Mens fashion icon and musical genius, David Bowie may have passed but his lyrical and aesthetic elegance lives on forever. The dandified pop culture iconoclast expressed a myriad of sartorial styles but to The Monsieur, he was arguably best dressed in the late 70s and early 80s; at least from the perspective of people not named David Bowie who could pull off his unique style sensibilities without looking like a poser.
David Bowie, rocking a well cut double breasted suit in 1994, way before the rise of David Gandy and the return of the classic gent in the early 2000s.
Mens Fashion as seen by Starman
Starman David Bowie adopted traditional elements of menswear and imbued it with erudition that only Ziggy Stardust himself could. For a long time, the bow tie was an accessory only the likes of Bowie and Harrison Ford (by way of Professor Indiana Jones) could rock accessory without irony or ridicule. In celebration of his life, we remember him through his penchant for androgyny, his eventual embrace of classic menswear and his humble demeanor.
David Bowie’s androgyny (like his music) was decades ahead of his time. Sorry Jaden.
It was a progressive style which entered cultural lexicon long before the world even debated the true value of Caitlyn nee Bruce Jenner. At the height of the free loving 70s, he was attractive to both genders even if the mainstream public wasn’t quite ready to accept his unique brand of poetic expression.
David Bowie in 1994. A slim cut suit during a time when Versace and Armani was cutting theirs’ baggy.
Nevertheless, he was herald of the classic gentleman, the Monsieur, long before even the current resurgence of classic tailoring.
Bowie: The Monsieur
As a gentleman-musician, Bowie solidified his persona with his marriage to Iman Abdulmajid. His, an origin story born from his lyrical musing of space as an Oddity, Starman and Stardust. Hers, as an African tribe girl in the wilderness (blatantly untrue since how often to Somali tribes people become high fashion models right); but the real draw was that theirs was a marriage at both so other worldly magical yet grounded that we (the viewing public) were willing to compound the theatrics with the real world relationship formalised by marriage in Lausanne, Switzerland, 1992.
For all their mystique and glamour, Bowie-Iman was the rarified power couple who despite their celebrity managed to enthrall the world with very down-to-earth domesticism as a father who cut his own baby Lexi’s umbilical cord and a rock star who didn’t delegate repeated viewings of Spongebob to the nanny. In fact, the 23 year marriage, one which exceeds statistics of even non-celebrity couples was made further saccharin by knowledge from Mrs. Bowie herself that her husband was a home-body. Ridiculous!
Carl Sagan might have opined that we are all stardust. But Bowie was the one who proved it. Long live David Bowie. May the Goblin King reign forever.
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- David Bowie, sartorially on point in 1994. Pay attention to the cut of his suit at the waist line – tapered when men’s suits were boxy at the time.
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- David Bowie’s the width of his neck tie in 1994 was closer to that of the Beetle’s in the 80s but again, he knew when and how to ride the waves of existing trends.
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- Bowie pictured with cigarette in 1994 at the turn of the century when smoking was supposed to be uncool.
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- David Bowie, pictured 1994 with hat. Something only seen in Pitti Uomo some 20 years later.
The Monsieur 
themaninasuit
January 12, 2016
Nice summation of a rare style icon who had multiple styles, from the wacky to androgynous, to the classically sophisticated.
RIP Mr Bowie