As a teen, Ian was inspired by Bowie's look – he was rather extravagant, experimented with make-up, untypical clothes and colours. That might have been an outcry over the depressing, dark and industrial North England. A rebellion against the homologous pattern of lifestyle. After some time, Ian dropped this style.

 

 

He started to rely on simplicity. Dark collared shirts with pockets, suit pants, brogues, sometimes a tie and of course - a trench coat. Sounds familiar? Yeah, that's probably the outfit your father would wear. However, Ian has managed to match the clothes with a certain stance, an attitude that reflected his outlooks and the way he looked at the world. Standing in the gloomy room with a depressive expression on his face, lighting a cigarette, contemplating, looking for new lyrics that'll illustrate the state of his soul – there's frankly no better outfit to do such thing than Ian's.

 

Alright, maybe I'm overthinking this whole thing a bit. Maybe the lead singer of Joy Division just wanted his clothes to be comfortable, not so much in-your-face like many artists of the 70s and the 80s preferred. He might have wanted his outfit to be utilitarian. Maybe he just didn't want to make such a big deal out of the style, omni-present in the music industry. We'll never know. Sorry guys.