Dennis Thompkins (MJ's costume designer) has passed away

dam2040 said:

Maybe Michael was doing a show in heaven, and he needed a costume designer? Have a good rest Dennis

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dam2040 said:

Maybe Michael was doing a show in heaven, and he needed a costume designer? Have a good rest Dennis

Click to expand...

Michael Jackson never wore the same thing twice and his courtroom clothes were made each day, his costume designers have revealed.
Los Angeles designers Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins have been making the singer's clothes for more than 20 years.
Bush told the Los Angeles Times this week that he awoke each day at 3am to take the day's outfit - invariably a colourful print vest and a suit with military details - to Jackson's Neverland Ranch, where he dressed the star.
Jackson always thanked him and gave him a hug, Bush said.
"We have two or three tailors around town making jackets because we can't make them fast enough," Bush said.
The pair tried to get to sleep by 9pm, but sometimes were up until 11pm.
"And we photograph everything. That, we learned out of fear because we would make something for Michael and he would call us later to ask for a double. Maybe an outfit goes to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland or Madame Tussaud's in London, and he wants one to keep for himself," Bush said.
Jackson, who is facing charges of child molestation, has been criticised by the media for his flamboyant courtroom attire. But the designers said the criticism was unfair.
They create his courtroom wardrobe using a mannequin built to Jackson's dimensions.
Jackson preferred dark suits for his court appearances after his initial appearance in a white suit sparked a media uproar.
Inspiration for the costumes came from magazines the designers examined with the star. Jackson was the final arbiter, Bush said.
Bush said Jackson once issued a challenge to the designers: "This is what the world's wearing. Top it."
Jackson's vests were made with silk from India, elaborate jacquard designs from Europe and faux reptile fabric from downtown Los Angeles, Bush said.
He said Jackson loved military details because they "demand attention . . . have clean lines and they fit almost like dance clothes".
Though Jackson's clothes appeared extravagant, price was an issue, Bush said. "He's a businessman. A lot of people assume money means nothing to him, but that's not true."
Over the years, the designers have used wool, silk, canvas, ripstop nylon, silver, gold, British regalia, police badges and even car parts. They made a jacket with elements crafted from bonnet ornaments and another festooned with badges from European racing car clubs.
Bush said Jackson once called in the middle of the night and asked: "What's the one thing that every man, woman and child in the world knows?"
Mickey Mouse was the first thing that came to Bush's mind. But eating utensils were what Jackson was thinking. "He said, 'How are you going to make that into clothing for me?"'
The result was a jacket with knives, forks and spoons hanging from the front.
"Michael calls it his dinner jacket, that's the humour, the human side that no one knows," Bush said.
The pair said they were aware their client could soon be wearing prison stripes.
- DPA, Los Angeles Times

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The new Michael Jackson installation at the Autry went up yesterday, and the first thing that came to the minds of MJ designers Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins when they saw it was how well it clicked with all the other Hollywood cowboy memorabilia.
“It really looks like it fits in with everything else,” Tompkins said while watching the lighting guys put the finishing touches on the case, which displayed two entire outfits, a belt, a pair of metal-encased boots, a design sketch and a rhinestone glove. “John Wayne’s around the corner and Roy Rogers is over there. Michael’s stuff just seems right at home.”

Tompkins and Bush, who designed for Jackson for 25 years, spent several months working with Jeffrey Richardson, the Autry’s associate

curator for film and pop culture, choosing items from the wardrobe of the King of Pop that were inspired by western themes. The costumes all went into a case in the Imagination gallery, which focuses on Hollywood’s interpretation of the West.
“The idea is to show people that Michael used western influences,” Richardson said. “That influence continues even if people don’t realize where the ultimate inspiration came from. It didn’t come from Michael. Michael was taking from other things.”
As they took a first look at the installation yesterday, Tompkins and Bush sat for an interview with Chris Connelly, of Good Morning America.
“The first thing out of his mouth was, ‘They want a piece of me?’” Bush told Connelly when asked about Jackson’s reaction to the prospective exhibit. “He was so exited they wanted a piece of something he wore to be in a western heritage museum.”
How Michael Jackson came to the Autry is an interesting story in itself. Yadhira De Leon, Autry public relations manager, met Tompkins and Bush at the

Grammy Museum in early 2009. A casual conversation led to an e-mail from the team the next day to ask if the Autry was interested in a Flip Wilson suit by the famed Nudie Cohn that they owned.
“I sent it to Jeffrey, and Jeffrey wrote back and said, ‘Yea, but do they have anything from Michael?” De Leon said. “Jeffrey said, ‘Let’s talk to them! Let’s see what’s going on.’”
Of course, the designers had access to the things they themselves had crafted for Jackson’s concerts and public appearances. But Tompkins said he and Bush also had been acquiring wardrobe items from television shows and movies as far back as 1990. That year, they
came across Jackson’s blue satin fringed shirt and suede bell bottoms — used in a 1977 Jackson

Family television show — at a Rose Bowl flea market sale. It was part of a lot full of costumes worn by actors and singers, mainly for television specials and series.
“At that time, nobody was saving that stuff,” he said. “It was used once and then thrown away or cut up to make something else.”
Richardson’s question about whether Jackson ever wore anything western got them digging, and they found it. They then began the research to see if they could find any video that showed Jackson performing in the outfit. They found that in a second-hand shop. In the number, MJ and the rest of the family sing and dance to a medley version of “Cisco Kid” and “I Shot the Sheriff.” It’s

vintage Michael Jackson, with sharp moves and even sharper production values. One can see where sequences like the “Thriller” dance came from.
In their search, Tompkins and Bush also looked for more recent pieces, and they found several bib-front shirts Michael had worn during his solo career. The one they finally picked for the display was inspired by something Bush once wore on stage while working with Jackson: a pair of red-and-black leather cowboy boots.
“Michael looked down at them and said, ‘I want a jacket like that,’” Bush said. Later, the jacket became a shirt, and the shirt went on Jackson’s back for an appearance in Australia.
Then there are the boots: a pair of western-style cowboy boots covered in chromed metal that look like something out of a suit of armor, that Jackson wore to the White House when he met President George H. W. Bush. Talk about a moonwalk.
Tompkins said Michael had some very specific preferences when it came to wardrobe. For example, he always asked that pants be slim-fitting and not flared. He didn’t want the complicated dance moves he worked so hard on to get lost in the fabric.
Looking at the display, one gets the distinct idea that the West and showbusiness, as concepts, are inseparable and, in some measure, indistinguishable from each other. Each has always involved larger-than-life characters whom the rest of us strive to emulate. If you look at it that way, there’s no way Michael Jackson could be left out of that pantheon. He definitely belongs.
See below for the Good Morning America segment on the Michael Jackson installation.

http://blog.theautry.org/2010/08/17/boots-that-were-made-for-moonwalking/

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