Stardust to Stardust: David Bowie's Persona Evolution

Farewell, Starman… you left us too soon. Just days after he released his final album Black Star, David Bowie died early this morning at the age of 69. His fame, electric style and iconic musical reinvention will forever live on.

Bowie exponentially rose to fame through his series of mysterious personas that evolved through his ever mind-bending album progression. A glorious time for hair, the 1960s and 70s was a time of excess and geometrical inspiration.

Let’s take a moment to remember the evolution of Bowie’s personalities through each hairstyle.

1) Ziggy Stardust (1970s)

Ziggy was Bowie’s alien-like spaceman, who fell to earth. During the promotion of the phenomenal Hunky Dory, Bowie fused glam rock and sexual ambiguity to manifest Ziggy Stardust, the mysterious alien rocker. He had a wild berry red mullet, neon blue eye shadow and glossy lips in the early seventies when the album Aladdin Sane was released.

2) Halloween Jack (1974)

With minor changes to his Ziggy look, Bowie donned an eye patch, continued to rock a fire red mullet, neckties and the one earring look perfectly. Halloween Jack’s character was the center of Diamond Dogs, his 8^th studio album. Punk rockers, like The Runaways, would soon follow in his style footsteps in the late seventies.

3) Thin White Duke (1976)

Unfortunately, Bowie spiraled into stress and drug addiction when he developed a greaser look during his 10^th album release Station to Station. He abandoned his space suit and cleaned up his look to a minimal white colored shirt, black slacks and strawberry blonde “city slicker” look.

4) Jareth, the Goblin King (1986)

Finally, we have his fantasy antagonist character from Labyrinth, King Jareth. In the late 80s David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly starred in the dreamscape film together alongside Jim Henson’s furry goblin characters. In wild metal rocker hair, frosty eye makeup and his neo-renaissance outfits… The Goblin King was a knockout character.