Production still from The Man Who Fell to Earth 1976 / Director: Nicholas Roeg / Image courtesy: StudioCanal Australia / View full image
Ziggy may have played guitar, but it was David Bowie who played an alien, a vampire, a Roman emperor, and a goblin king, all with effortless style and savoir faire. ‘The Cracked Actor: Bowie on Screen’ film program at the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA from 17 August – 5 October 2024 celebrates some of Bowie’s most notable on-screen roles and is a rare chance to see a different side to this chameleonic performer.
DELVE DEEPER: David Bowie on screen… behind Bowie’s now iconic stage personas lies a complicated love affair with acting that took his passion for performing from the concert stage to the silver screen.
As with many great performances, a sharp costume, a snappy accessory or even the right hair piece can add a new dimension to a character and create an unforgettable cinematic moment. An enigmatic and continually changing performer, David Bowie was synonymous with bold looks and edgy styles that walked a fine line between fashion and costume. From invisible ties to sparkling sceptres, here are five of our favourite David Bowie costume highlights.
#1 The ‘Air tie’ see it in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) R18+
Is there life on Mars? According to writer Walter Tevis and director Nicholas Roeg, there’s life, and it has an excellent eye for sharp tailoring and designer eyewear. Taking direction from Bowie’s ‘Thin White Duke’ persona, David Bowie worked closely with designers May Routh and Ola Hudson to create a simple look for the Thomas Newton character that would suit an alien explorer looking to blend in with their new surroundings. Bringing together Bowie’s love of cabaret, German expressionism and jazz from the 1940s and 50s, the result was a selection of dark boxy suits, slender silk shirts, black platform shoes and a non-existent tie (affectionately known as the ‘air tie’), forming a striking look that Bowie would continue to showcase as part of his ‘Station to Station’ album tour.
Production still from The Man Who Fell to Earth 1976 / Director: Nicholas Roeg / Image courtesy: StudioCanal Australia / View full image
#2 Ziggy’s hair see it in Moonage Daydream (2022) M
In the early 70s, David Bowie’s vibrant crop of laser-red hair formed the basis of his most famous stage persona, Ziggy Stardust, and has undoubtedly become one of the most iconic haircuts of all time. Until 1972, Bowie’s hairstyles had largely consisted of Teddy Boy quiffs and long blonde waves. That was until Bowie’s then wife Angie Bowie (née Mary Angela Barnett) introduced him to London hairdresser Suzi Fussey. Armed with a selection of magazine cutouts including pictures of model Christine Walton in Paris Vogue and the latest looks from Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto (who would later design Bowie’s infamous wide-leg jumpsuit made from black vinyl with white stripes), the musician walked into the Evelyn Page hair salon in Beckenham as David Bowie and walked out as Ziggy Stardust.
Pop artist Andy Warhol began wearing wigs in his early twenties as a way of concealing his premature baldness. As Warhol’s wigs gradually morphed into an integral part of the artist’s persona, they took on more bold and outlandish forms, the most famous being coined the ‘fright’ wig due to its wild and static styling. After admiring Warhol for years, David Bowie finally met the artist in 1971, and (after an initially awkward exchange) the two struck up a conversation over a pair of bright gold shoes that Bowie was wearing from T. Rex front man, Marc Bolan. In 1996, Bowie was given the chance to play Andy Warhol in painter Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat. Courtesy of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Bowie was lent one of the artist’s wigs and leather jackets to wear on set, to channel Warhol’s larger-than-life character. The result was a playful and highly memorable coming together of two cultural superstars on-screen.
#3 Vampires in Yves Saint laurent see it in The Hunger (1983) M
Vampiric elegance meets 80s shoulder pads in Tony Scott’s The Hunger 1983. Taking inspiration from the German expressionist and film noir movements, costume designer Milena Canonero partnered with fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent to bring together Bauhaus-inspired tailoring with fishnet tights, black leather jackets and angular sunglasses, giving the characters a timeless look with a gothic twist. The costumes worn by both David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve in the film were so striking, that they inspired fashion designer Alexander McQueen’s 1996 spring/summer ready-to-wear collection, appropriately titled ‘The Hunger’.
Production still from The Hunger 1983 / Director: Tony Scott / Image courtesy: Roadshow Films / View full image
#5 The ‘Swagger stick’ see it in Labyrinth (1986) M
What do you get if you cross a new-romantic singer with an orb-wielding sorcerer? The answer is David Bowie’s unforgettable rendition of Jareth the Goblin King in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. On envisioning the role of Jareth, Bowie initially pictured the character as a vein and temperamental new romantic, a nod to the flamboyant and eccentric style of the new romantic movement, who might resemble the type of popstar idolised by the young teenage character Sarah (played by Jennifer Connelly). Critical to this imagining of the character was the sceptre, or ‘swagger stick’ as Bowie called it, that would act as a type of microphone for the Goblin King to posture with. Despite its seemingly fictious name, the swagger stick is a genuine piece of military paraphernalia with origins that trace back to the Roman army, although few (if any) were adorned with crystals befitting a goblin king.
Production still from Labyrinth 1986 / Director: Jim Henson / Image courtesy: Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. / View full image
‘The Cracked Actor: Bowie on Screen’ is an exploration of the visionary performer’s foray into documentary, musical, drama, murder-mystery and comedy film. From the fantastical to the heartfelt, these films reveal David Bowie’s holistic approach to creativity, and just how closely he intertwined the many threads of his singular artistic tapestry. The program celebrates the charisma, style and broad cinematic interests that defined the chameleonic musician’s choice in screen roles. ‘Bowie on Screen’ includes the following films screening Wednesdays and Saturdays:
The Image 1969 / Dir: Michael Armstrong The Cracked Actor 1975 / Dir: Alan Yentob The Man Who Fell to Earth 1976 / Dir: Nicolas Roeg Just a Gigolo 1978 / Dir: David Hemmings Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars 1979 / Dir: DA Pennebaker Christiane F. 1981 / Dir: Uli Edel Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 1983 / Dir: Nagisa Ōshima The Hunger 1983 / Dir: Tony Scott Absolute Beginners 1986 / Dir: Julien Temple Labyrinth 1986 / Dir: Jim Henson The Last Temptation of Christ 1988 / Dir: Martin Scorsese The Linguini Incident 1991 / Dir: Richard Shepard Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me 1992 / Dir: David Lynch Basquiat 1996 / Dir: Julian Schnabel The Prestige 2006 / Dir: Christopher Nolan
Victoria Wareham is Assistant Curator, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA ‘The Cracked Actor: Bowie on Screen’ / Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA / 17 August – 5 October 2024
The Australian Cinémathèque The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) is the only Australian art gallery with purpose-built facilities dedicated to film and the moving image. The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA provides an ongoing program of film and video that you’re unlikely to see elsewhere, offering a rich and diverse experience of the moving image, showcasing the work of influential filmmakers and international cinema, rare 35mm prints, recent restorations and silent films with live musical accompaniment by local musicians or on the Gallery’s Wurlitzer organ originally installed in Brisbane’s Regent Theatre in November 1929.
