Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
Rock & Pop
Lot 87
David Bowie: The 'spacesuit' worn by Bowie in the 1980 video for Ashes To Ashes,
12 June 2019, 13:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £26,312.50 inc. premium
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David Bowie: The 'spacesuit' worn by Bowie in the 1980 video for Ashes To Ashes,
the RAF air-ventilated suit Mk. 2A, with maker's label dated 1961 and size details and broad arrow, in nylon, with Velcro fastener to the back of the neck and tape to back at waist, button to each ankle, with a system of PVC tubes in nylon channels overall fanning out from a large inlet tube, accompanied by a statement of provenance,
Footnotes
Provenance:
The suit was originally acquired by musician, Gideon Wagner. In the early 1970s he answered an advert in the Melody Maker placed by Kenneth Pitt, David Bowie's former manager, who was looking for new talent to manage. Over the years Gideon received a number of clothing items via both Kenneth and Bowie, being the same size as Bowie. This was given to Gideon shortly after the filming of the video, having kept in touch with Bowie.
The iconic video, directed by Bowie and David Mallett, was, at the time, the most expensive music video ever made and still remains one of the most expensive of all time. In 1999, MTV placed it at No.58 in their list of '100 Greatest Music Videos'.
This item of flying equipment was made by the G.Q Parachute Company, Woking, England and was commonly known by aircrew as the 'Fairy' suit. Worn under a flying suit, it was designed in the 1950s to help keep the wearer cool within high-temperature cockpits of the RAF jets at the time. One was also worn by Kate Bush in the video for the single 'The Dreaming', released in 1982.
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