Skye Sherwin's A Good Look

It’s clearly no coincidence that the mountainous pile-up of desperate bodies from zombie flick World War Z hints at the US Marine Corps War Memorial, as well as the grotesque assembly of Nazi figurines in the Chapman Brothers’ Hell. Photograph: Allstar

The forlorn creature on the cover of Sigur Rós’s angsty new album Kveikur is isolated from a photo documenting one of Brazilian art great Lygia Clark’s group performances with “sensorial masks”. Photograph: PR

The minimalist artwork for Kanye West's new album Yeezus makes The White Album look fussy: just a silver CD in a plastic case bound by a red sticker. The alternative design is slightly more bling: a scrunch of gold that recalls New York-based artist Seth Price’s riffs on consumerism. Photograph: PR

Philip Meech’s photograph of milliner Lara Jensen’s gothic headgear (currently on show at the PM Gallery, London) reveals she’s a cultural magpie to rival her most famous client, Lady Gaga. The set-up is borrowed from Renaissance portraiture, while those pulled gums recall Francis Bacon’s fascination with dentistry. Photograph: PR

This still from the re-released Cleopatra could be a 1950s bathing beauty contest choreographed by Lene Riefenstahl. Those arms thrust skyward recall her iconic footage of gymnasts from Germany’s 1936 Olympics. Here, obviously, sex is power. Photograph: PR