The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

While Bowie had represented the ultimate dandy, especially as the Thin
White Duke (1976), and later encompassed French Romanticism in his guise
as Pierrot for his Ashes to Ashes character (1980) (Fig. 40), Westwood and
McLaren took historicist precedents further with their transformation of
Stuart Goddard into the swashbuckling Adam Ant (1980) (Fig. 38), and their
fashion collection, Pirates (1981) (Fig. 44). This flamboyant eighteenth-
century image became the flavour for many more New-romantic identities,
including Visage, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet.
However, in regard to fashion, again the influence of Japan cannot be
overlooked. While Kansai’s contributions have been discussed, and the
significance of kabuki performance as a backdrop to Glam theatricality
established, Japanese high-fashion design is another element that played a
role in Glam’s transition to New Romanticism. An extra layer to this
development was the introduction of Japanese designers to both the
Western fashion industry and leaders of the British movement. Says
Gorman, “the triumvirate of Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo, Yohji
Yamamoto and Issey Miyake… complemented the synthetic and crisp
production values of the era typified by acts such as Eurythmics and Japan”.
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