‘What The Band Wore’: Iconic Artists Defied the Laws of Fashion – 27 East

Alice Harris is the proud owner of no less than four sequin jackets — one black, one white, one silver and one gold.

She has Freddie Mercury and Elton John to thank for those.

Hanging in her closet, the bedazzled garments are a tribute to not only them, but to the artists who shaped her career in the fashion and music industries, and in her life — songs that, to this day, inspire her to dance and, without fail, reminisce about the fashion.

When she hatched the idea for a coffee-table book that combines the two — aptly titled “What The Band Wore” — her first call was to music journalist and longtime friend Christian John Wikane.

He was instantly delighted.

Together, they’ve curated an unprecedented collection of band photos and the histories behind them, spanning four decades of pop, rock, soul and disco to funk, punk, reggae, heavy metal and hip-hop.

“The fashion really heightens the experience that I have with music — and it’s not the only experience I have with music,” Wikane said. “But when it’s there, it really is a powerful conduit toward seeing what music can do, seeing what it can make you feel, what it can make you remember.”

For Harris, it’s the clubs and late nights and getting up for work the next day, somehow never tired. She would regale Wikane with these tales throughout their research process, which stretched about nine months — whether they were at each other’s homes in New York or East Hampton.

“Christian had his boombox next to him, with all the artists’ music,” Harris said — though her co-author noted it was a Bluetooth speaker — “so it would immediately put me in a dance mode. So I would dance while we were busy writing the book.”

The pair met in 2008 at a private concert, organized by Sirius XM, in which Donna Summer was performing. Harris was her friend of nearly four decades and Wikane was a guest, writing about the Queen of Disco’s newest album.

“I sit in the front row and behind me is this woman with this bright red hair and this dazzling smile,” Wikane said, “and I turn around and I think, ‘Wow, this is fun, and Donna hasn’t even gotten on stage yet.’ So Alice and I just introduced ourselves to each other and, from there, it was just instant chemistry.”

“So that’s how Christian and I became buddies, partners, work collaborators, friends — best friends,” Harris said, “all of the above.”

That shines through in their easy laughter, overlapping sentences and effortless collaboration on the book. Decade by decade, starting in the 1960s, they narrowed down the field to 86 artists and selected just one photograph they felt represented each one’s pioneering style.

“What you see in the book is truly us having looked at hundreds of photographs to give the reader an experience that will inspire them to listen to the music,” Wikane said, “and to then reap what’s on the page to learn.”

The first image they selected is a Terry O’Neill photograph of The Beatles, with their matching mop-tops and Pierre Cardin suits — “which was revolutionary for that time,” Wikane said — playfully looking at themselves in the mirror.

“It felt like a fun way to begin the book,” he said.

It continues through the 1960s with names like Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, who’s wearing a silk Japanese haori jacket, blue velvet bellbottoms and a headscarf.

“Hendrix, I just feel like he’s so badass. He could wear anything and you’d want to know where to get that. But then it’s like, only he could pull that off,” Wilkane said. “You see that in the photograph, and you think, ‘No wonder we’re still talking about him, 60 years later.’”

The 1970s brought about the likes of David Bowie, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Sonny and Cher, Queen, Elton John — pictured with his impressive shoe collection — and, of course, Donna Summer, before leading into the 1980s with the likes of Prince, Van Halen, The Jacksons, Billy Idol, Salt-N-Pepa, Madonna and others.

“I remember my sister having all of the black rubber bracelets that Madonna wore in 1983,” Wikane said. “You felt cool, you thought that you were part of the club if you had just at least one article of clothing that artist was wearing.”

“My daughter, also — Madonna. Madonna, Madonna,” Harris said. “I swear, every Halloween, it was Madonna.”

“I wanted to dye my hair orange like Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics,” Wikane said with a laugh, “and I knew that wasn’t gonna happen.”

Bands and artists of the 1990s continued to push the bounds of fashion — think Janet Jackson, RuPaul, Spice Girls, No Doubt, TLC, Aerosmith and others. And if there were to be a second volume of “What The Band Wore,” chronicling the 21st century, the list is already endless, Harris said.

“They’re not new young artists coming up, they’re already here, making a difference,” she said, pointing to Harry Styles, Post Malone, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Beyoncé.

Wikane added Janelle Monáe, Rihanna and Lady Gaga to the roster.

“These are artists that have been really carving out their own lane,” he said. “At the same time, you do see where they were inspired by the artists who came before. When you see Harry Styles in a harlequin jumpsuit, it’s like, well yeah, Freddie Mercury did that in 1977. It’s great that they’re paying homage in their own way.”