David Bowie’s suit takes the spotlight at auction

HELE.- A suit once owned by celebrated singer David Bowie is one of the more star-studded items on offer in a sale of Fine Art, Antiques and Collectables at Auction Antiques on 25th March 2021. The suit is being sold by Jayce Lewis, a musician and lifelong friend of Steve Strange, of 1980’s ‘Visage’ fame, from whom he inherited it, along with other items from the Steve Strange estate. How did it come to be among items in the Steve Strange estate? A curious backstory reveals how and the suit bears witness to it!

Steve Strange acquired the suit in 1982 at the Blitz club in London, a fashionable club that he owned and ran in the 1980s. Jayce Lewis fills us in: “Steve (Strange) told me that he found out that Bowie was going to attend his club one particular night, so they put the regular procedure in place of getting him into the club via a discreet entrance. From there Steve would take Bowie and his entourage into his office where they could all hang out chatting and smoking etc.

Apparently, Bowie was not in the best of shapes on the night, so he didn’t want to be seen by the press or fans. After being escorted into Steve’s office in the club he sat down in such a slump, that the insides of his cigarette fell out on to his suit and burnt the pocket along with a few other areas. He quickly asked his female assistant, to go and fetch him his bag/suitcase from the car in order for him to change, which she did.

Bowie changed into a jacket and trousers, discarding the suit on the floor near the sofa, where it was forgotten about. Later that night Steve spotted the suit and took it home to work out what to do with it, where it remained until his estate was sold, along with all of his other possessions”.

The suit, by Issey Miyake, bears the scars of that eventful night and the story is also corroborated by the fact that it is the exact size for Bowie at the time (he had a teeny size 28 inch waist at the time).

Specialist Stephen Ferguson at Auction Antiques says: “Unusual items with a famous history are always the best and as a lifelong Bowie fan, this piece ticks all the boxes, as it will with other Bowie fans. With the V&A hoovering up Bowie’s entire wardrobe, this is a rare thing to appear on the open market, so we’re doubly excited to be offering it”.

The suit has an auction estimate of £10,000-£15,000 however with David Bowie still remaining so popular, it is believed it could fetch much more!