FASHION Magazine
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David Bowie at the AGO: 33 photos of guests channeling their inner rock gods at the exhibit’s opening party
Photography by Kayla Rocca See the David Bowie party pics »
On Friday night, the Art Gallery of Ontario went full on Bowie for the opening party of its costume retrospective celebrating the gender bending rock star, David Bowie is. Some guests took his various personas literally, while others used them as jumping off points to let their inner freak flag fly. Bowie style makeup jobs were everywhere, from Aladdin Sane’s classic lightening bolt to Ziggy Stardust’s shimmering gold forehead globe. As for the clothes, Bowie inspirations ran the gamut from Style Panelist Leah Gust‘s gold onesie, to AGO publicist Laura Banks‘ pink animal print getup. While many of the evening’s guests spent hours poring over the exhibit (the recommended exhibit time is 65 minutes, but we barely escaped all that beautiful excess at the 120 mark), others partied on the main floor to the Bowie-esque spun sounds of Odessa Paloma Parker, who played DJ for the night in head-to-toe glam garb.
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Inside David Bowie is: Our interview with co-curator Victoria Broakes
See photos from the David Bowie is Exhibit »
The Art Gallery of Ontario is on a rock god roll as of late and its latest exhibit, a costume retrospective examining the transformative performance gear of David Bowie, is its crowing moment. Originating at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London earlier this year, David Bowie is (September 25-November 27, 2013) spans five decades of Bowie-isms, including 300 objects from the pop culture chameleon’s personal archive including stage costumes, hand written set lists, diary entries, sketches, photographs and video excerpts.
The exhibit attempts to take a deeper look at the importance Bowie places on his costumes as an expression of his various personas (one cannot separate Ziggy Stardust the character from Ziggy Stardust the album, for one) with various tableaux dedicated to those looks. It’s a sensory overload so lauded by international press and museum visitors alike that it’s sure to be a bang on success in Toronto as well. In anticipation of today’s opening, we interviewed co-curator Victoria Broackes on all things Bowie is.
