Michael Jackson: From His Tailor, Michael Bush (5)

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How did the ideas take shape?

Bush says: “Michael was inspired by leaf-shaped engravings on stones, and he used these beautiful details in his clothes. He would engrave on his jackets like stone; even if his audiences didn’t notice these little details.”

Michael was influenced by all kinds of clothing—from classic European outfits and old American military uniforms displayed in museums, to the uniform of a baseball team and the outfits used in films. According to Bush, Michael knew that military jackets, because of their consistent and tough fabric, kept his body more steady and gave him an upright posture that was perfect for the stage.

“Michael loved military clothes and Egyptian style, as well as the royal insignias you see on many of his famous outfits. We designed these outfits for display, not for a special occasion.”

Bush often went to a bookstore in West Hollywood to buy magazines. Michael, along with him and Tompkins, would flip through these magazines looking for ideas for their own outfits.

“Sometimes I would spend three or four thousand dollars a month on these magazines. We’d go and buy every magazine we found.”

The three of them would sit around the table with a marker in hand.

“Michael would take black, I’d take blue, and Dennis would take red. We would draw circles around things and cut out the papers. Or it was a car advertisement or cosmetics… it didn’t matter. Then we would stick all those papers all around the room. Michael would step back and ask us why each of these things had caught our eyes.”

Bush talks about his boss’s out-of-control fame:

“That poor kid suffered and was tortured his whole life. He couldn’t even put his feet into a restaurant or a store without being bothered and causing trouble. So we were his eyes.”

So sometimes Michael would send Bush on errands to London or Paris. Bush’s job was to find out what people were wearing in the streets and clubs, and even to take photos of their outfits.

“Michael would say that he had to know what people were wearing.”

And of course, those people were waiting to see what outfit the King of Pop had prepared for himself this time.

Michael’s interest in stones and decorative gems

Many people are far from these kinds of glitter, but Michael would give people the power of imagination by adding sequins and shiny stones to his clothes. By watching Michael wear these outfits, they could awaken their own desire to use such clothing.

Michael was interested in using decorative stones and gems on his outfits because they reflected the stage light, but at the same time it was important to preserve the comfort of the clothing and the ability to move in it. Ties and ribbons were forbidden because fans might grab them and pull them, or have them hang.

Bush says Michael had a kind of childlike fascination with decorative stones and gems. Bush even traveled as far as Austria to buy them.

“Sometimes I would drive three hours to the factory just to get the decorative stones directly from there, because Michael loved seeing how unchanged their shape was. Whenever I moved the white fabric that covered the stones, Michael would take a deep breath, take them from me, gently play with them using his fingers, and mutter under his breath, ‘Can you imagine being a pirate and finding a treasure chest and seeing all these shining, glittering stones inside it? Being a pirate like that… what an amazing life it would be.’”

At first, the stones used for the outfits were thick and all the same size. Over time, Bush polished the stones in different sizes because Michael wanted the stones to reflect more light on stage—this is exactly why:

“When you pass by his glove, the reflection of the light makes you feel like the glove is moving. As if it has life.”

Not long ago, when Bush displayed this glove in a gallery in the city of Bath in England, he felt its remarkable impact on the viewers up close:

“Eighty people were standing around me waiting to see it, like children lining up to watch Santa Claus. This is a piece of stone-embroidered fabric that means a lot and has great importance for people—and it’s incredible.”

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Source: eMJey.com / Reuters & Associated Press