Glam rock and the birth of the onesie?

[caption id="attachment_7531" align="alignright" width="225"]Alix of Bohemia[/caption]

Here at the All-in-One Company we started making onesies back in 2008 – practically ancient history in onesie terms – but the all-in-one as we know it today came dangerously close to taking off in the 1970s. Back in the early ‘70s the musical genre known as ‘glam rock’ was born. Glam was one of the first types of rock music that fully embraced the importance of image and style in conjunction with the music itself. Glam brought with it copious quantities of eyeliner, towering, glittering platform boots and some fantastic facial hair. While it didn’t exactly dominate the charts until late into 1973, glam is generally seen as having emerged in 1971. Here, we tell the story of glam rock’s most influential performers and how the celebrity onesie was almost, but not quite, born…

 

T. Rex and the origin of glam rock

In the early ‘70s, Tyrannosaurus Rex switched from using acoustic to electric guitars. The change brought Marc Bolan’s duo a string of hits – one of which was performed on Top of the Pops in 1971 while wearing a shimmering silver catsuit and with glitter around his eyes. T. Rex’s ‘Hot Love’ reached number one in the charts and showed that outrageous outfits could be used as powerful stage props.

 

Marc Bolan’s distinctive look lead glam rock into the mainstream – and with it came ever more outrageous onesies. Sweet, Slade and many other glam rock acts also adopted jumpsuits and catsuits as part of their look – with more glitter and sequins than we could every cope with! These one-piece outfits soon become glam rock staples. Glam rock revivalists such as The Darkness have also been quick to adopt the catsuit as their stage uniform of choice.

 

Ziggy Stardust

Despite changing his image at least a dozen times since, David Bowie’s glam rock incarnation – Ziggy Stardust – is still the persona he’s most often associated with. Bowie was unashamed to admit that he regarded the flamboyant outfits he wore as tools to earn the attention of the press, but the music was so good that we’ll let him off anyway.

 

When considering Ziggy Stardust’s collection of all-in-ones it’s difficult to know where to start. During late 1971 as Bowie was first beginning to morph into Ziggy he worked with a series of designers, including Kansai Yamamoto, to produce a series of bodysuits. These weren’t particularly groundbreaking by glam standards – in fact they featured rather less glitter, much like our onesies of today…

 

The glitter-free look wasn’t the only onesie development featured by Ziggy’s outfits. During his 1973 tour Bowie wore an asymmetrical woollen onesie in a rather fetching pattern similar to the Aztec design that we offer to buyers of our bespoke onesies today. Unfortunately, despite Yamamoto’s design making a step forward in its material and pattern choice the exposed shoulder, arm and leg took us a couple of steps back from today’s ultimate onesie design.

 

As part of the theatricality of the Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane tours, Bowie wanted Kansai Yamamoto to design some costumes that could be easily, and dramatically, removed. He created several bodysuits, including this iconic PVC monster that could be pulled in two with one swift movement. Today’s onesies can’t quite be removed with as much drama as Kansai Yamamoto’s creations, but they’re certainly easy to get into and out of.

 

We could talk about Bowie’s costumes all day. Unfortunately, even Bowie wasn’t able to bring about the widespread adoption of the onesie for everyday use. He used all-in-ones for their flamboyance and drama rather than their comfort and warmth – although we imagine that PVC bodysuit was certainly warm enough! Other glam rockstars took a similar route. Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music and Alice Cooper never really considered whether their onesies would make practical around-the-house outfits, although they became integral elements of each act’s stagecraft. As incredibly fascinating as the prospect of Marc Bolan making a cup of tea in a glittery purple jumpsuit is, it’s clear that he didn’t really view them as the height of comfort. Perhaps this was the largest barrier to their uptake amongst us ordinary folk…

 

Other musical onesie wearers

Jumpsuits, catsuits and boiler suits weren’t just the domain of glam rock. Elvis famously wore a series of jumpsuits throughout his career, many designed by Bill Belew. Of these jumpsuits, perhaps the American Eagle is the most famous – with a cape add-on that today’s bespoke onesie makers can unfortunately only dream of. Freddie Mercury wore several jumpsuits in his time, each more iconic and striking than the last. Then there’s Prince – a prolific onesie wearer – fond of both sequin studded and simple black numbers. Elton John, The Osmonds… the list goes on. More recently, the Mighty Boosh also brought the world the mirror ball suit and the ‘human coke can’ arctic explorer outfit, both majestically modelled by Noel Fielding.

 

21st century onesies

No-one was enterprising enough to make the step from ‘70s jumpsuits to the snuggly onesie until the 21st century. What might have happened if Bowie, Bolan or any of the other glam rock gods had adopted the onesie as their everyday outfits? We reckon onesies would probably have caught on then and there. Still, onesies have finally made it, and with over Five Years (intentional Bowie reference alert) experience at making all-in-ones, our team know how to create the perfect onesie. We’ve helped bring the onesie to the masses here in the UK, with musical celebrities such as Union J, Peter Andre and Steps showing that all-in-ones aren’t just stage outfits any more.

 

Glam rock did come close to gifting us the onesie, and maybe it’s time for us to (once again) acknowledge its role in shaping fashion, not just in the ‘70s but right into the 21st century, too. We think that we have the formula for the everyday, casual onesie spot-on. There’s still loads of room for customisation, whether you’re looking for dinosaur onesies for your kids, snuggly patterned onesies for a girls’ night in, or an animal print onesie for some festival fun. The All-in-One Company sells lovingly made bespoke onesies for every occasion – take a look at our ready made onesie collection or create your own onesie to enjoy a legacy stretching back to the fabulous glam rockers of the 1970s…