“Offstage I’m a robot. On stage I achieve emotion. It’s probably why I prefer dressing up as Ziggy to being David”. David Bowie, the celestial vagabond, of the unofficial genre of obscurity, implores us to never stick with the status quo. ‘Like a cat from Japan’ standing tall in the styles of Kabuki, to the solemn aesthetic of The Thin White Duke, Bowie personifies our need to transform. With a legendary pantheon of alter egos, from Ziggy Stardust to the Goblin King, each of us continue to keep a piece of the Star Man close to our hearts in the post-Bowie apocalypse. Here, social standards are not a good starting point, and they never have been for this column. With racks upon racks of satin organza, nylon and clothing with inappropriately placed gaps in fabric left over from Mardi Gras, there has never been a better time than now to embody The Man from Mars.
Grapeshot Fashion: An Ode to Bowie WORDS II ANGELA HEATHCOTE
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