You put your left leg in, your right arm in...*
I'm sure many of you noticed the hoo hah surrounding the singer Rihanna as she performed onstage at the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam on February 4th in Miami Beach, Florida.
The ensemble contrasted nicely with Rihanna's spiky, died red hair...I say 'bravely', but then it hit me that I had seen something very similar before.
I was then that I remembered the stunning outfit above, that model Candice Swanepoel wore on the runway during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at The Armory in New York City on November 19th.
It all seemed to be jogging my memory, the asymmetrical outfit with sparkly bits woven into the fabric, covered in bold geometric designs, with not only the two wrist bangles, but a great pair of platform shoes too. Still wasn't quite it though...no red hair for a start.
While searching I did stumble upon the House Of Field designed creation above that hit the runway at the Barbie 50th Anniversary Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week on Feb 14th last year.
It was close, but no sleeves at all and no bangles...though the diagonal design was triggering something. One thing's for sure, if Barbie had looked like that when I was a lad, I would have spent less time with Ken!
I was about to give up, when it hit me like an Aladdin Sane lightning bolt from the blue...
It was Kate Moss I had remembered wearing the exact outfit I had been thinking about all along...even if there was no sign of red spiky hair.
I didn't think I could get any closer. The picture was from a feature in Vogue from May 2003 (04.10.2003 NEWS: BOWIE INTERVIEW AND CLOBBER SPECIAL IN VOGUE) in which Kate was photographed wearing different stage outfits belonging to David Bowie.
Hang on a minute. David Bowie!?
Of course, David Bowie had pioneered the look thirty seven years ago with the costume above created by Japanese fashion designer, Kansai Yamamoto.
It was all there, all those years ago: the asymmetrical outfit with sparkly bits woven into it, the two wrist bangles, the diagonal stripes and geometrical shapes...and of course, bright red hair.
Bowie was so comfortable with the asymmetrical look that he had Freddi Burretti knock up a couple more for Ziggy's last fling during the filming of The 1980 Floor Show in London in October 1973.
Somehow, though they are even more flamboyant, this look seems to work on Bowie a bit better than the other examples on this page.
And there was much more to come...but that's another story.
*So, you think Bowie has never sung The Hokey Cokey?
Total Blam Blam - (BowieNet News Editor)
Courtesy of David Bowie.com http://www.davidbowie.com/news/index.php?id=20100205
To add to this, I have to say that I am really tired of this lack of innovation by the Rihanna and Lady Gaga of this world. I am not a fan at all and I don't think we'll remember them...but we'll remember David Bowie !
