{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1781741"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1781741/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NX6888/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NX6888/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NX6888","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX6885","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX6889","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NX6890","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1781741","accessionNumber":"LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1022-2024","objectType":"Jumpsuit","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"'Tokyo Pop' vinyl jumpsuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto for David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, 1973. Long sleeved jumpsuit with extremely wide rounded shaped legs and a high collar.\r\nJumpsuit originally black, now very faded to light grey. The jumpsuit is made of polyurethane (originally shiny, now matte and cracked), padded with foam underneath. There are lines of white stitching radiating outwards from the centre of the jumpsuit. \r\nThe lining is bright fuchsia felt.\r\nThere are black metal popper fastenings at regular intervals all around the sides of the legs of the jumpsuit, the waist, and both sides of the sleeves.\r\nThere is a small rectangular paper label sewn into the inner neck of the jumpsuit, with printed black text and handwritten text. \r\nThere are several areas of the jumpsuit where hand sewn repairs have been made, and small pieces of leather sewn on as part of these repairs.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Yamamoto, Kansai","id":"A19770"},"association":{"text":"designed and made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"polyurethane","id":"AAT14495"},{"text":"foam","id":"AAT14639"},{"text":"felt","id":"AAT14107"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"leather","id":"AAT11845"}],"techniques":[{"text":"machine sewing","id":"AAT257463"},{"text":"printing","id":"AAT53319"},{"text":"handwriting","id":"AAT252927"},{"text":"hand sewing","id":"AAT257459"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Machine sewn polyurethane, foam and felt with metal fastenings, printed and handwritten ink on paper","categories":[{"text":"David Bowie Archive","id":"THES394093"},{"text":"Entertainment and leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2024NX6888","2024NX6885","2024NX6889","2024NX6890"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"013","id":"THES310143"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"costumes","id":"x31908"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1973","earliest":"1973-01-01","latest":"1973-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.2834-2024","id":"O1802421"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Lent by the V&A Americas Foundation through the generosity of Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"155.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"48.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"shoulder to shoulder","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"142.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Legs, widest point","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"78.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"sleeve length, from neck","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"ROCK STYLE\r\nBOWIE MANNEQUIN\r\nDAVID BOWIE - ZIGGY\r\nBRILLIANT DISGUISE","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Written on the paper label attached to the inner neck of the jumpsuit. The phrase 'Rock Style' is printed, while the rest of the text is handwritten."}],"objectHistory":"This jumpsuit is designed by Kansai Yamamoto and entitled 'Tokyo Pop', worn by Bowie in 1973 as Ziggy Stardust. The extreme wide legs of the costume are adapted from hakama, a style of loose Japanese trousers first worn by samurai warriors, whilst the bulging structure and white stripes across the garment are perhaps inspired by the costumes designed by Bauhaus pioneer Oskar Schlemmer for his <i>Triadisches Ballett</i> in 1922. When worn on stage by Bowie, 'Tokyo Pop' incorporated a Kabuki \"hininuki\" technique, by which two stage hands would pull-off the jumpsuit to reveal a new costume underneath.\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":"'Tokyo Pop' vinyl jumpsuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto for David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, 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.1022-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"1022","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"David Bowie Archive Number","id":"THES394108"},"number":"1972.2001.0018"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-18","recordCreationDate":"2024-06-11","availableToBook":false}}