Month: October 2013

“Dressed to kill”

As we mentioned when we posted the original story, today is the day that the BBC’s History magazine announced the name of the individual who received the most votes in their “Who’s the best-dressed Briton in history?” poll. 

Here’s a bit from the site.

David Bowie has been voted the best-dressed Briton in history in a recent poll by BBC History Magazine, winning the title with 48.5 per cent of the votes. Bowie was one of 10 individuals nominated by leading academics and fashion experts in the October issue of BBC History Magazine for their sartorial style and impact on British fashion history.

 

David Bowie was nominated by designer Wayne Hemingway. Speaking to historyextra about why he believes Bowie deserves to win, Hemingway said:

 

“Bowie has profoundly influenced so many of us. The first concert I went to on my own was David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane tour at King George’s Hall in Blackburn in 1973.

After the gig, I went out, got my hair ‘feathered’, bought a tight-fitting canary yellow T-shirt from Clobber and Bowie’s album from Ames Record Bar. The next day we read in the Evening Telegraph that he [Bowie] had been banned from Blackburn for wearing one of his costume changes – the white sumo knickers. We all wanted to get banned too.

Here was a creative genius who understood art and design, looked cool, inspired us and upset the establishment. All these attributes lead to things that drive humankind forward… change.”

In fairness it’s possible that the other nine nominees don’t have quite the online fanbase that David Bowie enjoys.

When we posted the story Bowie had 25% of the vote that almost doubled to 48.5% over the following days. So thanks for your support.

Having said that, one of the other contenders has a formidable online presence in The Richard III Society. 

We’ll leave you with the best-dressed Briton shortlist and results:

1. David Bowie – 48.5 per cent

Championed by Wayne Hemingway, designer.

2. Elizabeth I – 13.6 per cent

Championed by Ulinka Rublack, author of Dressing Up: Cultural Identity in Renaissance Europe.

3. Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire – 9.5 per cent

Championed by Katy Werlin, fashion and textile historian specialising in the early modern period.

4. George ‘Beau’ Brummell – 8.4 per cent

Championed by Rachel Dickens, deputy art editor of BBC History Magazine.

5. Queen Alexandra – 7.1 per cent

Championed by Kate Strasdin, assistant curator at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum, Devon, and associate lecturer at Falmouth University.

6. Anne Messel – 5.3 per cent

Championed by Amy de la Haye, professor of dress history and curatorship at London College of Fashion.

7. Henry III – 2.5 per cent

Championed by Dr Benjamin Wild, historian of men’s fashion and guest lecturer at the Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design.

8. Ellen Terry – 2.2 per cent

Championed by Veronica Isaac, assistant curator in the Department of Theatre and Performance at the V&A, London.

9. Charles James Fox – 1.6 per cent

Championed by Dr Hannah Greig, lecturer in early modern history at the University of York and author of The Beau Monde: Fashionable Society in Georgian London.

10. Samuel Pepys – 1.3 per cent

Championed by Anna Reynolds, curator of paintings for the Royal Collection Trust and curator of the current exhibition, In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, at the Queen’s Gallery, London.

“I’ve got seven days…”

The limited edition Sorrow 40th Anniversary 7” Picture Disc is out now on Parlophone (October 22nd US).

You still have a chance to win it along with the Life On Mars? anniversary disc, via the contest we announced a month ago.

The competition closes at midnight UK time on 21st October 2013 and you can enter here.

U.S. fans that haven’t already secured a copy might like to remember that this gorgeous collectable is available domestically for pre-order at both davidbowie.com and Amazon U.S.

“I never thought I’d need so many people”

Deryck Todd has been in touch with a last minute reminder about THE ONLY PLACE TO BE in NYC this Saturday night. It’s the annual highlight of the NY social calendar, BOWIEBALL, and you still have time to throw together some suitable clobber for this year’s extravaganza.

This event seems to get bigger and more exciting every year, as you can see for yourself on this page.

Here’s the blurb…

 

BOWIEBALL Oct 12 2013

 

Back by popular demand, nightlife impresario Deryck Todd presents the Fall  installment of BOWIEBALL on Saturday October 12th 2013, celebrating the apex of electric excess— BowieBall pays homage to the definitive rock icon: David Bowie, in an anything-goes charity extravaganza bringing together the best in music, art, fashion, and entertainment.

 

Notorious for turning out those that are wild enough to be in the downtown underground, BowieBall is heralded as the “it affair” by NY Times with attendees like Mick Rock, Debbie Harry and Chloe Sevigny. Let your inner lightning bolt strike at BowieBall, the only exclusive New York nightlife event covering yourself in glitter’s golden years.

 

HOSTS: THEODORA RICHARDS, PATRICIA FIELD, MISS POP

 

DJS: SAMMY JO (Scissor Sisters), BILL COLEMAN (Peace Bisquit)

 

PERFORMERS: JIGGLY CALIENTE (RuPaul’s Drag Race), LADY RIZO, TAYLOR MAC, MIKE GRECO, AMBER MARTIN, TAYLOR MAC, MICK ROYALE, BREEDLOVE, DERYCK TODD, KEANAN DUFFTY, LISA MCQUADE, MICHAEL CAVADIAS, MILITIA

 

DANCE PERFORMANCES: HOUSE OF XTRAVAGANZA. DARLINDA JUST DARLINDA, ALOTTA MCGRIDDLES, MERRIE CHERRY, MACY RODMAN, BKLYN BEAST

“Say hello to the lunatic men”

Many of you reading this will now have heard David Bowie’s Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix By James Murphy For The DFA) either on BBC Radio 6 Music or via Pitchfork.

There was also a piece on NME.com by Matthew Horton which is well worth a read. 

As promised, the track is also here on DavidBowie.com, along with a mesmerising visual to give you something to look at while you listen and dance about the place.

Check it out here. 

“And the next day, And the next, And another day”

Congratulations are due to David Bowie with the news that his The Next Day LP is the best-selling album to date this year in the UK’s Independent Record Stores.

The Official Record Store Chart reflects sales in the UK’s independent record shops. It was launched as part of last year’s Record Store day, the annual celebration of independent record shops.

From this week, latest news about the chart will be announced on NME.com and OfficialCharts.com each Tuesday – with the full Top 40 featuring every week in the new-look NME.

NME editor Mike Williams says, “NME is a huge supporter of independent record stores and Record Store Day, and we’re delighted to incorporate the Official Record Store Chart into the new look NME, which launches this week. The Record Store Chart shines a light on the amazing work done by independent records stores up and down the UK, and celebrates the independent ethos that drives so much of the brilliant music being made in 2013, which is something NME believes in 100 per cent. The fact that it’s compiled just like NME’s original chart which launched in 1952 is an added bonus.”

Here’s the top twenty Official Record Store Chart 2013 year-to-date (January to September)

01. David Bowie ‘The Next Day’

02. Daft Punk ‘Random Access Memories’

03. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‘Push The Sky Away’

04. Queens Of The Stone Age ‘Like Clockwork’

05. Arctic Monkeys ‘AM’

06. The National ‘Trouble Will Find Me’

07. Boards Of Canada ‘Tomorrow’s Harvest’

08. Vampire Weekend ‘Modern Vampires Of The City’

09. Savages ‘Silence Yourself’

10. Mumford & Sons ‘Babel’

11. Jake Bug ‘Jake Bugg’

12. Emeli Sande ‘Our Version Of Events’

13. John Grant ‘Pale Green Ghosts’

14. Atoms For Peace ‘AMOK’

15. Kurt Vile ‘Walkin’ On A Pretty Daze’

16. Rod Stewart ‘Time’

17. Black Sabbath ’13’

18. Foals ‘Holy Fire’

19. Johnny Cash ‘The Classics’

20. Public Service Broadcasting ‘Inform Educate Entertain

“You saw him hangin’ on the NME”

Available for purchase now is the previously-mentioned new look NME magazine, complete with 14 pages of Bowie, including the cover and full-page subscription ad, scroll picture to view ad.

Go here for the digital version or purchase a physical copy on Wednesday morning in the UK.

We’ll be running a contest to win signed copies of a poster of that gorgeous cover shortly.

“Oh, what have you done?”

DAVID BOWIE ‘LOVE IS LOST’ (HELLO STEVE REICH MIX BY JAMES MURPHY FOR THE DFA)

WORLD PREMIERE ON BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC THURSDAY 10th OCTOBER AT 8.50am

Taken from THE NEXT DAY the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize nominated album, LOVE IS LOST has been remixed by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy into a ten minute plus epic entitled ‘HELLO STEVE REICH MIX BY JAMES MURPHY FOR THE DFA’. Artwork especially created for the mix by Jonathan Barnbook is attached.

The remix will get its world premiere at 8.50am Thursday 10th October on BBC Radio 6 Music’s breakfast show (bbc.co.uk/6music) and will be available to stream on www.davidbowie.com from midnight the same day.

LOVE IS LOST (HELLO STEVE REICH MIX BY JAMES MURPHY FOR THE DFA) is to be released as part of a three disc collectors set/download THE NEXT DAY EXTRA on November the 4th.

THE NEXT DAY EXTRA will feature the original 14 song album, a 10 track companion album with five unheard songs/two remixes and a DVD featuring four videos from THE NEXT DAY, a 7-track digital EP bundle will also be available.

THE NEXT DAY EXTRA is released on November 4th.

THE NEXT DAY EXTRA (digital) http://smarturl.it/TNDE

THE NEXT DAY EXTRA(physical) http://smarturl.it/TNDEamz

“I like the clothes that you wear”

In a feature titled “Who’s the best-dressed Briton in history? ”, the October issue of BBC History Magazine has asked 10 fashion experts to select the men and women they believe have dominated the world of fashion over the centuries, stretching all the way back to Henry III (1207–72).

Chosen by English designer Wayne Hemingway, David Bowie is the only living person among the ten nominations. Mr Hemmingway has nailed his colours high to the Bowie mast over the years, and he makes a compelling case for DB in the magazine, from where, this edited extract.

“I saw David Bowie for the first time on the 1973 Aladdin Sane tour when I was nearly 13: I left the gig utterly blown away by his music and style. Bowie changed youth culture, and had a gift for predicting and anticipating fashion trends, always doing his own thing. His clothes, including the huge-legged striped bodysuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto, were works of art that were the result of his vision and creativity, and as memorable as his music.”

With a little over a week to go, the voting currently stands thus…

Anne Messel = 8%

Queen Alexandra = 11%

David Bowie = 25%

Henry III = 4%

Georgiana Cavendish = 14%

‘Beau’ Brummell = 12%

Charles James Fox = 2%

Elizabeth I = 19%

Ellen Terry = 3%

Samuel Pepys = 2%

Bowie is in the lead with a healthy quarter of the votes cast. But who do you think is the best-dressed Briton in history? Cast your vote here.

History magazine will announce the name of the individual who receives the most votes on October 15th.

You can read that Wayne Hemingway piece and the nominations in full in the October issue of BBC History Magazine. 

“And the stars look very different today”

If you’re unaware of Commander Chris Hadfield’s cover of a popular David Bowie tune recreated for a tweeted video while orbiting the blue planet, you must have just returned from space.

Aside from Hadfield’s recent earthbound live performances of Space Oddity, Canadian magazine, Maclean’s, has now followed up the musical adventure on board the International Space Station with a delightful makeover of the popular spaceboy in a remake of the Aladdin Sane sleeve.

Photographer Christopher Wahl explains Hadfield’s willingness to imitate the iconic 1973 album cover…

“He went full-bore with it. I explained we needed bare shoulders as opposed to the collared shirt he was wearing, so he happily took it off,” says Wahl, who ensured the lighting during the shoot also matched Bowie’s album perfectly. “He was fully participating—it was awesome. I was on a portrait high for a day and a half afterward.”

Watch a behind-the-scenes video of Wahl’s photo session on the Maclean’s site. 

You can also read about the making of the Space Oddity video and read an exclusive excerpt from Hadfield’s new book in the October 14th issue of Maclean’s, which is out now.

On November 3rd, Toronto readers can also attend a special In Conversation with Maclean’s event. Maclean’s will be speaking with Chris Hadfield for the launch of his new book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth.