Bowie: The Starman of the Fashion World
Nyima Coxon explores the impact of David Bowie on the fashion world and why he is so deserving of a V&A exhibition.
The V&A’s new David Bowie exhibition, titled the David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts, recently opened in September and will feature over 90,000 items from Bowie’s personal archives. Its contrast with their previous 2013 David Bowie Is exhibition being, as Madeleine Haddon the lead curator puts it, “a working archive and a space for public engagement, research and discovery,” exemplifies the core of Bowie’s approach to style itself; as a means for an ultimately ongoing process of self-discovery in a search for a truly unique personal identity.
The renowned impact of Bowie is not, of course, limited to his significant and unforgettably relevant role as a fashion icon. Yet, as Haddon puts it, his “unwavering commitment to creative freedom and refusal to be categorized” in all aspects of creativity he purposefully blurred the boundaries of transformed the fashion industry. Bowie was rebelling against the damaging conformity it preaches whilst ironically embodying its constant transformation. One of the goals of the exhibition is to appeal to a younger audience Bowie continues to inspire, as the V&A’s East curation team worked closely with a group of 18-25 year olds from the four Olympic Boroughs. With fast fashion being more accessible and additive than ever in the age of social media, this exhibition is particularly poignant in showcasing the attitude of someone who boldly and fearlessly refused to be cast in any particular ‘aesthetic,’ which was central to his immense success. However, it is interesting to consider whether the recent TikTok trend of ‘personal style’ and the viral video of Bowie signing The Labyrinth is deeply ironic in distorting this attitude and turning it into an aesthetic for the younger generation to conform to.
Bowie’s eclectic and androgynous style, fueled by his reinvention of it, involves timeless looks that are ever present as they are inspired and recreated by modern day music artists. Bowie’s most iconic looks include his persona of Ziggy Stardust and then Aladdin Sane, where his outrageous and flamboyant costumes made him an emblem of glam rock. Bowie was blurring the lines between masculine and feminine with his lightning bolt face paint and colorful jumpsuits before Harry Styles and Timothee Chalamet dressed blurring this boundary. Moreover, his embodiment of avant-garde in this persona inspired many fashion designers to also push boundaries, such as Alexander McQueen and Gianni Versace, incorporating art that had such a political significance in the 70s with high street fashion. Many modern bands have taken inspiration from this look, for instance The Last Dinner Party who have referred to Bowie as their ‘mother’ and embrace his changing personas in their different performances, from embodying Bowie himself to the Italian Renaissance. Bowie’s Thin White Duke era, consisting of classic black suits and sophisticated ensembles, has been an inspiration to artists such as Billie Eilish and Harry Styles who are drawn to its androgynous and theatrical elements.
The recent 2025 London Fashion Week involved the promotion of bohemian and avant-garde styles, sustainable and ethical fashion as well as tradition and classic styles. I would argue that Bowie’s most famous different personas are embodied by this range. This mix of classical and avant-garde as well as the focus on sustainability is demonstrative of Bowie’s attitude towards fashion in terms of his refusal to conform and emphasis on personal style. The iconically androgynous nature of his looks also initiated a rebellion against the control of the fashion industry in terms of gendered trends being a method of advertising. Bowie’s groundbreaking and revolutionarily timeless impact in the fashion world is so ironic in his looks still being at the center of an industry that is by no means free from the corruption he rebelled against.
Words by Nyima Coxon