David Bowie Fashion

A major way in which Bowie’s fashion is so recognizable is through his use of different colors and designs in order to emulate theatrical trends and an extraterrestrial, outer space theme. This was prominently featured both on the iconic cover of his 1973 album Aladdin Sane and through one of his most popular characters, Ziggy Stardust. Ziggy Stardust, the protagonist of the album Ziggy Stardust and his Spiders from Mars, was notable for not only his androgyny, but the fact that he was always in brightly colored clothing and makeup and was also supposed to be an alien. Bowie’s performances as Ziggy were deeply memorable for their theatricality and flashiness, and people who saw Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie concerts claimed that the “shows
Bowie’s face on the cover of Aladdin Sane was covered in a coral and blue lightning bolt that later became synonymous with David Bowie himself. His extraterrestrial theme was also featured prominently in his song “Space Oddity” and his acting role in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth. The former was a ballad about a fictional astronaut named Major Tom, who experiences many difficulties after he is sent into outer space. “Space Oddity” was one of Bowie’s first commercially successful songs and remains one of his most popular, thus creating a deep impact on the legacy of his work. The Man Who Fell to Earth, which features Bowie as the alien Thomas Jerome Newton, also follows the pattern of displaying the more otherworldly aspects of Bowie’s personality and fashion, further setting him apart from other musicians and pop culture
Throughout his decades-long career, his reputation as being strange and rebellious gave audiences someone to identify with and idolize. More recent examples of his cultural impact are prevalent in not only music, but also in other, more visually focused mediums, such as television. In the HBO television show Flight of the Conchords, there was an episode aptly titled “Bowie”, which revolved around one of the main character Bret’s self-esteem issues. While trying to combat these issues, he has multiple dreams where he is approached by David Bowie in multiple incarnations and given humorous but misguided advice. Bret follows this advice because he considers Bowie to be his role model and holds him in very high regard, despite, and possibly because of, his weirdness. The episode ends with Bret and his bandmate Jemaine performing their song “Bowie” (also called “Bowie’s in Space”) in a music video that is highly reminiscent of the music video for “Space Oddity”, further suggesting that his work deeply impacted some of their own creative endeavors. Another instance of Bowie’s presence in modern television occurred in American Horror Story: Freak Show, in multiple episodes. The very first episode of the anthology installment introduced the members of an early 1950s “freak show”, and specifically featured Jessica Lange as Elsa