The 1975 are an indie rock band from the UK. They established their very recognisable image through their clothing style. Their look follows a rough, grunge style. They predominantly dress in black, with the lead singer, Matty Healy (image on right), often looking dishevelled and unkept. This mirrors the topics covered in their music; which has been described as haunting" and "smooth" by Paste magazine.

Their music covers themes such as relationships and darker topics such as sex, love, drugs, hope, death, and fear. These are themes which would typically interest people in their late teens and young adults. Their choice of dark, grunge-like clothing mirrors these topics.

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album artwork

In terms of mise-en-scene, The 1975’s album/single covers give clues as to what their music sounds like. They are designed in greyscale, predominantly black and white contrasting one another. The dominance of black within their brand suggests that their music covers dark themes. The way in which each of their covers follow the same aesthetic implies that they have a clear, established style and sound. Their logo is featured in the centre of each album/single design. This makes their artwork easy for fans to recognise, showing effective coherence within their house style.

Music videos

The official music videos created by this band are in keeping with their trademark greyscale style used within their album artwork. Many of their videos from their debut album are filmed in in either black and white, or contain very neutral colours – following a very minimalistic video content. Their videos are often entirely, or predominantly performance based.

Following on from the band’s established house style, I recently attended a concert of theirs. It was evident here, that their trademark black and white image was also used in their live performances. The white glowing rectangle which is seen in the band’s logo was used as a prop on stage.