by Marina Eleni Papalamprou

Five years have passed since David Bowie’s shocking death. Only a few times has the passing of a celebrity caused so much sorrow. An Italian friend of mine has summed up its emotional impact in an iconic statement: “My grandparents cried when the last Pope died, I cried for Bowie”. At first I laughed, judging his quote-worthy utterance as a quirky exaggeration stemming from his extreme admiration for the artist. But for some reason it stuck with me, and after thinking on it for some time, I ended up wondering: hasn’t Bowie, in his own way, been a figure of similar importance? Hasn’t his influence on his respective fields been of equal proportions? Hasn’t he also gained a cult-like following of passionately devoted fans, who, in a sense, treat their idol as Catholics do the Pope? I have come to realise that my friend’s “exaggeration” was not an overstatement at all. The most extraordinary thing is that Bowie’s influence, even though a musician, exceeds the music industry. Putting his musical impact aside, I would like to consider his shaping of the world of fashion. It is magnificent how much of Bowie we see in contemporary beauty trends, most often without being aware of him looming. His unique style is ever-present in modern fashion; the two are in fact often undistinguishable.

David Bowie in 1974 for his Diamond Dogs Tour – Harry Styles Photographed by Tim Walker

Widely known as a chameleon, capable of occupying distinct identities in succession, he was what every fashion enthusiast aspires to be. His genius rested upon self-invention, as well as on his daring challenging of normality. From his early days as a mime student to a hippy with messy blonde curls and from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke, he has always been one step ahead. I think that the notoriety of his influence is prominent in the androgynous tendency of modern fashion. Take two of the most powerful fashion icons of the last years: Timothée Chalamet and Harry Styles. They are both renowned for embracing femininity, as well as for their willingness to take risks. Bowie’s touch can be seen on many occasions. Would they dare wear such things as pink suits, wide-leg pants, boldly patterned jumpsuits, or even skirts (a trend which will hopefully widely be seen on the streets in the upcoming years), without Bowie? I believe not.

The modern revival of androgyny owes a lot to the great musician, one could say almost everything. In the world of fashion history, the one widely accepted doctrine is that fashion moves in circles. What was once popular will, in one form or another, eventually make a comeback. According to The Business of Fashion “some fashion historians credit Elvis Presley as the initiator of androgyny as a concept”, but his eyeliner and sensual dancing, even though undoubtedly shocking for the 1950s, do not really compare to Bowie’s flamboyance. Presley was not traditionally masculine, but Bowie was hermaphrodite. His self-assertive incorporation of a supreme Feminine into an elegant Male birthed multiple unearthly personas, and paved the way for the casual androgyny we can today see in celebrities like Chalamet and Styles. Bowie was the fantastical, epicene explosion needed for a subsequent assimilation of the pansexual into the mainstream.

David Bowie Photographed in LA in 1974 – Timothée Chalamet at the Little Women Paris Premiere — David Bowie Photographed in LA in 1974 – Timothée Chalamet at the *Little Women* Paris Premiere

“Fashion changes, but style endures” Coco Chanel (an individual who famously masculinized women’s fashion) has once said, and I believe style becomes eternal when it breaks the restrictive rules of the “norm”, one of which is gender. Bowie has famously declared Mars as his homeland, and his appearance mirrored this otherworldliness, dismissing the man-made masculine-feminine binary. And if we look closely into modern fashion we will become aware of its heavy reliance on the hermaphrodite aesthetic “The Man Who Fell to Earth” introduced to pop culture over half a century ago.

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