1973 January February March April May June July August September October NOVEMBER December

MY WORLD by David Bowie A WEEKLY DIARY EXCLUSIVELY WRITTEN FOR MIRABELLE MAGAZINE

3rd November 1973

   Since make-up and fashion play such a large part in my world I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell you a bit about the cosmetics I use and the sparkling and colourful clothes I like to wear, both on and off stage.

   Angie's just given Zowie his lunch and is sitting at her dressing-table applying some lovely light blue eye shadow for an afternoon tea date with her friend, Marianne... and reminding me that I should tell you what kind of looks I like for the women in my life.

   Well, it actually depends an awful lot on the person. I mean some girls look ever so attractive with just a touch of mascara and a little lip gloss while others look really cute with rosy rouge cheeks and sultry black eyelids. I suppose it also depends on the occasion. At my concerts when I wore golden circles on my forehead and silver lipstick on my lips. I used to like to see my audience both girls and boys, painted and powered up brightly for the event. Other times, like at the Chateau in France I used to enjoy seeing my friends sitting around the swimming pool with just their bikinis and their lovely summer sun-tans... but I also loved it when they'd fuss a bit with themselves for the evening in the dining-room and the late nights out in the Paris discotheques.

   Angie never wears very much make-up at home, perhaps just a touch of red around the eyes and a light brush of mascara. Angie has the most beautiful smooth white skin and looks just beautiful without any make-up at all. She has this fluffy white towelling robe with pink swans around the edges that she wears when she's come out of her bath and we often sit and share a pot of tea then.

   Oh, I'm afraid I'll have to continue this next week because little Zowie has just got hold of some of Angie's lipstick and I'm afraid he doesn't quite possess the skills necessary for its proper application. Oh no, Angie - watch out!! Guess you'll have to wait till next week for my beauty secrets, though my biggest beauty secret I've already told you about... it's Angie!

10th November 1973

   Ah yes, well, to get back to my make-up and fashions... Angie is out shopping with Daniella today, so maybe I'll be able to keep my mind on the subject this time!

   Sometimes I just sit and watch Angie putting her make-up on, carefully preparing herself to face the world. I get so engrossed in the art of it all that there are times when I forget what I'm supposed to be doing, like now, when I meant to tell you about me and end up getting completely involved with Angie!

   Actually it's from Angie that I learned so much about make-up... and, of course, Freddie, too. Freddie always tells us what colour we should make our hair for certain outfits and what kind of make-up he thinks would go best with his fantastic fashion creations.

   Once in a while Angie and I use the same colours, like light pink powder on our faces with light blue eye shadow around our eyes, or golden powder on our cheeks with dark green shadow on our eyelids.

   Well, I thought you might like it if I gave you a few little hints on your own personal 'Bowie' look!

   First of all, I see a lot of photos of you in the papers wearing your new Bowie haircuts, and while some look really attractive, some are just not carefully adapted to your lovely little faces. You must be careful to choose your hairdresser with great care and attention. It really doesn't depend on how much you spend, either. It could be that your own best buddy has the taste and talent to do it better than the most expensive hairdresser. Unless you have very together and turned-on friends, though, you'd best trust a professional.

   Susie cuts my hair usually, but when she's not around - like now (she's at the Chateau d'Herouville helping Mick Ronson record his album) Freddie often has a go at my locks... and I sometimes snip a few strands myself, only you have to be a bit careful about doing that!

   It looks like, as usual, I'm running out of space just whilst I'm in the middle of telling you something really important, so don't rush off and have your hair cut until after next week, when I've given you a few more tips!

17th November 1973

      There seems to be so much to say about make-up and fashions that I'm afraid I'm going to carry on talking about them for at least another week!

   Anyway, I was just telling you about haircuts and how to go about it all. You see, you've really got to study all the photos of the looks you really like, then look at your face and hair in the mirror for a really long time, experiment and play a little, use your imagination and decide which way you think you'd look most attractive. You should know exactly what you want when you talk it over with your hairdresser, or whoever you've entrusted with the cutting of your precious hair.

   Now, if you've got a good friend or hairdresser that you trust, they may have their own ideas and you'll have to come to the right decision between you. But consider it carefully, because the haircut's the most important thing - you can't change it every day like you can your make-up and a mistake will sometimes take months to grow out.

   Colour is next... a lot of people look best with their own natural colour, so you should really consider the matter quite carefully before you start trying to fool around with what nature gave you. Remember with colouring you can also make mistakes that it might take months, even years to completely recover from.

   If your hair is already quite light, you can just use colour rinses or food colouring to alter the shade, and you won't have to bleach or dye your hair at all. If you have brown or black hair and you really decide that you want to change the colour, you may have to have it stripped first and then dyed to the colour you want. This is usually quite time-consuming and expensive when done at the hairdresser, and doing it at home can be very dangerous because bleaches can very easily damage your hair forever.

   So my advice to you all is to be careful about things like this. It's all right for me because it fits in with the kind of life I lead. My life is one long theatre, so dressing up and being colourful is all part of it.

   See you next week.

24th November 1973

   Back to the subject of hair for a little longer. I just hope you aren't bored stiff by the whole business!

   Anyway, I must admit, that for me at least, it can be great fun to change your hair colouring occasionally, but if you are about to launch into it, first don't forget all my warnings and to ask some advice from a good reliable hairdresser... also, you'd best be sure that your school teachers or parents aren't going to force you to change it back as soon as you've done it! Especially as dyed hair dyed back to its original colour never really looks anything like the same!

   My favourite colour for the autumn is canary yellow, but I understand from the papers that some teachers just go crazy at the mere sight of canary yellow hair!!!!

   Anyway, back to my hair - Susie always colours my hair, and she uses a mixture of three different colours to do it. She says that the process is a professional secret though, so much as I would like to - I can't tell you how she does it. I must say, the more I watch Susie (and other hairdressers) at work, the more I am impressed by what an art hairdressing is. It's extraordinary what you can do with a bit of time, patience and talent.

   Since my hair is blond to begin with, Susie doesn't need to strip it or bleach it before putting the red colour in - which is why my hair manages to stay in a nice healthy condition. I wash it myself with a very basic natural shampoo and blow it dry, brushing it all back whilst I am drying it. I used to use a bit of setting lotion to give it body and get it to stand up, but now it just seems to go that way all by itself - with the help of Susie's expert cutting, of course!

   Speaking of haircuts, Lulu just came by for a visit, looking really lovely with her new short cut, so once again my lovelies, my attention is being rapidly distracted by a beautiful lady! As I am always saying, it's so great to have such wonderful friends as Angie and I have. I think in all my travels, it must be my friends that I miss most.

   But... I'll be back next week, with some more about the 'Bowie' look from the man who knows it best!

Created: April 1998 © Paul Kinder

Last Updated: 26/1/08