Michael Jackson: Style Icon

WWD has a GREAT article about how Michael Jackson was not only a tres talented musician and performer, but a style icon to boot!

Say what you will about Michael Jackson during the last few years of his life — and with the baby-dangling-out-the-window behavior, bad plastic surgery and child molestation allegations, a lot has been said — but it takes a certain kind of star to turn a single sequined glove into a cultural symbol.

During the Eighties and into the Nineties, Jackson, who died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles Thursday, became as much a trendsetter for fashion as he was for music. There’s the red leather motorcycle jacket he rocked in the “Beat It” video; the white ankle socks, black fedora and black loafers he wore when he moonwalked (and that walk alone is almost as legendary as Neil Armstrong’s); the military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses he toured in during the “Thriller” era; the white V-neck T-shirt that he always eventually stripped down to onstage, and finally, there was that glove, first worn during a performance of “Billie Jean” during a television special in 1983.

They go on to talk about how he still influences fashion today, most noticeably the Balmain military / bandleader jacket the who's who of fashion have been sporting of late. Or just look at trendsetter Rhianna'a wardrobe! I'd have to say that 80s influences, which were already coming for fall, will be a requirement to cool now. Here are some pieces to get you started: