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A distressed canvas Union Flag frockcoat with v-neck and high-backed collar. There are tears, burn marks, discolourations and wax over the coat. There is a safety pin fastening at the chest, cotton stitching and red satin lining. The designer's label and a lock of brown hair encased in perspex are stitched into the lining inside the collar. A black padded bustle is attached inside the tails of the coat. There is also a dark blue linen collared shirt with white stitching, gathered shoulders, and black and blue lace down the front and at the cuffs. The shirt has matching linen-covered buttons on the collar and cuffs, and two white elastic lengths hanging from the hem. Black cotton zippered trousers with a silver button imprinted with the word 'SEX'.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Alexander McQueen","id":"A4817"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Bowie, David","id":"N7019"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cotton","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"linen","id":"x29412"},{"text":"lace","id":"AAT132861"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"},{"text":"plastic","id":"AAT14570"},{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"},{"text":"satin","id":"AAT132902"},{"text":"wax","id":"AAT14585"},{"text":"","id":""}],"techniques":[{"text":"machine-sewing","id":"AAT257463"},{"text":"hand-sewing","id":"AAT257459"},{"text":"","id":""}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Machine-sewn and hand-sewn cotton, linen and lace with plastic buttons, metal buttons, metal safety pin, hair and perspex.","categories":[{"text":"David Bowie Archive","id":"THES394093"},{"text":"Entertainment and leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2025PC4279","2012FP3197","2012FP3198","2012FP3199","2012FP3200","2012FP3201","2012FP3202","2012FM6702","2012FM6703","2012FM6704","2012FM6705","2012FM6706","2025PC4278","2025PC4276","2025PC4247","2025PC4218","2025PC4217","2024NV8523","2024NV8524","2024NV8527","2024NV8526","2024NV8528","2024NV8525","2024NV8530","2024NV8531","2024NV8529","2024NV8532","2024NV8533"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"CA001","id":"THES410520"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA001","id":"THES410520"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA001","id":"THES410520"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"coat","id":"AAT46143"}],[{"text":"shirt","id":"AAT212499"}],[{"text":"trousers","id":"AAT209935"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1996","earliest":"1996-01-01","latest":"1996-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchase funded by the V&A Americas Foundation through the generosity of the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"185.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Trousers","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Waistband","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measurement taken while folded in half lengthways"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"81","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Top of collar to bottom of shirt","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Shirt","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"45.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Shoulder to shoulder","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Shirt","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"73.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Sleeve length","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Shirt","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"123.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Top of collar to bottom of coat","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Frockcoat","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"45","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Shoulder to shoulder","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Frockcoat","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"64.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Sleeve length","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Frockcoat sleeve","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"SEX","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Imprinted on silver button on trousers."},{"content":"ALEXANDER MCQUEEN","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Maker's label inside collar of frockcoat."}],"objectHistory":"This distressed Union Jack frock coat was custom-made for Bowie by Alexander McQueen in 1996, a then relatively unknown London design working out of a studio in Hoxton Square. Bowie had read about McQueen’s work in the British press and was keen to commission him to work on his costumes for his upcoming summer festival tour to promote the album <i>1. Outside</i>. Bowie allegedly called McQueen directly, who answered the phone and, unphased by Bowie’s celebrity, pretended to be an assistant working in McQueen’s studio, afterwards telling close friend Simon Ungless that Bowie ‘wants me to do tour costumes or something’. \r\n\r\nMcQueen was an admirer of Bowie’s style, and agreed to take on the commission. He was sent Bowie’s measurements over the phone and created a number of frock coats for Bowie to wear on stage, including this Union Jack number. The Union Jack design was inspired by Gavin Turk's exhibit<i> Indoor Flag</i>. To give the piece more character, McQueen and his assistant Ruti Danan distressed the fabric by hand – she relates how the pair ‘took it to the Hoxton garden and just walked on it and threw it and rubbed it with stones’. Bowie would go on to wear the garment for the 1996 summer festivals tour, on the cover of the <i>Earthling</i> album (shot by Frank Ockenfells), at the VH1 Fashion Awards in 1997 and as the opening look for the <i>Earthling</i> live tour later that year. Describing the coat, Bowie claimed it was ‘the ultimate anti-icon...a retelling of the British flag joke, again torn and stained...the tatty remains of a metaphysical empire’.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Frockcoat, shirt and trousers designed by David Bowie and Alexander McQueen for <i>Outside</i> and <i>Earthling</i>, 1996","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Nicholas Pegg, <i>The Complete David Bowie</i> (Great Britain, 2016), p.430-3"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Chris O'Leary,<i> Ashes to Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie 1976–2016</i> (London, 2019)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Dana Thomas, 'David Bowie, Alexander McQueen, and the Making of That Iconic 90s-Era Union Jack Coat', <i>Vanity Fair</i>, 11 January 2016"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Concert tour: Outside Summer Festivals Tour (4 June 1996 - 21 July 1996)","id":"AUTH403604"},{"text":"Album: Earthling (1997)","id":"AUTH401618"},{"text":"Concert tour: The Earthling Tour (7 Jun - 7 Nov 1997)","id":"AUTH401691"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.301:1-2024","S.301:2-2024","S.301:3-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"301","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"David Bowie Archive Number","id":"THES394108"},"number":"1997.2012.0039"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-30","recordCreationDate":"2024-03-19","availableToBook":false}}