Fergus Greer Leigh Bowery, Session VII, Look 34, June 1994 1994, printed 2025 © Fergus Greer, courtesy Michael Hoppen Gallery, London.
Leigh Bowery was born in 1961 in the small town of Sunshine, Australia. Wow - bet you need shades living there! His fabulous outfits and performances were full of self-expression and he inspired lots of artists, designers and club kids working today!
At an early age, his mother taught him to knit, crochet and sew. He was a good student at school and also learnt to play the piano and flute! But Leigh soon started to dream about making other kinds of art, and breaking some of the rules he’d been taught to follow. Aged 19, inspired by the punk music and art scene he had read about in magazines, Leigh moved to London, England.
Being in London gave Leigh a chance to meet other creative people. He became part of London's vibrant LGBTQ+ scene and made friends who he collaborated with. He continued sewing, making outfits to wear to different events.
Leigh started a fashion label to share his style with the world, but he soon realised that he enjoyed wearing the things he made too much, and didn’t want anyone else to copy them!
A big part of Leigh’s life became going to parties, and encouraging people to come too! In 1985, he founded the nightclub Taboo, which became very famous. A “taboo” is something that is restricted or a bit forbidden in society - so Leigh was making a point about living outside of the norm, as he used to say nothing was "taboo" in the club.
Going out was a chance to have fun, dance and wear wild clothes. Leigh and his friends would spend hours making costumes using materials like hair-pins, papier mâché, foam and sequins
They would also perform with each other! One of Leigh’s friends was the Scottish dancer and choreographer Michael Clark, who included Leigh in his live dance shows. Leigh also made many of the costumes for Clark and his company of dancers.
Leigh also used his body when making art, sometimes in risky ways. In his most famous performance, he ‘gave birth’ live onstage (actually one of his friends hid inside Leigh’s costume and then popped out!) Wow! Can you think of a time you’ve played a trick on some friends or performed for an audience?
Leigh’s outfits were unique and he used padding to shape his body into different outlines or silhouettes - some clothes had a big behind, exaggerated belly or huge shoulders!
To complete the look he would often paint makeup over his body. One look featured paint mixed with glue that he dripped over his shaved head.
His friend, musician Boy George, described Leigh as ‘modern art on legs!’ Can you imagine the wackiest outfit you could wear? What materials would you make it out of?
Lucian Freud Leigh Bowery 1991 © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images
Fashion and performance weren’t Leigh’s only creative interests - he was a model for his friend, the painter Lucian Freud. He also was in a band called Minty, and sometimes hosted charity events. Phew! Whatever Leigh did, he liked to shock or impress his audience, and wasn’t interested in doing the same thing twice.
In 1988 Leigh was diagnosed with HIV but it didn’t stop him continuing to create art. After living with HIV for some years, he eventually became ill and passed away from an AIDS-related illness on New Year’s Eve, 1994.
Despite having a short career, he has inspired lots of other artists to break boundaries and work with their body and appearance in exciting ways! Maybe you can think about starting a new trend or use everyday materials to create a fun and extraordinary look, just like Leigh did!
