The glove never really caught on, except as a punchline. But the leather jacket became the must have du jour by the late ’80s, adopted by every badass entertainer from Eddie Murphy to Tom Cruise.
In truth, though Michael Jackson’s look turned him into a joke frozen in time, the prince of pop pioneered a host of fashion trends. And those trends – from short pants to military badges to sequins – ironically are hugely influential in high fashion right now.
Jackson busted out on stage in 1983 at the Motown 25 television special wearing a black sequin suit and that crystal glove and took the world by storm with “Bille Jean.” His short pants revealed glittery socks and loafers that magically glided backwards.
Twenty years later a menswear designer named Thom Browne won designer of the year award and now designs a high-end line for Brooks Brothers on the strength of a shrunken silhouette suit with short pants.
The Michael moment was gathering steam.
A year ago Chanel showed a boyfriend jacket in silvery glitter that might have come from the Gloved One’s closet.
Along came Gossip Girls, and they revived Jackson’s fondness for schoolboy blazers with badges and crests.
Then last year the new young designer for Balmain, a Paris design house, showed a glittery military band jacket that owed some to the Beatles Sgt. Pepper, but mostly to the Jacksons and their ’80s army of blingy brothers.
The Balmain jacket instantly the red hot item for any self-respecting rock star and Beyonce stepped out in it earlier this year. Balmain’s soon to hit stores fall 2009 collection plays all Jackson, all the time.
Even the bedazzled glove is back, on the runway at Louis Vuitton.
The new princes and princesses of pop owe much of their style to Jackson, from Rihanna to Usher, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake, who among other things, mopped Jackson’s use of a fedora with falsetto.
Some designers were clearly hoping to capitalize on this ’80s icon fever. Last summer Christian Audiger, the designer behind Ed Hardy, hinted to People that a collaboration was in the works with Jackson for a clothing line, though nothing apparently came of it.
As for the tour set to start in two weeks, appropriately, Swarovski was working on covering Jackson’s costumes in crystals. At least one prominent New York designer had been tapped to work on his tour costumes. But now the world will never know what his comeback would have looked like.
In fashion and in concert, Jackson was most certainly poised for one.