5 fashion trends we can thank Canadian musicians for

Music and fashion are forever intertwined, both serving as artistic avenues for self-expression and experimentation. Their cross-section is also an excellent place for music fans to take inspiration, whether you're looking for haute couture or something a little more like daily wear.

Canadian musicians, in particular, are no slackers in the fashion arena. Some outfits have been ill-advised, some are hard for us to pull off at the office and others scream comfort.

Below, we look at five fashion trends we'd like to thank Canadian musicians for.

Drake's dad sweater obsession

No one has better sweater game than Drake, who has proven to us that you really can wear a sweater anywhere (though he's on a hoodie kick these NBA Finals days). From cardigans to full-on turtlenecks, Drake's range is sophisticated and varied, worn in the halls of Degrassi and in clubs alike.

The rapper's penchant for knitwear made its way onto one of his Oct. 15, 2011, Saturday Night Live skits, where he and actor Andy Samberg wore matching COOGI sweaters — a nod to Notorious B.I.G.'s trademark knit.

Avril Lavigne's tie

The "Complicated" singer had a lot of trends going at once in the early aughts, from sweat wristbands to Converse high tops to that chipped black nail polish. The one that reeled us in, though, was the necktie-over-tank-top combo. Certainly not the first to wear a tie as part of her attire (we are particularly fond of Missy Elliott's tie usage), there was something about the way Lavigne wore her combo that spawned many tie-wearing students in classrooms across the country.

The Bieber swoop

There is an incredible amount of literature on the internet about Justin Bieber's hair evolution. You can even get a hairstyle breakdown by romantic relationship. But hands down, the most enduring one is the swoop: that bangs-moved-to-the-side look that is eerily similar to the never-flattering bowl cut.

The swoop started pre-signed Bieber, as far as we can tell, and while you can see it in plenty of his early YouTube videos, we do love the blown-out look on 14-year-old Bieber when he walks onto Christian daily TV show 100 Huntley Street to join his mom onset.

Loverboy's leather pants

The arena-rock band responsible for the song "Turn me Loose" also had a sartorial claim to fame: red leather pants. (Mullets and hair bandanas were also part of the package, but it was the '80s so when wasn't that the case?)

Guitarist Paul Dean wore the red leathers in the video for "Working for the Weekend," which bore a striking resemblance to the band's Get Lucky album cover — but that cover butt did not belong to Dean. (We did find out whom it belonged to, and you can read more on the surprising and tragic story behind the behind right here.)

Dean was, of course, not the first musician to wear red leather pants. But that iconic fingers-crossed-behind-the-red-leather-clad-butt pose? That's all Loverboy.

Shania's head-to-toe leopard print

As appreciative as we are that the lines "OK, so you're Brad Pitt/ that don't impress me much" entered the collective comeback lexicon when "That Don't Impress me Much" was released in December 1998, we were just as excited about Shania Twain's outfit in the song's video: head-to-toe leopard print.

Not one to shy away from bold fashion statements — the 2003 Juno Awards had plenty of sequined hockey jerseys thanks to her — Twain's pants/bra/coat-with-hood and luggage combo were plenty impressive to make up for all the men she didn't find acceptable.   

We also appreciated when model Ashley Graham represented Twain during an episode of Lip Sync Battle — and recreated the entire outfit.