In honor of the semi-annual New York City Fashion Week—held earlier this month at Bryant Park—we’re taking a closer look at the fashionable stylings of our beloved musicians. As ever, there are all sorts of musically-inspired trends hitting the runway and the street this year, including Afro-punk geek and grunge chic. Plus, if you’ve ever wondered what’s bumping and pulsating as models strut in sync down the catwalk, here are a couple different mixtapes, of sort.

Whether you’re on the hunt for the latest couture, raiding your older sibling’s closet for clothes or just scavenging for freebies punk-rock style at concerts, here are a few tips from the fashionable.

5. Men are just as passionate about shopping as women. Some of them, anyway.

4. When fashion runs in the family, you’re off to an early start.

3. Not money. Not girls. Not guitars. The source of contention in this band? Jeans. Keith wants everyone to go smaller–all the rage!–while Andrew prefers the classic look.

The xx have finally arrived Stateside, and in a major way. The London-based band were recently plucked to open for Florence and The Machine on a European tour this month, placing them in front of sold-out audiences, as well as garnering positive reviews from Pitchfork, NME and The Guardian. Not bad for a group all still under the age of 21. They kicked things off at London’s Elliott School, which also bred members of Fleetwood Mac, Hot Chip and artists like Burial and Four Tet.

The xx also played the Reading and Leeds festivals earlier this year, and are set to headline their very own tour beginning in October, taking them from Bristol to Barcelona, Prague to Portland. Their self-titled album is available now via iTunes and in physical form October 20 from XL.

“Basic Space” introduced most U.S. listeners to their catchy sound last summer, a funky, breathy mix of electronic music, ’80s R&B and dance rock. Next came the much-hyped “Crystalised” and their slowed-down cover of Womack & Womack’s 1988 single “Teardrops,” which generated buzz for its heavy grooves and silky smooth vocals. Then, of course, there’s “Hot Like Fire,” done originally by Aaliyah.

Here the band describes their struggle as both musician and fan. Should they be able to make money from music? Yes. Should their fans be able to download their music for free? Yes. Conundrum!

The Antlers are set to kick off a national tour with Minus the Bear next month. The band is currently playing shows in the Midwest with Holly Miranda, and will join up with Minus the Bear in New Jersey October 3 before trekking across the U.S. to sunny California, then eventually making it back to the East coast mid-November.

Earlier this year the Brooklyn-based band released Hospice via Frenchkiss Records. NPR nominated it as the best album of the year at the time, Pitchfork gave it the thumbs up and a lot of others described it as “shimmering.” You can decide for yourself when you see them live. As for the band? Well, they like to play both sides of the fence.

Bundle up, kids. It’s time for a leisurely stroll down memory lane with Flashion Backward. Let’s wander through UI’s archives and see what ancient creaking box of treats lies in wait for our greedy pawing pleasure so we can all explore the strange vortex in which fashion and musicians meet.

Today, we’re revisiting electropop sensation Yelle, whom it’s hard to imagine calmly strolling anywhere. Or bundling up. The French songstress got her first dose of fame and glory on MySpace with the insta-classic “Short Dick Cuizi,” a takedown of a Parisian hip-hop performer from the group TTC. She emerged from the glory of newfound Internetz fame with a brand spanking new career, a big fan in MTV, who played her shizz consistently, and a gig as a model for Reebok.

But in a very non-fame-thru-the-Internetz way, there’s actually cash behind Yelle’s stunning flash: She produces “thrilling pop exercises” with a “commanding voice” and “plentiful talent.” When she’s not entertaining her fans and scaring the bejesus out of the targets of her ire, she’s hopping around like an otherworldly sprite.

She looks as if she was just beamed down from some galaxy far, far away where aggressively odd fashion choices (who would think wearing a giant happy face necklace and brandishing a fake beam of lightning would look like the height of chic?)–a strange marriage of old-school Madonna tongue-in-cheek faux slut-wear, Working Girl-esque ’80s corporate gear and possible castoffs from the set of Three’s Company–actually look well thought-out, and quite frankly, splendid.

And unlike most ridiculously hot and haute models and cultural icons who claim they were ugly ducklings who never did well in school, when Yelle talks smack about her high school experience, you actually want to hug her, not whap her upside the head with your set of dusty old yearbooks which most likely contain damning evidence of your own, indubitably more traumatic and hideous, high school experience.

The future is now, with Flashion Forward.

Join UI as we zip ahead into unexplored regions of time and space: a magical aesthetic land through which we coquettishly zip about the closets of our fave new interviewees and explore their closets to examine the physical and psychological baggage they pack their shizzle in–and ask ourselves important, meta questions about, ya know, clothes ‘n shit.

Auspiciously, the band we’re shaking down today is named Future of the Left. The Welsh trio made a splash in 2007 with their debut album, deftly mixing noisy old school rock with a punk rock soul and quirky “offbeat wit.” They continued to please and amuse (and at times confound) with the follow-up Travels With Myself and Another, which chirpily chatted about the “practicalities of devil worshiping,” while simultaneously holding true to their roots comprised primarily of “geeking out” and occasionally even sharing earnest insights into life and love.

This schizoid approach to composing tonal poems is mirrored by their rather alarming image: crazy man tough boys who may possibly have just murdered some slutty mannequins with an axe/nebbishy cat lovers who seem to enjoy woodshop/average alterna-punk boys who may have had a few too many Pabsts tonight.

Finally, the love it!/hate it! dichotomy meets in Future of the Left’s approach to community and cultural relations. See below why, while in general they feel France is brilliant, Parisians should really just go “fuck a brick.”

The Raveonettes are hitting the road for a U.S. tour beginning in October to promote their new album, In and Out of Control. The Danish duo recorded the album in Copenhagen, their fourth full-length. If fans recognize some of the songs, it’s because the band circulated early versions via their Twitter page, asking for feedback. In and Out of Control is set for an October 6 release.

In a blog post on the band’s MySpace page, Sune Wagner promised a little variation in the live shows. “We’re gonna treat some of the songs a bit differently, some will be played with full on machinery and some will be very sparse and intimate, we’re working on a few different stage set-ups right now.” Sounds good to us. Let’s just hope they don’t experience another Glastonbury incident.

MTV’s 26th annual Video Music Awards broadcasts live this Sunday at 9 p.m. EST.

Janet Jackson is expected to pay tribute to brother Michael, who died June 25. Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Green Day, Wale, Pink, Taylor Swift, Pitbull and Muse (yes, that Muse) are also set to perform. Rabble-rouser Russell Brand returns to host the shebang for his second year in a row, and fan favorite last year Britney Spears is also rumored to be making an appearance.

As we previously reported, there are some indie acts on MTV’s radar. The Breakthrough Video category features Chairlift, Matt & Kim, Bat For Lashes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Passion Pit and Death Cab for Cutie.

The Video Music Awards have experienced a dip in ratings in recent years, with 8.4 million viewers in 2008. The show drew 26.2 million viewers in 2002. The drop could be because more are tuning in online. MTV.com reported 2.6 million unique visitors the day the show aired in 2007, making it the highest trafficked day in the site’s history.

And in case you can’t figure out how Green Day is still an MTV favorite, it may be because they’re still a favorite of many.