The glitz, the glamour, the regalia and the magic.
Michael Jackson's professional wardrobe is
likely to be one of music's most distinctive, a style all of his own
that continues to influence fashions generations
anew. For an artist remembered as a visionary, one could easily be mistaken
in thinking that Michael Jackson's visual appearance during the pinnacle of his
trailblazing success was just another creative feat of his.
However, the King of Pop's most iconic
looks were largely conjured up in the mind of the talented Mr.
Bill Whitten.
Whitten is today a bit of an unsung hero
in the fashion world. Though his resume of major acts
for whom he designed iconic clothing includes not only Jackson,
but the era's most prominent and iconic stars in Hollywood.
It is a statement that Michael Jackson himself the world's greatest entertainer,
would choose Bill Whitten as his clothing designer.
However, their creative collaboration
abruptly ended in an explosive fashion, leading Michael Jackson to make continuous
attempts to discredit and diminish his former fashion visionary's legacy.
Today, Bill Whitten is a little recognized
designer and remains in the darkness as one of the industry's criminally unsung.
Here's the detail.
Bill Whitten was born in the suburbs
of Birmingham, Alabama. The son of a coal miner
father, Whitten developed his skills
in tailoring through his mother's teachings as a seamstress.
In his 20s,
Bill decided to move to the bright lights of Los Angeles to pursue a career in high
end fashion design for the city's many dazzling stars.
In 1974, Whitten opened a custom shirt business called Workroom 27.
The tiny shop was virtually invisible, located on the second floor of a building
on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood and it was open for six
months before their first customer walked through the door. Who just so happened
to be superstar singer songwriter Neil Diamond.
Diamond made an extensive order with the young designer and soon became
an advocate for Whitten's custom design clothing. Doc Severinsen soon found his
way to Workroom 27 and he brought the members of the band Chicago.
After that, Jim Brown came in and returned with Hugh Hefner.
And once word had spread among the showbiz
elite, its domino effect took less than a year and a half.
It was official Whitten and his brand was a sensation as his business blossomed as
more and more bands demanded personalized stage attire.
They (lead singers) didn't have one place they could go that could outfit them
and the band I was the one source for all that, Bill reminisced.
At the height of his showbiz rag business, Bill Whitten went from leasing one room
to buying the entire building and had a factory that employed 50 people churning
out the stage clothes for over 20 musical acts.
Then he became selective and scaled his
client list to include only top rung performers.
He was soon putting Elton John in extravagant capes and electric boots,
Stevie Wonder in African print kaftans and took Neil Diamond out of everyday
flower embroidered shirts and into bedazzled bugle beads.
Whitten's designs soon encapsulated much
of the rock star glamour we associate with the 1970s.
With wide flared pants, head to toe color clashing looks,
psychedelic prints and copious levels of glitz that defined the disco era.
Quote, When I came into the business, the only man in a beaded jacket was Liberace.
Nobody had tasty beating for men. Nobody.
The Hollywood designer remarked when
interviewed. Regularly designing costumes needed for popular figures in music.
It was during this period that Whitten
created much of the Jackson Five's early tours and television looks.
From this initial association, Michael Jackson became more accustomed
to the immensely talented designer and his unique design sensibility.
Quote, the rock world is one of the few areas where you can use your fantasy.
Witten once revealed a mindset Michael was
keen to embrace as part of his own superstar image.
Together, they cultivated
Michael Jackson's new, sleek, more sophisticated,
all over rhinestone studded looks during his 'Off The Wall' album success.
It was during this era that Bill Whitten
first prototyped the crystal beaded gloves Michael Jackson would soon make iconic.
In 1979, during preparations
for the Jackson's Destiny Tour, Michael asked Whitten to design something
for him that was different, unique and that no one had done before.
For the designer, it was a bit of a no brainer.
Whitten thought the bedazzled gloves would
create a focal point for Jackson's dancing.
Quote, It was very simple, Whitten once said.
The audience was missing his hand and feed movements.
They couldn't see the quick gestures he was making.
They then came up with the idea
of a single glove because Michael felt that wearing one glove was cooler as two
gloves seemed just too ordinary in comparison,
and it worked.
The single glove, ankle length black pants, bejewelled socks and loafers.
Michael Jackson showcased his moonwalk
in during his Motown 25 performance of 'Billie Jean' caused a worldwide sensation.
However, the gloves first worn by Michael
weren't created by Bill Whitten, but merely customized with strips
of swarovski crystals, a method used to give some extra sparkle
to many of Michael Jackson's looks during this period.
More elaborate beading techniques were featured in Bill Whitten's looks
for Jackson once he started working with Bon Choix Couture,
a Los Angeles based family business which is still in operation today.
And we were lucky enough to speak
with them about their time creating some of Michael Jackson's most iconic looks.
The whole Hollywood was his clientele that moment.
Everybody like, start with like Lionel Richie.
80% of the well known, top of the line artists at that time were the clientele.
Bill came in, he said, we have to do something creative, something for him.
So it pops and separates him from the others.
My brother in law, Coco, actually said, well Elvis has his belt.
Bejewel this, that,
so that's what maybe how about we do a glove?
And Bill said, oh, yeah, that's a good idea.
Let's try
and actually, because timing was so close, we couldn't make the gloves.
He got ready made gloves, he bought them, he brought in.
We opened the seams,
we put all the rhinestones on it and we closed it back and there you go.
We had the glove, the very first one.
The initial glove only being a prototype design.
With the help of Bon Choix Couture, Whitten decided to perfect it by using
Loch-Rosen crystals, which had a more refined look and feel.
Each glove took approximately 40 hours to set on the crystals and beading
and a day to actually sew each glove together by hand.
Then came a whole host of distinctive
military looks that Michael Jackson showcased during the height of Michael
mania and the glory of his Thriller success.
His signature style was initially birthed after Michael showed Whitten a picture
of a 19th century English admiral as inspiration for the costume designer when
creating looks for the Jacksons' 1977 variety show.
Years later, Whitten decided to recreate those historic ensembles but have them
completely covered in crystals and intricate beading.
Bill came, he said he brought a magazine with English designs and he said,
we're going to make the exact same thing, but bead it.
Everything is beaded.
He would wear whatever Bill will suggest because he was the one.
So he was like,
design everybody and everybody were happy liking what he's doing.
So I guess pretty much everybody would take whatever he would suggest.
Bill Whitten's outfits for Michael Jackson
went on to be embedded in the superstar's most recognizable career landmarks
and some of the most famous pieces to ever grace the entertainment industry.
This included a red wool blend jacket completely covered in red bugle beads
with an elaborate gold seed beaded rope design with matching cuffs and epulets,
which Michael Jackson wore to the 1984 American Music Awards.
This, as well as a similarly all over bejewelled military uniform in navy
and gold that he wore on his historic night at the Grammy Awards,
as well as during a visit to the White House to meet President Reagan.
And, among others, a black lamé jacket completely covered in black Swarovski
crystals and decorated with gold seed beads, striping on the chest and cuffs
that he wore at the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,
as well as during a 1985 visit to Madame Tussauds in London.
After a succession of such spellbinding looks, naturally, then,
Bill Whitten would be enlisted to create all of Michael and his brother's stage
outfits needed for their 1984 Victory tour.
This included more military inspired
looks, like this silver lamé jacket with gold seed bead detailing completely
covered in swarovski crystals. And another revision of Michael's iconic
glove emblazoned with bugle beads, Austrian crystal rhinestones and 50 small
lights powered by a small battery placed in the cuff of the glove.
Michael Jackson's illuminating white glove
was part of his 'suit of lights' with glass light bulbs wired on separate circuits,
making them twinkle at random for added visual impact on stage.
Ultimately, the 'Billie Jean' singer at most
wore the experimental ensemble less than a handful of occasions while on tour,
most likely due to its clunky nature that would have impacted on Michael's
ability to perform during the energetic show.
However, this wasn't the first time
Michael Jackson rejected some of Bill's designs, as chronicled by Tony Villanueva
who was hired by the designer to dress Michael while on the legendary tour.
Quote, I remember the first time I met Michael.
We were at a rehearsal studio and I just said, it's nice to meet you.
I've heard a lot about you.
Thank God, he laughed.
What do you say that he hasn't heard before?
Bill designed three cases of costumes for Michael.
Michael picked his favorites and rarely switched them up.
But he did wear this red Elvis jacket only once and threw it into the audience.
Bill got Michael to wear those black and white striped pants on opening night.
Michael hated them.
He said, take these and burn them.
They make me look like Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Despite the superstar's particular
distaste for those stripey pants and his vow to never wear them again,
he instead gave them to his brother Randy to wear on stage.
After the Victory Tour,
Bill Whitten would continue to create
styles for Michael Jackson, including the gold embellished jacket he
wore for the audio and visual recording segments for 'We Are the World'
and collaborated with Ted Shell to design early costume designs for Jackson's look
in Disney's Captain EO. Test designs including reptilian leggings and a Geiger
esque biomechanic space helmet reminiscent of a 1950s jukebox.
The illustration even included the Jackson hallmark of a single bejeweled glove.
However, tensions were fast building between the two as Whitten became
increasingly unreliable and his behavior alarmingly erratic.
But in 1987, with time not on his side during the run up to the much anticipated
release of his Bad album as well as his first solo tour, Michael Jackson decided
to employ Bill Whitten to create his costumes yet again for his latest tour.
The new look was a complete departure for Jackson, including darker colors,
multiple buckles straps and metal hardware attached to his clothing.
The lack of dazzle marked a distinct
departure from his performance persona during the Jacksons years.
Switching to a much more constructed and industrial look.
Yeah, in the beginning it was awesome.
There were really good trust, whatever you would say.
It was like a rule they will follow.
But then at the end, when he started going
down. He would still design, sketch this, but he couldn't deliver.
He couldn't meet with them to choose the fabrics.
Delays, delays.
However, the two ultimately came to blows during Jackson's tour of Japan as part
of the first leg of his Bad World tour. When Whitten took it upon himself
to operate a forklift backstage and in the process, damaged goods as well
as injured several members of the Japanese crew
after attempting to transport pallets. During that
tour, he just decided to take the forklift
and wander in the warehouse. Kind of having fun with the forklift,
and he did one of those and it fell on a couple of workers.
So then Michael was really upset.
The designer's careless and in turn,
dangerous actions was Michael Jackson's last straw, and he abruptly fired
Bill Whitten from the tour, replacing him with the design duo
Dennis Thompkins and Michael Bush. Who the superstar worked
with on Captain EO to amend and repair costumes for the show.
As a result, Bill Whitten took legal action against Michael for breaking their
contract, and a bitter court battle ensued. A battle that Michael ultimately
won and has since made numerous attempts to dissociate himself from the designer
and diminish Whitten's legacy when it came to the superstar's signature style.
One example of this is within the pages
of Michael Jackson's 1988 autobiography 'Moonwalk'. A book where Whitten is barely
mentioned despite Jackson recounting the story of his iconic glove and how he
found the black sequin jacket he first wore on Motown 25 in his mother's closet.
With no mention of Bill Whitten designing the piece specifically so Jackson could
dance as the jacket swung and floated around as if they were orbiting a star
as Michael spun to the delight and
amazement of the crowds. If it was Michael, Bill never.
We never heard that from Bill.
A lot of things, families changing because they were so pissed at Bill,
they here and there, tried to take as much as they can away from Bill.
You know what I mean?
After his falling out with Michael Jackson,
Bill Whitten attempted to orchestrate his own comeback. As in 1990,
he opened the store, Bill Whitten on Melrose Avenue
in collaboration with Bon Choix Couture. Focusing on ready to wear fashions
and carrying everything from pajamas to evening wear for men and women.
T-shirts started at $50 and some of the evening gowns topped off at $20,000.
However, Whitten's erratic business
practices stunted the venture. With bills unpaid and deadlines not met,
the business was taken over by Bon Choix Couture.
And in the years since,
Whitten never was able to regain his prominence as a high end costumer again.
He wouldn't show up,
he wouldn't pay the bills, send the check with the messenger service.
He wasn't feeling good.
So in the end, we end up in a court with Bill because of that store.
Unfortunately, that's how it ended with him.
It is difficult to say whether he was reclusive in life or just unsung.
Bill Whitten died of cancer on April 8th,
2006 and is buried in Los Angeles, California.
But otherwise, there is remarkably little information about him besides his high
profile clients, something that seems symptomatic
of the costume profession and his career at large.
Thanks for watching the detail.
If you enjoyed this video, then check out other videos linked here
that we have done relating to Michael Jackson's iconic fashion sense.