Jacket, turquoise corduroy, Leigh Bowery, Great Britain, 1988

Turquoise corduroy jacket lined in purple and white optical striped silk.

Given by Cornelius Brady

Registered File number 1994/1482, Streestyle exhibition 1994-1995, in the exhibition it was part of an outfit called 'Gay Style UK 1988' (includes the bodysuit T.733-1994 and the hat T.732-1994).

This outfit was worn and given by Cornelius Brady, who enjoyed wearing outrageous clothes in the 1980s. The jacket was made for him by the performance artist and club host Leigh Bowery. He wore this outfit to the supermarket, where he enjoyed the reaction of others. "People were completely shocked when I wore it to Tesco - and it looked good with a big trolley."

Bowery had experience in the fashion industry. He had worked with the 80s youth fashion label Body Map, and continued to make clothes for his friends. The leotard and cap were made by James Montgomery, a pattern cutter for Richmond Cornejo (a '80s fashion label run by John Richmond and Maria Cornejo which dissolved in 1988 when they went their separate ways).

T.731-1994