{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1775107"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1775107/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024PB2434/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024PB2434/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024PB2434","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024PB2436","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX2875","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX2878","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX2880","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX2879","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX2877","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX2876","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1775107","accessionNumber":"S.342-2024","objectType":"Bodysuit","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Bodysuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto for David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, 1972. T-shirt-like body, with short sleeves and a round neck. The front layer of fabric forms a V shape at the bottom, while the back layer of fabric is cut straight across at the bottom. On the reverse of the V of fabric, there is a 'male' metal press stud fastening. There is no clear 'female' counterpart for this to attach to anywhere else on the garment. The back of the bodysuit is fastened by a metal zip (this is upside down, zipping from bottom to top), and a two silver hook and eye fastenings (one at the very bottom, and one at the neck). The bodysuit is bright blue in colour, with silver metallic trim, sleeves, and jagged triangular shaped all over the front of the garment. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Yamamoto, Kansai","id":"A19770"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cotton","id":"x30337"},{"text":"synthetic fabric","id":"x33026"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"},{"text":"","id":""}],"techniques":[{"text":"hand sewing","id":"AAT257459"},{"text":"machine sewing","id":"AAT257463"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Machine-sewn brushed cotton and synthetic material, with hand-stitched repairs and cast metal zip and fastenings","categories":[{"text":"David Bowie Archive","id":"THES394093"},{"text":"Entertainment and leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2024PB2434","2024PB2436","2024NX2875","2024NX2878","2024NX2880","2024NX2879","2024NX2877","2024NX2876"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"BritMusicLvpl","id":"THES275616"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"costumes","id":"x31908"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1972","earliest":"1972-01-01","latest":"1972-12-31"},"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":"67","unit":"cm","qualifier":"longest point","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"37","unit":"cm","qualifier":"shoulder to shoulder ","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"12.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"sleeve","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Kansai Yamamoto was a Japanese designer who worked closely with David Bowie in the early 1970s to create some of his most iconic Ziggy Stardust stage looks. Yamamoto was the first Japanese fashion designer to hold a collection show in London in 1971, with the designer setting out to prove that the aesthetic of Japan was ‘of world standard’. His show, advertising his 1971 Tokyo/London collection, incorporated designs and stage directions inspired by Kabuki theatre’s use of flamboyant colour and unique forms of expression. Harpers &amp; Queen (a forerunner of Harper’s Bazaar) reported on the show, dedicating the magazine cover and a six-page editorial to the designer. Bowie later stated that this editorial was the inspiration for his Ziggy Stardust red mullet haircut, relaying that “the Ziggy hairstyle was taken lock, stock and barrel from a Kansai display in Harpers”. \r\n\r\nBowie was greatly inspired by Japan and Japanese culture, particularly Kabuki theatre, and so it is perhaps unsurprising that he was drawn to Yamamoto’s designs. The “Woodland Creatures” jumpsuit from the 1971 collection was amongst the first Yamamoto pieces purchased by Bowie, and his new Japanese attire made its debut on stage at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park on the 19th and 20th August 1972. Yamamoto’s personal stylist, Yasuko Hayashi, worked with Japanese photographer Masayoshi Sukita in the early 1970s to dress Bowie for his shoots, and provided him with further designs by Yamamoto, before orchestrating a meeting between the pair after Bowie’s performance at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973. Yamamoto later said that ‘the image of David in [his] costume and the whole musical universe he created in Radio City Music Hall...has been chiselled in my brain with unfading vividness’. Yamomoto would continue to design custom pieces for Bowie for the remainer of the Ziggy Stardust tour.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Bodysuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto for David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, 1972","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Nicholas Pegg, <i>The Complete David Bowie</i> (Great Britain, 2016)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Oriole Cullen, 'Changes: Bowie's Life Story' in Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh (ed.), <i>David Bowie Is</i> (Great Britain, 2013)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Edo-Tokyo Museum (ed.), <i>Kansai Yamamoto: The Beauty of Japan</i> (Japan, 2008)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Concert tour: The Ziggy Stardust Tour (29 January 1972 - 3 July 1973)","id":"AUTH401669"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.342-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"342","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"David Bowie Archive Number","id":"THES394108"},"number":"1972.2001.0024"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2024NX5087"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-07-30","recordCreationDate":"2024-03-19","availableToBook":false}}