DAVID BOWIE by Carlo Capasa

President of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana

With his brother Ennio, Capasa founded Costume National in 1986, a clothing brand that became a favourite in 1990s New York, with its minimalism and cachet. In 2016, he left the brand to become president of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (the National Chamber of Italian Fashion), and has used his new position to help promote emerging I tali anfashi onta lent,whileg al vani sing Milan a sa capi tal of the industry. He has always been one of my favourite icons, since I was a kid. I liked his music, but I liked him as well. There were many different times in my life when I was wearing the exact same style as David Bowie, especially when I was very young. I remember when I started to wear more fashionable stuff at the end of the ’70s, I had my hair looking like his. His pants and jackets – I had exactly the same.

People think of him only as a glam rock icon, but he was a chameleon, and he was always ahead of his time. Bowie was an artist and his message was always related to the moment. He had the urge to communicate, and he would use anything to do it: his body, his voice, his movement. Everything was related - all as one. It was very aesthetic, but it was very deep as well; he was always referring to his state of mind.

Where others might wear things because it’s fashionable, or some designer or stylist is preparing their wardrobe, Bowie was himself creating his own image, responding in an autobiographical way to the world around him. I don’t see any separation between his music and the way he was looking. I was born in the heel of Italy, in Puglia, and I was very lucky. My mother had a boutique, a multi-brand store [Smart, in Lecce], with all the best brands of the moment. My mother carried Saint Laurent, all the French couture, Mugler in the 1980s, and then the Japanese, like Comme. I grew up around, and was always attracted to, fashion.

With my brother, Ennio Capasa, I began a brand - Costume National - and I remember a beautiful picture of Bowie wearing Costume National. I loved it; it was one of my favourite looks of his.

At its root, fashion today is about breaking boundaries. All brands are talking about boundary-breaking to stay fresh - and I think David Bowie was in some ways the first to g ive his life to this transg ression.

He did represent androgyny: men not being afraid to show a feminine side and, in a sense, completely be yourself and not be so afraid of rules. This fear is only cultural - if you think of the 1700s, men were wearing make-up, wigs and high heels. Casanova had all of that. There’s something naturally much deeper than masculine and feminine, and playing with the different sides of both is very fashionable today.