![]() ![]() In Queen’s “I Want to Break Free” video, Mercury dressed in female pin-up clothing, with a black leather skirt and pink earrings to portray the role of a repressed housewife. Here we revisit some of the Queen frontman’s best moments in style during his flamboyant reign. Glam was defined across the eras by A Night At The Opera where Mercury donned a satin number for “ Bohemian Rhapsody”, his monochrome catsuit in “ We are the Champions”, and his iconic tank top and studded arm band for his Live Aid 1985 performance. Seamlessly springing from catsuits to military jackets, Freddie Mercury's style was in a constant flux of reinvention. He reached a pinnacle of fame that very few can match, where every element of his character and aesthetic is universally recognised and frequently copied, using fashion and design as a means for constant reinvention. Even until the end, when he performed frail and gaunt in the video for “ These are the Days Of Our Lives”, Mercury maintained professionalism, heart and unabashed style with every show.Īlongside his powerful vocals, a relationship with his audience that Kurt Cobain felt envious enough of mention in his suicide letter, and a mighty moustache, Mercury’s reputation as one of the original fashion subversives still prevails today. During the early days of Queen, Mercury announced: “I’m not going to be a star, I’m going to be a legend”. His work and legacy have gone on to influence maverick musicians from Lady Gaga to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and fellow icon David Bowie. To perfect the look – and, like the "great pretender", really dress up to the nines – throw on a bow tie too.įollow us on Vero for exclusive music content and commentary, all the latest music lifestyle news and insider access into the GQ world, from behind-the-scenes insight to recommendations from our Editors and high-profile talent.In the years after his death, Freddie Mercury has become synonymous with flamboyance. In terms of blazers, he sported both single- and double-breasted ones, usually roomy and with wide peaks (hey, it was the Eighties), while his trousers hung straight and boxy. In his later years, when he did such extraordinary things as duet with opera legend Montserrat Caballé, he snazzied things up with suits. Hell, the man even helped keep a then-broke David Bowie chic by giving him a pair of boots he couldn’t afford during his stint as a vintage clothes salesman in Kensington Market.Īhead of what would have been his 72nd birthday on 5 September, as well as the much-anticipated Bohemian Rhapsody biopic, we give you 12 images of His Majesty at his sartorial finest.Įven wild child Freddie knew that everything – red leather trousers and spandex included – had a time and place. And it wasn’t just himself that he enjoyed dressing up he once managed to smuggle Princess Diana into a gay bar by dolling her up in drag, let alone the rest of Queen for the now-classic "I Want To Break Free" video. While perhaps best known today for his trademark moustache and undershirt look of the Eighties, Freddie experimented with radically different styles and kept things just as interesting visually, if not more than musically, for his legions of admirers. Sure, his four-octave vocal range could make even Bob Plant hide in shame behind his curls, but, for Freddie, singing was but one part of the grand performance he called "life", and such a stage called, only naturally, for the most exquisite taste in fashion. If it wasn’t fabulous, it had no place in Freddie’s book, whether as a toothy Parsi schoolboy or as the most exuberant rock'n'roll frontman to have ever walked the earth. "And no one’s gonna stop me, honey!" And indeed, no one did - or could - until Aids tragically claimed his life in 1991. I’ll always walk around like a Persian popinjay," the never-modest Freddie Mercury once exclaimed. That alongside the new biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, out on 24 October, means now is the time to celebrate Mercury’s fashion sensibilities It would have been the frontman’s 72nd birthday on 5 September.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |