Fashion icon: Michael Jackson’s sense of style
At the height of his career in the mid-1980s, he was a fresh representation of how a male pop singer could look, with his perfectly chiseled face, long curls, white T-shirt, black pegged pants, white ankle socks and black loafers. Reminiscent of a dancer’s costume, the graphic black-and-white enhanced his unbelievable moves. (Ira Mark Gostin / Associated Press)
In 1984, when Michael Jackson was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Reagan, he wore a blue sequined cropped jacket with gold sequined epaulets, his signature glove, black loafers with spats and aviator sunglasses. (Scott Stewart / Associated Press)
The men behind the Man in the Mirror were L.A.-based costume designers Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins. They quietly designed most of Michael Jackson’s personal and concert tour wardrobes -- tens of thousands of pieces, many with military details -- working from a Michael mannequin in their studio that was built to the singer’s exact measurements. The pop star’s directive was always, “This is what the world’s wearing -- top it,” the designers said in 2005. And they tried. One jacket -- worn in a 1990 L.A. Gear ad campaign -- was black suede and covered in miniature gold license plates. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Michael Jackson understood the power of costume on and off the stage -- and even in court. When he appeared at the Santa Maria courthouse in 2005 to face child molestation charges, his oddly styled get-ups (the famous pajama bottoms and armbands) created a template for a kind of kooky celeb-goes-on-trial look. (Kimberly White / Associated Press)
Michael Jackson’s white crystal glove, custom-designed white spandex and covered in clear Swarovski crystals, was one of the main attractions at the King of Pop’s halted auction earlier this year. Swarovski had been tapped to bedazzle the costumes for Jackson’s comeback tour beginning next month in London. (Nancy Pastor / For The Times)