Performing fashion/fashioning performance: Kansai Yamamoto, David Bowie and Ziggy Stardust

Kansai Yamamoto (Japan 1944–2020) was one of the first Japanese designers to break into European and American fashion markets. Following his first London showing in 1971, Kansai (as he was known) worked with David Bowie (England 1947–United States 2016) to create a wardrobe for the performer’s 1973 tour, Aladdin Sane. This article explores the pivotal role the collaboration between Kansai and Bowie played in the construction of the performative persona Ziggy Stardust. Focusing on Kansai’s designs and his approach to the western fashion industry – where he employed a similar strategy of deliberate ‘othering’ – I will demonstrate how his intimate partnership with Bowie, already personally drawn to Eastern aesthetics, was pivotal in visualizing the concept of ‘alien’ (both as ‘foreign’ and ‘from out of space’). Kansai’s work – synonymous with bold colour, flamboyant prints and dramatic silhouettes – is heavily influenced by Japanese popular art. His performative involvement in his own runway shows draws distinctive parallels with Japanese theatre. In particular, this article examines the critical influences of Japanese theatre arts, particularly kabuki traditions, and of yakusha-e (ukiyo-e-style actor prints) on Kansai’s oeuvre, and how the designer transformed the previous styling of Bowie’s androgynous Messiah-like character into one of the most internationally acclaimed glam rock icons.