David Bowie's suit comes to auction

Bowie's suit, available for bidding via thesaleroom.com, has been consigned to auction by Jayce Lewis, a musician and lifelong friend of Steve Strange, from whom he inherited it, along with other items from the Steve Strange estate.

But how did Bowie's suit come to be among items in the possession of Steve Strange in first place?

The story goes that Strange, who found fame in the 1980s with pop group Visage, acquired the suit in 1982 at the Blitz club in London, a fashionable venue that he owned and ran.

According to Lewis: "Steve told me that he found out that Bowie was going to attend his club one particular night, so they put the regular procedure in place of getting him into the club via a discrete entrance."

However, Bowie was not having a perfect day and was apparently somewhat the worse for wear when he arrived at the club (an absolute beginner's mistake, one might say). Feeling under pressure he decided he didn't want to be seen by the media or fans, so he was escorted into Strange's office in the club.

Turn to the left! David Bowie was rather slim in the early 1980s. You'll need a 28 inch waist to fit into the trousers.

Ashes to ashes

While smoking, he let some of the ash fall out onto his suit and burnt the pocket along with a few other areas. He asked his assistant to go and fetch him his bag from the car in order for him to change into something else.

Changes

Bowie swapped the suit for a jacket and trousers – a good outfit for dancing in the street later on, perhaps. He discarded the suit on the floor near the sofa, where it was forgotten about.

Later that night Strange spotted the suit and took it home to work out what to do with it. In the end, it remained with him until his estate was sold, along with all of his other possessions.

Space oddity

There's not much room inside this suit. Bowie was notoriously thin at the time, little wonder then, that the suit's trousers have a waist measuring just 28 inches.

Fashion

The suit was made by fashion designer Issey Miyake. His firm's website states that its "basic philosophy is to create new products through the power of imagination and to bring people amazement and delight". 

The suit label showing it was made by Issey Miyake

Bowie enjoyed some of his golden years in this suit, now it's someone else's turn to enjoy it.

Let's bid

David Bowie's suit is lot 365 in the sale at Auction Antiques of Hele, Devon on March 25.