Leigh Bowery

       Leigh Bowery has made a tremendous impact for performing artists today.  He was born in a conservative home with a mother who loved fashion.  He left his native Australian town and moved to London to pursue his fashion designing career.  When all failed, he did start to earn a reputation for his outrageous outfits.  In 1982 he started to promote for a club while dressed up in his intricate designs.  His work was featured in numerous collections during London's fashion week too.  
          He was extremely self absorbed like Andy Wardhol and he looked up to him as a role model.  Bowery, later started the club Taboo, where not only did he run but he also performed at. His club was an escape for homosexuals who wanted to have fun without being judged.  He was widely flamboyant and often dressed up in clothes that emphasized his larger size. His fashion career sky rocketed in 1988 during a show in Dering Street Gallery that lasted a week.  Artists were extremely interested in his unique techniques.  He really captivated the street and it served as a major influence during the show.  He even played self recordings of traffic noises.  

            Leigh Bowery did not have the best financial means, and this hurt him in the end because he sold himself as a product and not enough of what he created.  He was casted in the group Minty, one of their performances called "Childbirth" had Bowery stage a naked woman to come out of his "vagina."  He was an extremely passionate performer and rehearsed religiously. 

           Bowery can be seen as an influence on Lady Gaga, because of her remarkable fashion and numerous outfit changes during her music videos.  In her music video "Paparazzi" she changed 10 times.  Some of her leather jumpsuits and high shoes also resemble what Leigh Bowery wore.  Leigh Bowery died from AIDS in 1994, while only telling a couple of people of his disease.