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A knitted wool catsuit with a right sleeve and left leg, scoop asymmetric neckline and a zip fastening on both the left side and the sleeve. The fastening on the left side has a broken hook and eye fastening. The catsuit is knitted with glittery wool in multicolours: red, blue, yellow, green, cream and pink. The jumpsuit has a number of different patterns, including diagonal stripes, horizontal spots resembling planets and stars and a multicoloured zigzag pattern. There are three knitted bangles, worn on the ankle and wrist, in pink, blue and green. The pink bangle is made of hand-knitted wool, whilst the blue and green bangles are made from machine-sewed lurex.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Yamamoto, Kansai","id":"A19770"},"association":{"text":"designed and made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Wool","id":"x40131"},{"text":"Plastic","id":"AAT14570"},{"text":"Metal","id":"AAT10900"},{"text":"cotton","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"lurex","id":"x32839"}],"techniques":[{"text":"machine knitting","id":"AAT252068"},{"text":"hand knitting","id":"x30442"},{"text":"machine sewing","id":"AAT257463"},{"text":"stuffing","id":"AAT231130"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Machine-knitted wool with zip fastenings\r\nHand-knitted wool stuffed with cotton\r\nMachine-sewed lurex","categories":[{"text":"David Bowie Archive","id":"THES394093"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2012FP3478","2012FP3479","2012FP3480","2012FM6836","2012FM6838","2012FM6839","2012FM6837","2025PC0545","2025PC0544","2025PC0508","2025PC0485","2024NX3441","2024NX3439","2024NX3433","2024NX3438","2024NX3435","2024NX3436","2024NX3431","2024NX3437","2024NX3434","2024NX3432","2024NX3430","2024NX3440","2024NX3429","2024NX3428","2024NX3427"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"CA002","id":"THES410521"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA002","id":"THES410521"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA002","id":"THES410521"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA002","id":"THES410521"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Catsuit","id":"AAT257552"}],[{"text":"Accessories","id":"AAT251645"}],[{"text":"Accessories","id":"AAT251645"}],[{"text":"Accessories","id":"AAT251645"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Japan","id":"x29399"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1973","earliest":"1973-01-01","latest":"1973-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1026-2024","id":"O1781745"},"association":"Version"},{"object":{"text":"LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.2115-2024","id":"O1784482"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Lent by the V&A Americas Foundation through the generosity of Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"139.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Catsuit","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"33.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Waist","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Catsuit","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"54.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Sleeve length","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Catsuit","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"73.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Leg length","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Catsuit","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"16.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Pink bangle","note":""},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"50.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Pink bangle","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"2.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Pink bangle","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"15.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Blue bangle","note":""},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"43.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Blue bangle","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"3.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Blue bangle","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Green bangle","note":""},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"41.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Green bangle","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"3.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Green bangle","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This knitted catsuit was designed by Kansai Yamomoto, and first worn by Bowie on-stage at Radio City Music Hall in 1973. Prior to designing this piece for Bowie, Yamamoto was already designing knitted patterned unitards, which referenced Japanese full-body Yazuka tattoos, but also tried to recreate the layered design patterns of the kimono. In 1973, embroidery and knitted pieces by Yamamoto were very successful internationally, with ELLE France featuring a series on how to recreate certain knitted Yamamoto designs. \n\nKansai 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":"Asymmetric catsuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto for David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, Japan, 1973","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":["LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1011:1-2024","LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1011:2-2024","LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1011:3-2024","LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1011:4-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"1011","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"David Bowie Archive Number","id":"THES394108"},"number":"1972.2001.0006"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-29","recordCreationDate":"2024-06-11","availableToBook":false}}