“We were also very influenced by Vogue in the 1960s under Diana Vreeland,” she continued. “Fellini was the epitome of Italian style taken to the max.” “There were big hats and giant sunglasses-this incredible fashion taken to an absurd degree,” Pierson explains.

Inspired by the lavishness and absurdity of filmmaker Federico Fellini’s work in the 1960s, Pierson and Wilson mimicked the fantasy they saw in films like Juliet of the Spirits. Photograph by Lynn Goldsmith for Corbis Historical via Getty Images. We were very playful with fashion, kind of on the arty side.”Ĭindy Wilson, performing circa 1980. We were just starting out and having fun in thrift stores. In the beginning, we weren’t really polished, but to me, those were some of the best days. “She wore the blonde one and I wore the golden-brown helmet hair. Kate and I were being playful on the photo shoot, so we switched wigs,” said Wilson.

The band stands smack-dab in the middle of a Crayola-yellow background, with Pierson in a white blouse with mountainous, billowing ruffles, and Wilson wearing a brassy brown helmet of a wig and a Teddy Boy chic getup. One of the standout images of their career is the cover of their debut album, The B-52’s. They became a hair band before “hair bands” were a thing. Wigs were the starting point in the band’s style, and the clothes followed the gaudiness of their hair. It wasn’t your standard nihilistic punk image, full of rage, but it was still pretty punk.įor Pierson and Wilson, this was an opportunity to experiment with different textures, patterns, and shapes. On stage, they celebrated an exaggerated version of femininity with a touch of drag, and a touch of Science Fiction B-movie.

Establishing an iconic image early on worked in their favor as the band started to grow and build a fan base in the early ’70s. The front women, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, managed to hone in on a style that heavily referenced the ’50s and ’60s, combined with elements of futurism: lots of reflective materials, lots of silver, and sky-high hairstyles that resembled satellite towers.

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