{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1775077"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1775077/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PD2686/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PD2686/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PD2686","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD2687","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD2688","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD2692","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD2690","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD2689","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX7677","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX7676","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX7679","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX7678","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX7680","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1775077","accessionNumber":"S.312:1, 2-2024","objectType":"Suit","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Two-piece suit with single-breasted jacket and pleated trousers in pale blue textured cotton. The jacket has three-pointed lapels, a single blue pearlescent button fastening, four buttons at each cuff, and is lined in metallic blue silk. The trousers have a metal zip and hook fastening, and pearlescent blue buttons around the outer waistband.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Hall, Peter","id":"AUTH401891"},"association":{"text":"designed and made by","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cotton (textile)","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"},{"text":"plastic","id":"AAT14570"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"}],"techniques":[{"text":"machine sewing","id":"AAT257463"},{"text":"handwriting","id":"AAT252927"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Machine-sewn cotton and silk with metal zip, metal hook, plastic buttons, and handwritten cotton label","categories":[{"text":"David Bowie Archive","id":"THES394093"},{"text":"Entertainment and leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Entertainment and leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2025PD2686","2025PD2687","2025PD2688","2025PD2692","2025PD2690","2025PD2689","2024NX7677","2024NX7676","2024NX7679","2024NX7678","2024NX7680"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"HA001","id":"THES411079"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"HA001","id":"THES411079"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"jackets","id":"THES398689"}],[{"text":"trousers","id":"AAT209935"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1983","earliest":"1983-01-01","latest":"1983-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"DBA/2/1/15/8","id":"ARC270097"},"association":""}],"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":"71.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Jacket","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"48.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Jacket","note":"Shoulder to shoulder"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"63.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Jacket","note":"Sleeve length"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"110.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Trousers","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"38.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Trousers","note":"Waistband"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"DAVID BOWIE","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Handwritten in black ink on small fabric label attached to inner waistband of trousers, at the back."}],"objectHistory":"Peter John Hall was a British-born American costume designer who worked principally in theatre, opera and ballet. \n\nBowie, having admired Hall's work in New York, commissioned him to create bespoke costumes his<i> Serious Moonlight Tour</i> in 1983. Bowie cited his inspirations for his image in this era as 1950s Singaporean tailoring, Paul Newman, and Little Richard. Bowie commented that Hall was deeply involved in every part of the process, noting that Hall 'chose all the materials and came to see how everything would look under our lighting'. In return, Hall described Bowie as 'serious, intellectual, wonderful to work with'. \n\nNicholas Pegg writes in<i> The Complete David Bowie </i>that 'Bowie devised his two-piece pastel suits with wardrobe designer Peter Hall, whose work he had admired in recent New York productions of<i> La Bohème</i> and <i>Zoot Suit</i>. For most concerts David would begin in a powder-blue suit and striped schoolboy tie, changing during the 15-minute interval (usually between 'White Light/White Heat' and 'Station To Station') into a peach two-piece with a polka-dot bowtie slung around the collar. Other outfits included a lime-green suit and a white naval jacket with gold piping. His handsome thirtysomething features were highlighted by a candyfloss mop of peroxide hair'. \n\nJustin Quirk describes Bowie's aesthetic of this period as '...a world of Englishmen going slowly mad in the sun, dressed for a time and a lifestyle that no longer existed' and  writes that 'on the surface, Bowie’s 1983 reinvention was his move into the mainstream. But under the tan and the teeth, the themes conjured up by his suit were still the same: alienation, a lost dream of the past and a sense of standing somewhere outside things.'","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Suit designed by Peter Hall for David Bowie, for the<i> Serious Moonlight Tour</i>, 1983","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Concert tour: The Serious Moonlight Tour (18 May - 8 Dec 1983)","id":"AUTH401681"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.312:1-2024","S.312:2-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"312","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"David Bowie Archive Number","id":"THES394108"},"number":"1983.2007.0009"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-27","recordCreationDate":"2024-03-19","availableToBook":false}}