BOWIE 1980 FLOOR SHOW COSTUMES @ David Bowie Is…
@ Brooklyn Museum 2018
By Madeline Bocaro
© Madeline Bocaro, 2019. No part of this site may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner.
This is my edited recap of the exhibition David Bowie Is at Brooklyn Museum, featuring ONLY the 1980 Floor Show costumes. See an added bonus at the end!!
(For more on the 1980 Floor Show, send a request to join my Facebook group):
“Bowie 1980 Floor Show”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/104046166612946/
The exhibit includes more items than when I saw it in Toronto in 2013!
Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would ever see the shroud of Turin with my own eyes! Well, actually it was not really a shroud. It was more like a black spider-webbed body suit with one shiny gold sleeve and one shiny gold leg, and two oversized glittery gold mannequin hands wearing black nail polish clutching the chest area. And it was not actually from Turin, but from London. It was by David Bowie in 1973, singing ‘The Jean Genie’ on The Midnight Special during his 1980 Floor Show. (What ever happened to the censored third hand?!)
The fishnet outfit had been adapted by designer Natasha Korniloff. Her design inspiration came from the costumes in Ballet Rambert’s performance of Ziggurat in 1967. Ballet Rambert is Britain’s oldest dance company, formed in the 1920s.
Natasha Korniloff had designed spider-webbed outfits, for Lindsay Kemp and his dancers (the Astronettes) who performed in Bowie’s live Ziggy Stardust shows at the Rainbow in London in August 1972. Two gold mannequin hands wearing black nail polish were added to a more spectacular shimmering gold version of the Astronettes’ costumes for the Floor Show performance of ‘The Jean Genie’. The mannequin hands appear to be grabbing Bowie’s chest from behind. Bowie wears one fingerless glove. His own acrylic fingernails are painted bright red. – mb
The black-stringed and gold lame outfit was also inspired by two costumes in the film Barbarella; a very similarly webbed one worn by Jane Fonda and a catsuit with hands, worn by Anita Pallenberg as the Black Queen, designed by Jaques Monterey.
David Clark Allen (of the band Carmen, whom Bowie included on the Floor Show) also had a jacket with one hand sewn onto his shoulder to look like it belonged to someone standing behind him.
Angela Allen-Barr (Carmen): I”‘m pretty sure it was my brother who pioneered the stuffed stocking hand look, and obviously Bowie liked it and took it on.”
The black-stringed and gold lame outfit was also inspired by two costumes in the film Barbarella; a very similarly webbed one worn by Jane Fonda and a catsuit with hands, worn by Anita Pallenberg as the Black Queen, designed by Jaques Monterey.
The outfit was positioned next to my other favorite Floor Show Costume – the red vinyl Burretti bodice with black / red sequins and black feathers is called Angel of Death. It’s surprising that the legs are shorts, which are covered by Bowie’s tall boots. This outfit was so nice that Bowie wore it twice! During ‘I Can’t Explain and in his duet with Marianne Faithfull, ‘I Got You Babe’. It was missing one feathered wristband and most importantly, the lace-up stiletto thigh high boots.But nonetheless, it was breathtaking! I envisioned Bowie smiling as the feathers grazed and tickled his face as he shimmied in this wacky creation on the show.
(I have since found out the fate of the lost boots. Read further!)
I reveled in the absurdity of it all, recalling memories of family and peers scoffing at Bowie on TV, asking, ‘Who is this freak?’ and having no one to accompany me to Bowie concerts in the early 70s. Now his entire career has been elevated to high art – presented behind Plexiglas. Young and old strolled through the exhibit, taking notes, shuffling by in varying degrees of human decay – with walkers, in wheelchairs, lots of old folks looking confused, some humoring the Bowie fans they’d accompanied in an array of his different guises. I wondered what each person was thinking. All I know is that nobody was laughing. My god – if this is not hilarious, what is?!
The oblivious crowd were more interested in watching the videos on display (which Bowiephiles have seen thousands of times) rather than basking in the glory of the multitude of artifacts surrounding us.
Freddie Burretti catalogued David’s measurements in his design notebook on display:
Chest: 34 ½, Waist: 26 1/2, Seat: 35 ½, Shoulder: 6, Sleeve 1: 24 ½, Sleeve 2: 32, 1/2 back: 8 1/2 , Cross back: 14, Inside leg 35, Outside leg: 45, Thigh 19, Wrist 8, Biceps 11 1/2 Neck 14, Nat waist 16, Jkt length 29, D.S. 8
The spectacular Kansai creation, Space Samurai, the quick-change costume in which Bowie opens the 1980 Floor Show while singing ‘1984’ is one of Yamamoto’s many pull-away pieces with silver snaps down the sleeves. The magnificent quilted triangular costume is made of shiny metallic black, red, and blue quilted material. It has a short black turtleneck, and the long-sleeved blue and black arms. A thick red triangle runs down the middle of the chest, splitting off to each leg diagonally. The colors along the legs alternate in black, red, blue and black. The extremely flared legs are based on hakama – traditional Japanese men’s trousers worn under kimono.
In Brooklyn, Space Samurai was resplendently lit with red and white light – and at eye level! Simply stunning.
One of many dramatic theatrical devices used by Bowie (especially with the Kansai Yamamoto costumes Tokyo Pop, Space Samurai and the kanji cape) was Hayagawari (早替 ’quick-change technique’). Hayagawari is used for characters who remove disguises to reveal their true identity, and for hengemono, dances in which a single actor plays multiple roles. Removing outer layers of clothing revealed new costumes for the next role.
In a technique called hikinuki (引抜?), the outermost layer is held on with only a few threads, stage assistants called kuroko (黒子‘black person’ / ‘black clothes’ ) appear on stage and pull these threads, allowing the outer costume layer to fall off quickly and easily. Bowie’s two wardrobe mistresses wore the customary black leotards and Japanese face veils acting as kuroko – to remain hidden onstage, with only Bowie in the spotlight.
The shoes worn with Bowie’s keyhole outfit (missing from the exhibition – but located later – read further) were on display! I gasped when I saw size 13 lavender wedge platform shoes – from Pelican Footwear in New York (a deliberately mis-matched pair – black and pink satin ribbon, one open-toed clog and one sandal with ankle straps). These were worn during ‘1984/Dodo/You Didn’t Hear It From Me’ on the Floor Show.
It was a nice surprise to see the Size 13 yellow, red and green satin shoes with palm trees carved in their wedges, also from Pelican Footwear! David wears these during ‘Everything’s Alright’ with yellow pedal pusher trousers and purple satin blouse. It is not mentioned that Bette Midler urged Bowie to buy the wedge platform shoes with tropical motif, but she was too late – Cyrinda Foxe had previously taken him to the same shop and he already had bought them. Bette told Bowie, ‘With those shoes, and that chicken on your head (referring to his red Ziggy hair) you’ll take Manhattan by storm!’
Also new to the Brooklyn exhibit is the purple satin Burretti blouse worn under the colorful beaded bolero vest (which is shamefully absent) during ‘Everything’s Alright’. It is displayed in one of David’s travel cases along with a selection of his books.
The striped ‘Space Oddity’ suit by Freddie Burretti is made of heavy, stiff metallic silver fabric with stripes in hot pink, silver and electric blue. Burretti’s zip-up jacket and matching trousers descend from his design of Ziggy’s iconic ‘Starman’ suit (on Top of the Pops) made of quilted rainbow patterned fabric.The sleeves have brightly accented sculpted shoulders, with thin orange and silver stripes alternating with thicker lime green stripes. Stripes also adorn the thick pointed collar. The wrist and waistbands of the jacket are elastic for a tapered look. Capri pants with wide stripes in hot pink, blue, and thinner silver stripes complete this bomber style suit, which Bowie wears tucked into knee-high red patent leather platform boots by London footwear designer Stan Miller.
The white Burretti suit (‘Sorrow’) For the Merseys cover song from Bowie’s album PinUps, he appears on the monchromatic parquet floor all in white, resembling a pawn in a chess game. He wears a stunning all-white Burretti suit with satin lapels and white tie. The jacket has gorgeous flared sleeves and pointed cuffs. He accessorizes with an upside-down white carnation pinned to the lapel and matching white acrylic fingernails. Bowie performs ‘Sorrow’ in the studio. He sings to Salvador Dali’s muse Amanda Lear, (also Roxy Music’s cover girl on For Your Pleasure, walking a panther on a leash). Amanda was billed as ‘Dooshenka’ for the performance. Wearing a silver and black Natasha Korniloff creation as the Black Queen, Amanda wields a long pole wrapped in tinsel. She manipulates cobwebbed, dancers, meant to represent the passing of time, on the chessboard flooring. In the outtakes, Amanda and David banter, quoting lines from Alice in Wonderland.
One of the webbed outfits (worn by the male dancers) is also included in the Brooklyn exhibit!
The curators are oblivious to the fact that in the same display case is a Mick Ronson stage suit! A short sleeved black jacket with lightning bolts on the lapels, black velvet pants and a black feathered waistband.
Instead of showing the actual 1980 Floor Show, (a pristine copy was shown at MoMA years ago) the video screen displayed the ‘John I’m Only Dancing’ video on a loop next to the Floor Show costumes, followed by Polaroids taken from the TV screen during a Japanese broadcast!!! They could have at least displayed Terry O’Neill’s photos from his book When Ziggy Played the Marquee.
I will also address the first object on view at the exhibit although it is not worn in the Floor Show – Kansai’s iconic Tokyo Pop. The snap-off break-away (hayagawari) sculptural monochrome vinyl jumpsuit with bright pink lining (in Toronto) was shown with the famous red patent leather platform boots (by London footwear designer Stan Miller), now scuffed and worn. However, in Brooklyn Bowie has got some shiny new boots! It’s sacrilege! I gazed upon Tokyo Pop, quivering for at least 30 minutes. Like all of the other costumes, it is tiny. Bowie had a 24-½ inch waist. I had seen the original Tokyo Pop at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Rock Style exhibit in 1999/2000. The leather was cracked, but here it looked perfect. This was very likely a reproduction. Kansai produced a very limited edition Tokyo Pop shirt for the exhibit when it travelled to Japan in 2017. I was lucky enough to get one!
Also missing from the 1980 Floor Show was the asymmetrical ‘Time’ jumpsuit. It had been discovered by chance by a New York stylist, who scoured costume shops and flea markets. It was sold at auction in April, 2007 via Christies in London for 10,800 pounds ($21,500) to the Hard Rock Cafe in Piccadilly, which paid almost double the 4-6,000 pound pre-sale estimate.. (Blue ground with silver nylon thread weave appliqued on the body and leg with a flame design in orange, red, yellow, gold and pink).
I hope that they fly these costumes in separate planes during the exhibit’s travels. It would be a disaster if the plane should crash into the ocean and we lost all of them. If that happened, some sea creatures would certainly be looking fabulous! Many of the captions read ‘Made from 1930s furniture fabric.’ My boyfriend lovingly and sarcastically told me that he is going to have a suit made from his grandma’s couch! ‘It’ll be the next big thing! It will be culottes!’ This is why I adore him!!!
I never imagined that I would live long enough to see these Bowie artifacts all in one place, and so close to my home. Who knows what might happen if I stay alive for another fifty years!
UPDATE: September 2018
A very important 1980 Floor Show costume was missing from the exhibition. The green costume with the pink satin keyhole worn during ‘You Didn’t Hear it From Me’ is in a private collection. The design is inspired by the German Cabaret Voltaire movement’s Dadaist designer Sonia Delaunay who created many of Tristan Tzara’s outfits). This is is the reveal once the colorful Space Samurai snap-front costume is pulled off.
It was interesting to see Bowie’s original concept sketch of this costume. His sketches appeared for the first time in the Brooklyn installment of the exhibition! David’s drawing indicates that it was meant to have additional keyholes at the top of some sort of boots or leggings instead of the plain green one-piece that it became.
NOW IT CAN BE TOLD!!! I have since located this outfit!! When I exited the V&A exhibit, I vowed that I would find the very important missing keyhole costume. Within weeks, I happened to receive a comment on my blog from its owner who had neglected to tell me that it was in his collection! Joey Arias, famed diva and Klaus Nomi collaborator told me that he owns the costume. Joey promised that I could see it when he took it out of storage. That day has finally come!
The was a part of Joey’s exhibition in New York City, Treasures from the Joey Arias Archive – September 5-28, 2018. Klaus Nomi’s wonderful iconic costumes and his drawings/ sketch books were on display as well.
(Boo-Hooray exhibition details).
As I entered the room, I suddenly saw the holy grail in all its glory, by itself in a corner. I was NOT ready, and my eyeballs could not stop spinning! It is in great condition despite signs of wear and a small tear on the edge of the pink satin keyhole. The same pink and black satin was used to make the deliberately mis-matched ribboned wedge shoes seen in the V&A exhibition (as I mentioned above).
The costume is not a leotard, as it seems to be because of the tight fit. It is a sturdy dark green textured fabric with zippers from ankles to knees for a tight fit. It also zips up the back.
The blue satin eyeball peeping out from the keyhole corset bodice kept staring at me as I marveled at its roped eyelashes, spiraled and hooked upon beaded rhinestones. I never thought our eyes would meet, but dreams do come true!
I lost track of space and time when my boyfriend finally had to drag me away from the magnetic pull of its gaze!
(See more photos below.)
Another update and a fabulous, yet disappointing find:
The fate of the thigh-high lace-up boots!
Former Mainman Artiste Jayne (formerly Wayne) County recently told me that she was in possession of Bowie’s lace-up stiletto Floor Show boots for years, until “They got thrown out on the street while I was in London, as Leee (Black Childers) didn’t pay our NYC rent as he was supposed to do!”. This was in the mid-70s when Wayne County and The Electric Chairs played in England. Bowie had left the boots in the Mainman office and had given them to Leee who had asked for them.
(Jayne also had some of Iggy Pop’s outfits that she got from Mainman as well. “I altered them and wore them for my 82 Club appearances). She can be seen wearing a pair of Iggy’s infamous gold gloves in a photo from Club 82.)
New York City, Treasures from the Joey Arias Archive – September 5-28 2018.
Joey Arias, Avant Garde performance artist, cabaret singer, and globally renowned nightlife legend, presents his eclectic archive, spanning a singular career from the 1970s to present day. From Arias’ 1979 appearance alongside Klaus Nomi and David Bowie on Saturday Night Live to his 2011 surrealist puppet show with puppeteer Basil Twist entitled “Arias with a Twist”, Arias’ life and work defies any traditional label, category or type, Arias’ image and style exists in a class all its own…
More details about Joey’s exhibit here:
Also see my story about the Saturday Night Live appearance in 1979 – I was there!
Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night!
LIVE FROM NEW YORK… IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT! WITH DAVID BOWIE & KLAUS NOMI
AND my longer story all about Klaus Nomi:
Klaus Nomi – Riding the New Wave
© Madeline Bocaro 2019. No part of the materials available through http://www.madelinex.com may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent Madeline Bocaro. Any other reproduction in any form without the permission of Madeline Bocaro is prohibited. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Madeline Bocaro.
Bowie’s original sketches for the 1980 Floor Show costumes and set design:
Wonderful, evocative writing. I’m so jealous! Thanks for such a detailed description. Beautiful.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am happy that you liked my article! Madeline