Skye Sherwin's A Good Look

Artist and designer Julie Verhoeven’s defiantly outré Pierrot look meshes punk, handicraft and carnivalesque performance art. Like other exotic dandies Quentin Crisp or Molly Parkin, her daring style is a constant challenge to the norm. Taken from from A Journey Through London’s Subculture: 1980s To Now. Photograph: Annie Collinge

The jacket for Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne’s pop history speaks for several decades of music: 1960s optical art, 1970s punk and the artier leanings of post-punk, particularly the titling, which mirrors artist Barbara Kruger’s 1980s slogans. Photograph: PR

The sex and sexuality is so ferocious in these naked men grappling on the sleeve of Holograms’ album Forever that it’s hard to believe they’re lifted directly from William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s 1850 vision of Virgil and Dante meeting in the Inferno. Photograph: PR

No surprise that electro duo Holy Ghost! would be into 1980s New York art star, Robert Longo, whose credits include directing the Bizarre Love Triangle video for their heroes New Order. The etching gracing their new album is Longo at his darkly seductive best. Photograph: PR

The creature languishing across feminist punk legend Kathleen Hanna’s new band’s album cover is cute but not tame. Allyson Mitchell’s creation is a female beast for a “queer utopian dreamworld”, which turns pink girly cliche on its head. Photograph: PR