This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Henry Ryeder. Find him on Instagram at @henryryeder. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
“I wanted to define the archetype [of] messiah rockstar, that’s all I wanted to do.” – David Bowie, 1980.
David Bowie was thirsty. After a long day of press for his upcoming LP Heroes, the father and professional musician was politely (if brusquely) beginning to push back on his interviewers’ questions.
When pressed by a pop music publication on whether or not he himself were a hero in light of his fandom and hit records, Bowie simply responded, “That’s work and a way of life for me.” The interviewer dug in, pressing Bowie on statements he allegedly made several years earlier, “I could be Hitler [in England].” Bowie’s mid-70’s “Thin White Duke” persona saw the artist channeling the pseudo-fascism of Enoch Powell (a comparison he would confirm in this 1977 interview.) By ’77, however, Bowie was attempting to walk back his former self’s destructive tendencies.
Bowie firmly refuted the interviewer’s quotation, claiming it a mistranslation as he anxiously removed his blazer. Unfortunately for the sound recordist, Bowie didn’t realize his lavalier microphone was still attached to his jacket. He instead took one half off, leaving the microphone side of his blazer hanging on his shoulder. Even as Bowie rejected statements, he used fashion to make them.
Later in that interview, Bowie went on to describe the use of character in his earlier work. “I took the characters everywhere with me, on stage, off stage…” using his body, personality, and music “like a canvas.” Bowie continued to refuse his interviewers’ suggestions that he was a demigod to his legions of listeners. “You’re power crazy!” Bowie half-jokingly suggested. “I’m not a rockstar,” Bowie retorted, looking at his trademark glass of milk on the table, “I am very definitely thirsty.”
In a 1999 Berklee College of Music graduation speech, Bowie described music as thrusting upon him a “lusty life force.” Calling back to a lewd joke he made about giving his fellow musicians advice (“if it itches, call a doctor”), Bowie implored the graduates of 1999 to follow their creative instincts wherever they may lead them. This is commensurate with Bowie’s philosophy as an artist: tread into the creative waters until you’re just out of your comfort zone; that’s where you’ll make interesting work. “If it itches,” Bowie told the grads, “play it.”
Bowie viewed his creative life as work, eschewing many of the excesses of stardom while embodying them in his public personae. While the fact from self-fabricated fiction might be too dizzying to untangle in one article, Bowie’s purely aesthetic impact on fashion can’t be understated. On stage and off, Bowie lived his characters in their dress, donning a variety of outfits to fit each performance. While some of these outfits might be a tad financially cumbersome to recreate, some of them can be redone easily.
1. Ziggy Stardust, Hammersmith Odeon
The most famous David Bowie persona, Ziggy Stardust was a leper messiah, a space alien visiting earth. Ziggy’s costumes ran the gamut from kabuki-inspired space gear to mod-rock leather. The easiest outfit to accomplish, however, is from Bowie’s last Ziggy concert at the Hammersmith Odeon.
This mesh top, studded belt, and loose leather pants combo is a perfect night-on-the-Stardust-town outfit.
2. Plastic Soul, Soul Train
Fast forward a few years, and Bowie was beginning to enter his Plastic Soul era. Obsessed with the sounds of Philadelphia Soul, Bowie released his soul-inspired Young Americans in 1975.
Appearing on Soul Train that year, Bowie donned a crisp navy-grey suit with a banana-yellow shirt with large lapels. The epitome of 70’s business-lounge-casual, this outfit, complete with suede loafers, is perfect for any and all art openings.
3. Thomas Newton, The Man Who Fell To Earth
Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth isn’t the most narratively straightforward watch, but it’s a beautiful detour through middle American xenophobia and political anxieties. Needless to say, Bowie’s outfits are stunning.
Playing the stranded alien Thomas Newton, Bowie sports a professorial slim blazer (pens tucked neatly in the breast pocket) and wide-leg grey pants. A boxy gold and black tie spotted with white bird stitchings hangs loosely over a dark shirt. To top it all off, Bowie’s wearing black Borso fedora. This outfit might feel a tad niche, but you might just be the one to bring the fedora back into fashion.
4. Berlin Trilogy, Isolar II Tour
Having found a new musical language (and partnership) in Brian Eno, David Bowie set off on his 1978 Isolar II Tour with a fresh set of space age apparel. This time cloaked in silver and a Kraut-rock-inspired haircut, Bowie’s outfits on this tour reflect the sleekness of late 70’s Berlin Trilogy.
Bowie brings another set of wide-leg pants into the equation, this time light blue. A simple white blouse hangs over him as a white visored hat completes the look. The hat might seem a bit too maritime for your tastes, but I can assure you this Hepburn-style fit will make a smash at any summertime outing.
5. Art Pop, Serious Moonlight Tour
This is the consummate David Bowie 1980s fashion. Fresh off the chart-topping Let’s Dance, David Bowie’s persona radically shifted to the mainstream in the early 80’s. The artist bleached his hair, donned a suit, and put on his red shoes. Well, the Wizard of Oz fan might have been speaking to a more abstract set of ruby slippers, but the outfit Bowie strewed together for his Serious Moonlight tour is iconic in an of itself.
Sometimes with a bowtie, sometimes with a striped skinny tie, Bowie’s baby blue suit is both totally simple and lavishly chic. I’d recommend pairing this outfit with a bleach-blonde perm.
Seeing More and Feeling Less
Hopefully, this outline can give you inspiration for your David Bowie-style outfits. There’s no doubt that generations of young people have found liberation in the star’s refusal to assume conventional gender norms in his styles, musical and otherwise. Now for a necessary, if a little painful, personal note.
Being as much of a fan of David Bowie as I am can come with some heart-wrenching caveats. The undeniably brilliant speaker, devoted husband, loving father, and by most accounts lovely human being, is the same person whose 70’s rock-star status allowed him to have relations with minors. Was Bowie a monster? I think his defense would be two-fold: he was young and “out of his head” (a phrase he used to describe himself in this period) and that the late 60’s and early 70’s brought forth an “anything-goes” understanding of sexuality.
None of this excuses Bowie’s actions as anything other than abuse, an assertion I believe Bowie himself would agree with. But we can’t know for sure. Bowie’s gone. John Lennon is gone. Michael Jackson is gone. In their absence, their fans are left having to contend with (or flat out deny) the realities of what these men did.
In Bowie’s case, I can appreciate what he gave us chiefly because of his outlook on his art. Bowie went to extreme lengths to create a messianic persona, but stopped short of turning it into a cult-of-personality. He shape-shifted not out of a sense of inflated ego, but out of a sense of what was interesting to him. He didn’t break gender, cultural, and pop music conventions because he sought maniacal power. He broke them because that’s who he was. “That’s work.” It was a lifestyle.
So for any and all hoping to recreate the Starman’s most iconic looks, I recommend the sartorial indulgences listed above. But just as importantly, I recommend you listen to that same “lusty life force” that guides artists. Be brave, follow your instincts, and if it itches, wear it… you get what I mean.
What do you think about David Bowie 80’s fashion? Let us know in the comments below!
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