It is nigh on impossible to have grown up in the UK in the Seventies and Eighties and not have been influenced by music and its icons. In many ways the clothes that artists wore were as important, if not more important, than the tunes themselves – for us, what you wore and what you listened to signified clearly who you were and what you believed in.

When it came to choosing a theme for this issue, music was at the top of the list. What followed was a long discussion to decide who we would pay homage to. Eventually, we put together a carefully curated playlist and set off on a musical odyssey, celebrating the creative affinity between the two artforms and amplifying the impact that music has had on style, and vice versa.

The result is the ultimate OutThere mix-tape, a diverse collection of editorials featuring this season’s most talked-about designers. We walked the line with Johnny Cash; wandered wistfully with Nick Drake through the countryside; head-banged with Nirvana; remixed our own K-Pop/Pet Shop Boys mash-up; got deep in Vogue in gay Harlem and improvised with choreographer Jean Abreu in tribute to the avant-garde Ballet Russe.

Feature wise, we riffed with John Varvatos and talked about the musicians that drive him. We headed to the spiritual home of independent music, Sweden, and took fika with the melancholy Alexander Stutterheim; but not before locking ourselves in the music room with obsessive record collector and British classicist Fraser Moss, of YMC.

The Music Issue is also the perfect vehicle to launch our all-new tablet edition, packed with exciting bonus tracks and videos – the ideal complement to this printed, coffee-table issue. As always, www.outtheremagazine.com is your go-to for the very latest in international homoculture.

We hope you enjoy it, see you in the Spring!