Quick Facts
- NAME:
Leigh Bowery
- OCCUPATION:
Artist,
Fashion Designer
- BIRTH DATE:
March 26, 1961
- DEATH DATE:
December 31, 1994
- PLACE OF BIRTH:
Sunshine, Victoria,
Australia
- PLACE OF DEATH:
London, England,
United Kingdom
Avant-garde designer and nightclub promoter Leigh Bowery was
born on March 26, 1961 in Sunshine, Victoria, Australia. Bowery moved
to London at a young age, establishing himself as a fashion designer and
flamboyant nightlife fixture. In 1985, Bowery opened the disco and
fetish nightclub Taboo. Bowery remained active in art and theater
circles until his death from AID-related illness in 1994.
Leigh Bowery was born in 1961 in Sunshine, Victoria, a suburb
of Melbourne, Australia. From a young ago, Bowery felt alienated from
his conservative surroundings. He first learned about London and the New
Romantic scene through British fashion magazines.
Bowery moved to London for good in 1980, after taking a
fashion course in high school. He became a known fixture at local clubs,
in part for wearing outlandish outfits of his own design.
In London, Bowery soon befriended fellow clubbers Guy Barnes (known
as Trojan) and David Walls. The three men moved in together, and Bowery
outfitted his friends in his creative designs. The trio became known on
the London club scene as the "Three Kings."
Bowery found some success as a designer, showing several collections
at the London Fashion Week show, as well as in New York and Tokyo. He
was best known, however, as a club promoter and London nightlife
fixture. In 1985, Bowery opened the disco club nightclub Taboo.
Originally an underground party, Taboo quickly became London's answer to
Studio 54. Taboo was known for its defiance of sexual convention, and
its embrace of what Bowery called "polysexual" identities.
In addition to his club activities, Bowery participated in
performance art, and was well-connected within the art and theater
circles of London. He often performed in face paint, lurex clothing and
masks, relishing the opportunity to shock and flout convention whenever
possible. Bowery also served as a model, posing nude for some of Lucien
Freud's later portraits.
Leigh Bowery, who had identified as gay for many years,
married his friend Nicola Bateman in May 1994. Only a few close friends
were aware that Bowery had contracted AIDS before his death, which
occurred on New Year's Eve in 1994, seven months after his marriage to
Bateman.
