Buckle Debacle

Clothes designer Jim O’Connor is happy that Michael Jackson’s getting lots of media mileage out of his be-buckled “Bad” outfit. But O’Connor, who owns Poseur, a punky Hollywood Boulevard boutique, is disputing the claim by the Ungloved One’s PR people that their client designed the outfit: O’Connor says that he created the jacket and the pants that compose the core of Jackson’s “Bad” ensemble--and that Michael bought them right off the rack!

It happened like this, said O’Connor: Jackson, alone but wearing a surgical mask, slipped out of his limo and into Poseur on Oct. 12, 1986. Jackson’s $334.41 in credit-card purchases included “several pairs of pants” (at $40 each) and a black brush denim jacket ($75).

O’Connor insists, without rancor, that he basically “designed the outfit and produced it.” He’s heard rumors that a Japanese company acquired rights to sell Jackson’s clothing and friends have encouraged him to seek credit for his designs. “A lawyer said I should sue to get attention for it, but I don’t want to start suing anybody. I’m just trying to get my just deserts.”

O’Connor said he’s tried several times to contact Jackson’s manager Frank Dileo but has gotten no response (we also tried to reach Dileo, without luck; he’s with the singer-hoofer’s Far East tour). O’Connor, who estimates he’s sold “a couple of hundred” of the multi-buckled jackets over the last two years, described his clothes as “working-class fashion” as opposed to the “commercially hyped” stuff.

Ironically, now that Michael’s wearing one of his creations, O’Connor said, some of his teen-aged customers are accusing him of selling out.