BowieStyle [Paperback]

Steve Pafford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

A richly illustrated 160-page chronicle of pop's greatest exponent of style. This visual examination of a celebrated multi-faceted career documents the impact of David Bowie on twentieth-century fashion and culture, brilliantly capturing his spatial odyssey from dedicated follower to supreme arbiter of rock chic. As the book says, 'Bowie's "style" has always amounted to more than clothes, hair and cosmetics. Style, for Bowie, is inextricable from art...it is less a flight from reality than an entire way of life.' The range of photographs is staggering. From his humble Brixton beginnings to the classy pop icon in the last quarter of the old millennium (every year from 1962 to 1999 is amply represented), the book shows a changing glamour gallery of Bowies down the years, all different and yet somehow all unified by an unerring grasp of Style with a capital S. Whether it's on-stage with The King Bees in the Sixties, off-stage at Haddon Hall in the Seventies, on-stage (again) with Iggy Pop in the Eighties, or back-stage with Morrissey in the Nineties, Steve Pafford, editor of the UK's 'Crankin' Out' Bowie fan club magazine (PO Box 3268, London NW6 4NH), has unearthed some fascinating pix. There are close to 500 images in BowieStyle, an all-time high, and around 40% are guaranteed previously unseen. There's also an exclusive two-page interview with photographer Mick Rock, contributions from ex-manager Ken Pitt, as well as previously unpublished extracts of Crankin' Out's interviews with collaborator Tony Visconti, clothes designer Natasha Kornilof and Manish Boy Bob Solly. The informed, incisive text and picture captions are also littered with quotes from David himself, compiled from various media interviews conducted over the years, as well as his chats with Crankin' Out, which appear in print for the very first time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A wonderful book...shows how self-styling and unusual views on beauty can be fantastic.' --BBC Online 'Apart from being an excellent overview and analysis of Bowie's career, it is stuffed with fascinating trivia.' --Sunday Times

About the Author

Mark Paytress is a rock journalist and author of several books, including the definitive biographies on Siouxsie & The Banshees and Marc Bolan. He contributes regularly to MOJO magazine and pop culture related radio shows. He lives in London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Omnibus Press (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711977224
• ISBN-13: 978-0711977228
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,318,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book strictly for fans - but well done!, October 9, 2000

By 

Emilio Dreyer Pacheco (Porto Alegre, Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: BowieStyle (Paperback)

This book was a clever idea indeed. Why write another Bowie biography when there have been too many of them already? Personally, I like most of them and I strongly recommend the recently published "Strange Fascination", by David Buckley, even though it is only available in Britain at the time of writing. But quite a few Bowie fans have complained that they have no patience to read a long, detailed biography. So give them what they want: a glossy, coffee-table book full of pictures that will make female fans go WOW, plus bits and pieces of information that can be read piecemeal, in no particular order. Done by the wrong people, it could have been an embarrassing exercise in teenage-like worship. But these guys are experts and the results are more than worth the price of admission. Each chapter is devoted to an aspect of Bowie's life - there's even one about his favorite cigarette brands! This is really a fan's bible if there ever was one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SIMPLY THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, March 11, 2001

By 

Frank Miggs (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BowieStyle (Paperback)

Oh Lord, not another Bowie book! I was expecting it to be OK - you know, a few nice pix I hadn't seen before or had forgotten about, plus the usual mishmash of facts we've read in countless bowie biogs over these golden years.

How wrong could I have been?

This book is nothing short of trancendent. It would surpass the expectations of even the most uncritical of Bowie fans. Why? Well there's...

The quality of the paper and reproduction of the photos and artwork, not to mention the stunning front and back covers - simply inspired. I can't remeber the last time I saw a book cover as suitably stylish as this .

The many, many photos - literally hundreds of them. From what I can gather, there has never been a Bowie book with so many photos in it. The fact that so many of them are completely beautiful and, to my knowledge, never seen before (and I already own quite a few) makes this an essential point.

The fascinating text - do we really want to read the same old yarns about insanity in Bowie's family and the ongoing feud with Angie? I think not, and we're spared them here. Instead the text effortlessly matches the relevant pix, with clever, insightful (and very English) prose and superb captions - at times extremely funny and entertaining, at other times highly informative (who knew that Ronnie Wood inspired the Duke's costume in 76, eh?).

Oh I could go on for ages... but BowieStyle really lives up to it's title. An immaculate collection indeed. BUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, June 14, 2000

By 

Jennifer Guest - See all my reviews

This review is from: BowieStyle (Paperback)

Beautiful - how did they know to give my absolute favourite pictures a full page each? If you ever need a reference for any outfit worn at any concert or appearance, this book would be your best bet. The only drawback - not a whole lot of info. But there are some interesting tidbits!