 and 2007 line of Italian suitcases and bags, Jacobs commented: "Working with beautiful, iconic, and powerful faces, we created compositions that boldly display Vuitton's exquisite, super-luxe style."

Once Hollywood's leading ladies delivered the super-luxe style. However, with Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie and Nicole Richie all in motherhood mode, designers have filled the void with rock stars that wouldn't know an It Girl if hit by one.

Lewis, who appeared as a guest and award winner at the MTV awards with her band the Licks, appreciates designers' fascination for the rebel. "The mainstream dollar culture with men in suits pushing product, that's what that's about," Lewis says about the commercialisation of celebrities. "But you still have Beth Ditto, Bjork and PJ Harvey."

Adds Origliasso, "Definitely certain artists being associated with certain designers, it's such a cool thing."

The associations are so far-reaching suddenly every corner of fashion is rocking out.

In Milan, Ditto is a muse to Prada, while in Belgium, Patti Smith, the godmother of punk, holds a long-term fascination for designer Ann Demeulemeester.

Berlin-based Hedi Slimane thrives on the music of French outfit Phoenix. Over in Paris designer Rick Owens can't get enough of Love, while Los Angeles stylist and designer L'Wren Scott gets satisfaction from Mick Jagger, her boyfriend and creative soul-mate. Still influencing the entire fashion planet is image-shifting Madonna.

No doubt designers will be incorporating into their next collections Madonna's boxer thigh-high boots that she's been sporting for her new album Hard Candy. Already the internet is flooded with requests from fashionistas about where to buy them.

After styling a number of Madonna projects, Phillips says there's nothing about the artist's image that is a mistake.

"Madonna expects a lot of research and a lot of meaning, ideas, concepts and inspirations behind every photo shoot and video. She never does anything just for the style, she has to have substance in order to feel motivated," says Phillips of the process behind Madonna's continuing image evolution.

As Origliasso takes her front row seat at fashion week, she sees a bright future for fashion and music's unfolding attraction. "It's always going to be a focus from artists wanting to dress a certain way to express themselves or just make a statement. It's progressed and become a more serious involvement and I can't see it slowing down."