Roxy Music was a band formed around an image of faded glamour, and of Hollywood's heyday past. Their music was experimental and art-school, and as well as being a defining band in the musical era that came to be known as Glam Rock, their influence was felt in Punk and the New Romantics. Their explorations with synthesisers and electronic sounds paved the way for experimental popular music right through to the present, and were orchestrated by artist and band member Brian Eno, who became one of the most important record-producers of the 20th Century.

Eno described himself as an "electronic technologic non-musician", having no formal training in musicianship, but experimenting with avant-garde sound technologies whilst at university. He played a major role in the direction of Roxy's sound, but also clashed with singer Bryan Ferry over image issues. Despite the flamboyant image employed by the whole band, Eno's extrovert presence on stage, in costumes such as this one, and enthusiasm for interviews and outside projects, drew both audience and critical attention away from the band as a whole and away from Ferry's original concept. Soon after their second album For Your Pleasure was recorded, the inner sleeve of which has Eno posing in this outrageous costume, Ferry forced Eno to leave.