We all loved the J5's cool clothes and amazing afros back in the early 1970s. They had a style that was both of its time and completely original. They all wore lots of fringe and flowers, and leather vests. And Jermaine's afro, in particular, was a thing of beauty (and the cause of heated arguments about whether or not he wore a wig).But still there were times when you would look at what they were wearing and wonder "What were they thinking?"
Alternating Fridays on this blog will be devoted to J5 fashion -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. We'll start off with the good -- the fabulous African-inspired costumes designed by Boyd Clopton. Motown's J5 magazine TcB! from the spring of 1971 gives us a rare glimpse into a costume fitting that included these lovely costumes. I especially love the photos of Jermaine preening in front of the mirror.
This was an excellent photo session and is very rare. I'm looking at Michael's outfit in the black and white and we see this from the one of the recent Anthologies (I think 2000? I need to get back to these! lol)... I wish we could find more from this time. Thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, in the formal portrait of all five of them in black and white (in the article above), I think they are all wearing the costumes they wore in the photo that was used on Anthology. (Uh, Marlon's sleeves kind of stand out.) They also wore them in the photo that was used for the U.S. picture sleeve for Mama's Pearl.
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