The Thriller Jacket

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The Thriller Jacket

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_jacket

The red jacket worn by Michael Jackson in the Michael Jackson's Thriller video in 1983 has been referred to as the Thriller jacket. Designed by Deborah Nadoolman Landis, the candy-apple-red jacket, with black strips, was noted for its many zips, its "M" logo and Star Trek-esque angular, rigid shoulder design. The jacket became the "hottest outerwear fad of the mid-1980s" and was widely emulated. Because counterfeit copies of the jacket could sell at over $500, in 1984 Jackson filed a lawsuit in New York City to prevent unauthorized copies of the jacket and his other merchandise. On 27 June 2011, the jacket sold for $1.8 million at Julien's Auctions. The buyer, Milton Verret, described the jacket as "the greatest piece of rock and roll memorabilia in history". The proceeds from the jacket were donated to the Shambala Animal Kingdom, where Jackson's Bengal tigers were housed when he left Neverland Ranch in 2006.

The jacket was designed by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. She had also designed Indiana Jones's jacket in Raiders of the Lost Ark, among other things. The red jacket was noted for its V shaped black stripes, the unusual style of the front buttons, and the angular, rigid shoulders protruding out over the tops of the arms. Landis stated that she specifically designed the jacket to help Jackson appear more "virile".

Christine Gledhill in her book Stardom: Industry of Desire (1991) discusses Jackson's overall style in Thriller as follows: "In 'Thriller', Michael's outfit and its stylistic features – the wet-look hairstyle, the ankle-cut jeans and the letter 'M' emblazoned on his jacket – reinforce this meta-textual superimposition of role. If Michael, as the male protagonist, is both boyfriend and star, his female counterpart in the equation of 'romance' is both the girlfriend and at this meta-textual level, the fans."

Fashion designer Zaldy was responsible for a redesigned version of the jacket for the cancelled This Is It concerts. It had an imitation of blood on its shoulders, and on the inside a stamp resembling the feline beast Jackson turns into in the video.

The jacket became the "hottest outerwear fad of the mid-1980s" and was widely emulated. It is sometimes emulated by celebrities today such as Chris Brown and Kanye West. It also became one of the most sought after by many people and the epitome of the 1980s teen cool. The jacket he wore in the Thriller video, along with a copy of the black and white leather jacket he wore in one of the Pepsi commercials and in the dance rehearsal portions behinds the scenes of The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, are among his best-selling jackets. Expensive counterfeits were mass-produced and often sold for over $500 to people thinking they were getting the real thing. Because of this mass counterfeiting and the profits it earned, in 1984 Jackson filed a lawsuit in New York City to prevent unauthorized copies of the jacket and his other merchandise.

At the end of documentary Leaving Neverland accuser Wade Robson was shown standing next to a bonfire, burning various pieces of memorabilia including Jackson’s Thriller jacket. Some spectators claimed it was not a genuine one, but Robson and director Dan Reed repeatedly refuted the claims.

According to Julien’s Auctions, in 2011 Robson sold one of Jackson's sequined gloves and a jacket from "Thriller" for $31,250 and $49,920 respectively. The auction house verified the sale on Twitter in response to critics of Robson, who accused him of participating in the documentary for financial gain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Nadoolman_Landis

Deborah Nadoolman Landis (born May 26, 1952) is an American author, historian, professor, and costume designer. She has worked on notable films such as Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Three Amigos, all of which credited her as Deborah Nadoolman. Landis served two terms as president of the Costume Designers Guild of which she has been a member for more than thirty years. She is married to director John Landis; their son is screenwriter Max Landis.

Born to a Jewish family, Landis graduated from UCLA with an M.F.A. in costume design in 1975. She earned her Ph.D. in history of design from the Royal College of Art in London. She has created iconic costumes throughout her career, such as the fedora and jacket of Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), the "college" sweatshirt worn by John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi), and Michael Jackson's red jacket in Thriller. In addition to many Drama-Logue Awards for her theater designs, she was nominated for an Academy Award in 1988 for Coming to America.

After receiving her doctorate, Landis wrote and edited a number of books including: "Hollywood Sketchbook: A Century of Costume Illustration" (Harper Collins, 2012), "FilmCraft: Costume Design" (Focal Press, 2012), "Hollywood Costume" (V&A Publishing, 2012), Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design (Harper Collins, 2007), Screencraft/Costume Design (Focal Press, 2003) and 50 Costumes/50 Designers: Concept to Character (University of California Press. 2004). "Hollywood Costume" (the V&A catalogue of the eponymous exhibition) is the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation's 2013 Moving Image Book Award winner.

Landis spent five years researching and designing "Hollywood Costume" which opened on October 20, 2012 at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. With one hundred and thirty iconic costumes loaned by sixty international archives and private collectors, "Hollywood Costume" was universally well reviewed and broke records at the V&A. Over 265,000 visitors saw the show before it closed on January 27, 2013. Landis headed the curation team as Senior Curator, with Sir Christopher Frayling, Guest Curator and Keith Lodwick as V&A Curator. The exhibition was designed by the London firm of Casson-Mann and the score for the exhibition was composed by Julian Scott. The 2013 – 14 exhibition tour includes the Australian Center for the Moving Image in Melbourne, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, and the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona.

Landis has lectured widely on costume design and has taught at the University of Southern California, the AFI Conservatory, and is a professor at the University of the Arts London.[citation needed] She was inducted as a Distinguished Alumna at the UCLA Department of Theater, Film and Television in 2005, and honored as a William Randolph Hearst Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin in 2006.[citation needed] In 2007, she served on the Cinefondation Jury at the 60th Cannes Film Festival.[citation needed] In 2009, Landis became the David C. Copley Chair and the Director of the David C. Copley Center of Costume Design at UCLA, School of Theater, Film & Television.

She is mentioned in "The 21-Second Excitation" episode of The Big Bang Theory for her work on Raiders of the Lost Ark and Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Filmography

(credited as Deborah Nadoolman)

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
Animal House (1978)
1941 (1979)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Trading Places (1983)
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (segment 1)
Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983)
Crackers (1984)
Into the Night (1985/I)
Spies Like Us (1985)
Three Amigos (1986)
Coming to America (1988) Academy Award nomination
Nothing But Trouble (1991)
Innocent Blood (1992)
The Stupids (1996)
Mad City (1997)
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
Susan's Plan (1998)
Burke and Hare (2010)