Every Iconic David Bowie Hairstyle From the Last 50 Years, in One Hypnotic GIF
We honestly can tear our eyes away from this.
Iconic rock god David Bowie, who passed away on Sunday at 68 after an 18-month battle with cancer, will be remembered for many things: his distinctive androgynous style that paved the way for a new class of gender-bending rock stars; his innovative composition and instrumental arrangements that gave his work such a unique life; and, more importantly, his incredible, ever-changing hairstyle.
This brilliant hand-illustrated GIF from illustrator Helen Green captures the unusual changes in the legendary musician’s distinctive style over his 50-year career, from 1964 through the release of Sue (Or In A Series Of Crime) in October 2014.
“It’s become somewhat of a tradition for me to create something to celebrate David Bowie’s birthday – a little token of appreciation for someone that has inspired me so much over the years,” explained Green on the official David Bowie Facebook page in January 2015 when she first published her bowie animation. “This year I decided to put my inspiration in motion.”
And boy, it took a lot to put Bowie’s iconic hair in motion. “Each pencil drawing was coloured digitally and animated in Photoshop, and took around 35 hours in total (though much of that time was spent finding references where David was facing in a specific direction),” explained Green. “For many of the drawings, I used a reference from a different year, but facing the correct way.”
The entire world is mourning David Bowie on Monday. While we’ll remember his contributions to the world, take a minute (or several hours) to fully absorb this GIF and remember Bowie for the style icon he was.
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