Leigh Bowery

During the 80’s, underground clubs were full of outcast kids who called themselves

the Blitz, in honor to club Blitz where they gathered every Wednesday night. For

them the going out to the club itself wasn’t important, it was all about dressing up,

prepping their clothes and themselves being involved in the decoration, finishing and

embellishment of said clothes. Fashion and conforming with the styles of the era

was not something they seeked, everyone was trying to please themselves with the

way they looked and the inner circle of this clubs, never the mainstream.

One of these kids was Leigh Bowery. He moved from the suburbs of Australia to

London at a young age. He was first introduced to this lifestyle by Scarlett Canon, a

very famous model of the underground scene. He was so impressed by what he saw

that he immediately immersed himself in the blitz (Image 1), started going out with

the most important people of the scene,which led him to opening Taboo,a club which

was open for one year before the police shut it down.

After his change of life, his style grew wilder and more controversial every single

day. He kept pushing himself further, making his own garments for his shows, going

into different ways to get people to react and be shook by what they were seeing on

stage. His style walked a very thin line between drag and androgyny (Image 2). Most

of his outfits would be comprised of pieces which covered his body from head to toe,

asymmetrical catsuits with special fillings that created volumes all around his body,

giving it weird proportions, taking fabric experimentation and corporal modification to

an extreme. One of his signature traits was the use of facial garments(Image 3,

under this mask he would still wear heavy layers of makeup.

In contrast to this heavy layered looks Bowery also enjoyed experimenting with his

own body, taking it to the extreme and altering it in basic yet comedic ways. He

would come to stage completely naked, wearing only custom made colorful merkins.

On another occasion he wore his own wife to stage, strapped upside down to his

body by a harness (Image 4). His hair was never part of his personality, hence he

shaved it all off and replaced it with color wax dripping off his head into his face.

In the end he was involved in many fields of the arts world, his legacy spread all over

the world. He designed for singers like Boy George and Lana Pellay, for dancers like

Michael Clark, he even went into political commentary with outfits like his red dot

look, speaking up for all the people with AIDS who were getting k​aposi’s sarcoma

due to lack of medicines and adequate treatments.

Bowery died of AIDS in 1994 at the age of 33, however we can still see his influence

today. His ideas and style have been used as inspiration by designers like Rick

Owens, Richard Quinn, Martin Margiela and Alexander McQueen (Image 5). Today

more and more people are getting to know him thanks to the growing phenomenon

that is Drag and Ru Paul, a huge fan of the legacy of Bowery.

Image 1) Leigh Bowery before his look went absolutely over the top.

Image 2) 1989 Photoshoot by Fergus Greer

(Image 3) Facial garment covered in sequins made by Bowery himself

Image 4) Bowery wearing Nicola Bateman, his wife, as a garment.

Image 5) Contemporary influence of Leigh Bowery

Bibliography

All photographs: Fergus Greer, courtesy of Michael Hoppen Gallery. “Leigh Bowery's

Most Outrageous Looks – in Pictures.” ​The Guardian,​ Guardian News and Media, 6

Mar. 2019,

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/mar/06/leigh-bowery-most-ou

trageous-looks-in-pictures.

Cochrane, Lauren. “Sex, Sin and Sausages: the Debauched Brilliance of Leigh Bowery.”

The Guardian,​ Guardian News and Media, 13 Aug. 2018,

 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/aug/13/sex-sin-and-sausages-the-deba

uched-brilliance-of-leigh-bowery.

Crane.tv. “Club to Catwalk | Blitz Kids.” ​YouTube,​ YouTube, 11 July 2013,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkeM_-wVgWU.

“Taboo.” ​Interview Magazine,​ 20 Jan. 2009,

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/taboo.

“Taboo or Not Taboo, the Fashions of Leigh Bowery.” ​NGV,​ 2 June 2014,

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/taboo-or-not-taboo-the-fashions-of-leigh-bowery/.

YouTube​, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDWaW6p0unk&t=520s.