44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever

He was a sartorial legend, and a fearless trailblazer for fashion aliens everywhere.

January 11, 2016
Before he was Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, or The Thin White Duke, David Bowie was Davy Jones
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Potter / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
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Just a long-haired kid with a preternatural understanding of the power of appearance
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Here he is cheekily defending the rights of “long-haired men” in his first televised interview
Throughout his career, Bowie’s brazen choices played with gender and challenged societal norms of sexuality
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44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Jack Kay / Getty Images
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He unabashedly embraced color and played with menswear's stodgy proportions
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Bertrand Guay / Getty Images
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He paired impeccably groomed brows with angular, tailored suits, a look that became one of his (many) signatures

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He rocked an immaculate pompadour

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44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Ralph Gatti / AFP / Getty Images
Or a dramatic head of thick, slicked-back hair
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Hulton Archive / Getty Images
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44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Hulton Archive / Getty Images
And while he was far from the first man to wear makeup, he sure did his part to popularize a well-painted face
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Setting an appropriate precursor to his absurdly photogenic marriage with Iman, model, and makeup titan
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44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Vince Bucci / AFP / Getty Images
The most blissfully beautiful couple, arguably, ever
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He warmly embraced the fashion world, which embraced him right back

RIP David Bowie, a legend and a gentleman. Your extraordinary journey will continue, your magic will never die.

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#DavidBowie #katemoss

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Burberry Prorsum even payed homage to his passing on the runway today, with this open-handed tribute
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Leon Neal / Getty Images
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44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Leon Neal / Getty Images
Though his indelible influence spans decades on the runway
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Jean Paul Gaultier SS13 / Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images
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44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Walter Van Beirendonck AW13 / Francois Guillot / Getty Images
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Jonathan Saunders AW14 / Nicolas Asfouri / Getty Images
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Dries Van Noten SS16 / Francois Guillot / Getty Images
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Countless designers took today to celebrate his legacy

Great talent, great style and a great gentleman. RIP, the one and only David Bowie.

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Hero.

A photo posted by Designer Jonathan Saunders (@saundersstudio) on

Today we mark the loss of the iconic musician and generational influencer David Bowie. #Legend #AlexanderMcQueen

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RIP HERO #Davidbowie

A photo posted by Dries Van Noten (@driesvannoten) on

💔

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Many of his vibrant onstage costumes have already made their way into exhibits around the world
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44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Ben A. Pruchnies / Getty Images
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Miguel Medina / Getty Images
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Miguel Medina / Getty Images
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He was a stone cold fox, vibrating with on a wavelength of creativity, fearlessness, and talent we may never see again
RIP
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44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever Ralph Gatti / Getty Images
44 Outfits That Prove David Bowie’s Style Legacy Will Live Forever