London-based jewellery brand Tatty Devine has been inspired by the 50th anniversary of the release of Hunky Dory for a bold new jewellery collection playing on Bowie’s iconic moments in music and looks.
‘Bowie has been a constant in our lives and has not only created the soundtrack to much of our life, but also has been a huge inspiration in how we dress and express ourselves,’ says Tatty Devine's co-founder Rosie Wolfenden on why they were keen to mark the anniversary. ‘Like him we believe you should be yourself – whatever that is. In our selection of acrylic pieces we looked closely at the materials he wore in some of his most iconic outfits.’
The shine and glitter on the pieces crafted from acrylic encapsulate Bowie’s star-spangled style, with a selection of his most famous outfits reflected in bold hues. The hypnotising swirls of his Tokyo Pop bodysuit, designed by Kansai Yamamoto for Bowie’s world tour from January 1972 to July 1973, are etched into glossy recycled black acrylic on swinging necklaces, while the iconic vinyl tigers bodysuit is translated into laser cut acrylic for an intricately hand-inked necklace.
Other pieces take inspiration from the lyrics themselves - Life on Mars becomes a brooch lasercut on swirling pearl red acrylic; Space Oddity, Rebel Rebel and Suffragette City are inked on brooches, earrings and necklaces. Ziggy Stardust’s penchant in the Seventies for a see-through black fishnet body suit, designed by Natasha Korniloff and embellished with the golden hands of a mannequin, is referenced in the Bowie Hands necklace. ‘In the same way David Bowie transcended gender Tatty Devine transcends what is traditional jewellery,’ Wolfenden adds. ‘His aesthetic was experimental, expressive and not like anything that had been seen before, which is how we like to think of our jewellery.’
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