Call it orchestral punk. At classical concerts, musicians have always worn variations of penguin suits for men and black gowns for women, with only the occasional attempt at something less dressy. That was until the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO) decided to link up with the fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood for a concert this week.

As a result, at least one musician will take to the stage for a performance of music by Karlheinz Stockhausen wearing a "decadent goat coat", resembling an extravagant feather boa.

"We're all very comfortable with what we're wearing," said Robert Ames, a violist and the co-artistic director of the LCO. "All-black instantly alienates the musicians from the audience … It's extremely boring and outdated," he said.

While opera companies and soloists have long been dressed by fashion designers, orchestral players have remained conservative. Challenging the dress code was bound to dismay those who believe that traditional dress gives orchestras a visual uniformity, allowing the soloists to stand out. And so it has proved. A straw poll by the Observer revealed a largely negative view of the LCO/Westwood collaboration.

Nigel Kennedy, the violin virtuoso known for his unusual outfits, said: "My stage stuff has built up over time so for me it's all a bit organic, but very comfortable to play in. I have to … move about on stage, especially if I'm directing the orchestra as well – I just can't wear all that stiflingly uncomfortable rigid fabric. "With orchestras, something, though, has to set them apart from the punters, and it's good to have that sense of occasion for the audience. When the music starts, everyone – the musicians and the audience – should be able to concentrate on the most important thing, which is the communication of the music without any other distraction."

Another leading violinist, György Pauk, said that such issues as dress were a bit of a gimmick: "I believe if somebody's good musically, it doesn't need an extra thing."

Professor Peter Dickinson, a writer and composer, said: "Music as music is not enough any more. The visual culture is dominating in ways that not long ago would have been regarded as unacceptable, for example projections in concerts. However, if the assumption is that you've always got to present music like television programmes, then we're losing the essence of classical music. It is too richly complex to be used as wallpaper and subordinated to what is seen. We must resist this infringement and teach the young to love music in its own right."

The subject of dress was raised earlier this year in a speech at the annual conference of the Association of British Orchestras. Max Hole, the head of Universal Music's classical music division, called on musicians "to think about the way they dress" to engage more with young audiences.

Ames said that Westwood's outfits were in keeping with the vision of the Stockhausen music the LCO will be playing this Thursday at the Roundhouse in London. He said Stockhausen wanted the audience to associate each piece within his epic KLANG – Die 24 Stunden des Tages (Sound – The 24 Hours of the Day) with different colours: "We decided to dress the musicians in white and give the audience different glasses where they see each piece in a different colour." The LCO, formed in 2008, specialises in new music and has worked with leading composers and artists.

Westwood is known as the "godmother of punk". She drew on 1970s punk music and became one of the world's most influential fashion designers with provocative clothes bearing anti-establishment imagery and combining elements of historical British dress, including the 19th-century bustle, with tartan miniskirts.

She is said to be passionate about classical music and opera, and works regularly with English National Ballet, as well as opera stars including the American soprano Renée Fleming.

Westwood has donated outfits to the LCO and is said to have spent "a considerable amount of time and resource" on their partnership without charge, although the promotional value is presumably welcome.

In America, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has experimented with make-overs for its musicians, with a pilot partnership involving student designers to inject a 21st-century edge into 19th-century pomp and circumstance. Marin Alsop, its music director, who on 7 September will become the first female conductor of the Last Night of the Proms, challenged students to envisage the future of orchestral performance, arguing that rethinking performance attire "is only 200 years overdue".