Michael Jackson who died last week at the age of 50, blazed a spectacular trail through the musical world but his impact on fashion and style was just as remarkable. Referenced by fashion houses to this day, he is one of the last great originals in an industry that is so desperate for style-leaders to follow that it re-hashes past decades almost before they are over.
Jackson turned the most basic of sartorial decisions into trends and sensations. The single white glove, the white socks with cropped trousers and the red leather
Thriller jacket are some of the most memorable. Many of his signature styles were simple on their own - who doesn't have some aviators? - but these looks took on a life of their own when Jackson wore them. Cropped trousers had never seemed so exciting.
Jackson also knew that an entertainer's costume choices must work just as hard as lyrics, music to entertain fans. He created an icon of a single white glove. He wore sequins and spangles better than Liberace, wore heavy-duty bondage strapping before Marilyn Manson and spangled shoulder-boosted military jackets before Christophe Decarnin thought to create them for Balmain.
At one point MC Hammer challenge Jackson for the right to wear the famed glove. Silly Hammer. He could have just worn the other one.
Jackson may have died "white", and fortunately the extreme skin-whitening was one trend that never really took off, but his "blackness" was hugely influential. He was the original African-American face of the MTV generation and sported an afro when it was still unusual and somewhat political to do so. This didn't just empower a generation of fellow African-American's to release their curls, Jackson's 'fro influenced designers like Jean Charles de Castelbajac who referenced him in his collection earlier this year.
His life may be over, but Jackson's influence as a style maker will not stop now. Just this week, Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy presented bejewelled shirts that were influenced by Jackson and the Trussari collection just shown in Milan was full of cropped trousers. The remainder of 2009 will be jammed with Jackson style-references, red jacket re-hashes and white socks worn in his honour.
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