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Masayoshi Sukita and David Bowie (1992)

Masayoshi Sukita is a Japanese photographer/designer who first met David Bowie in London in August 1972 and his first set of Ziggy Stardust pictures date from this period. His second set of Ziggy Stardust pictures were taken in New York in February 1973 and then more on Bowie's Japanese tour in April 1973. 

One of the many stories about the inspiration behind the Ziggy Stardust haircut is that Bowie first saw a spiky red-haired mannequin photographed by Sukita in a 1971 Honey magazine and got the idea for the haircut from that (see The Costume Gallery for more stories about the famous haircut).

Masoyoshi Sukita is not to be confused with fellow Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto who created many of Aladdin Sane costumes and whom Bowie first heard of when he saw some platform boots of Kansai's in a 1971 Harper's and Queen magazine (see The Costume Gallery for more information about the boots and Kansai Yamamoto).

Most of the images in this gallery come from Masayoshi Sukita's David Bowie photobook titled "KI: SPIRITUAL FORCE" (1992) TOKYO FM BOOKS. 
This high quality, hard to find Japan-only release contains stunning black and white portraits taken of David Bowie in August 1972 in London and February 1973 in New York as well as later portrait sessions.

"Spiritual force defies explanation. We experience it in silence and without fanfare.  Spiritual force touches us and flows from us, like the ripples on a still pond. Spiritual force is concentration and an inner energy.  For strength of intellect and poetry of the heart conspire to create an essential, wordless bond between man and nature.  Spiritual force is the fundamental secret shared by artists and is the reason art so vitally inspires.   Spirit force or ki, is everything.  And without ki, there is nothing." - Masayoshi Sukita (1992)

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---This page last modified: 27 Jan 2019---