PROFILE: Mr Freddie Mercury
“I dress to kill, but tastefully”
Words - Taj Hayer
Freddie Mercury was a pioneer of dressing for the stage, with a fearless and flamboyant fashion sense often offering concert goers a rock concert and a fashion show at the same time.
In 1963 Mercury migrated from Zanzibar to London and attended the Ealing College of Art where he graduated with a diploma in graphic design. This background, selling clothes at market stalls on a Saturday and his traditional upbringing would all have an influence on his style. Looking back, the costumes that Mercury wore on stage were just as unique as his incredible four octave range. Skin tight leather trousers, leotards covered in glitter and sometimes a simple pair of light blue jeans and a vest. Over the years he would work closely with Zandra Rhodes who would collaborate with him on some of his most iconic looks including the achingly cool pleated winged designs crafted from heavy white satin. The goal was to make the audience gasp and always create something new and unexpected, which often meant that he was not scared to embrace the ridiculous. The concert needed to be more than a concert, it was pure theatre which of course, means that the costumes required a sense of theatrics.
Light years before his contemporaries and the fashion industry at the time, Freddie Mercury paid no attention to conventional gender norms, toying between Tom of Finland style leathers and next in full on drags, as in the music video for I Want To Break Free. He was also open to mixing several aesthetics in one look - for example the yellow leather jacket worn with white Adidas joggers and sneakers. The military jackets studded with epaulettes would inspire others like Michael Jackson in the future.
The movie Bohemian Rhapsody brought all of Freddie’s flair for fashion back into the public consciousness. Of course this means that menswear designers all started to create pieces that had Freddie written all over them. At Ann Demeulemeester chests were bared in rock and roll fashion and painted in glitter at Saint Laurent. Whilst always borrowing from the sexes and different eras, the moustache and hairy chest were constant features of his look that would last the test of time. Ensuring that these were staples all contributed to factors that led him to be a man that would redefine masculinity.
In the Eighties he abandoned the androgynous look of the Seventies and wore jeans and vests, exposing biceps and chest with studded accessories that were widely associated with gay subcultures. This simple and incredibly powerful look, worn on stage at the forever historic Live Aid performance in July 185 cements his place as a rock star and style icon.
