As it approaches the end of the Spring/Summer 2020 season, Supreme adds a collaboration with late artist and performer Leigh Bowery to its collection.

Born in Australia in 1961, Bowery became an icon of the London club throughout the 1980s, becoming a cult figure known for his absurd, outlandish performances. Bowery earned early notoriety for his underground party-turned-nightclub—named Taboo—where guests were invited to break boundaries, explore their sexuality and experiment with various drugs.

Often using his body as a canvas, Bowery would design and then wear extravagant costumes, appear regularly in drag and even self-mutilate his body in various ways to wear masks or apply grotesque makeup. An especially over-the-top performance saw Bowery—absurdly oversized and dressed in drag—fall on the ground and simulate ”giving birth” to his assistant (and later wife) Nicola Bateman, who would be hiding inside Bowery’s costume hanging upside down. The performance was complete with stage blood and an umbilical cord made of sausage links (which Bowery would bite off post-birth). Friend and contemporary Boy George notoriously claimed it "never ceased to impress or revolt."

Bowery’s experimentation with his own body and self-image made him a muse for artist Lucien Freud, whose nude portraits offer a different look at the often dramatically dressed-up Bowery. These portraits are considered major works within Freud’s wider collection of art.

Bowery died from AIDS related complications in London on New Years Eve, 1994.

The Leigh Bowery x Supreme collaboration features a T-shirt, a button-up shirt, and two different hoodies.
Like with other collaborations released during this uniquely turbulent period, a portion of the proceeds from the collection with go to charity, this time benefiting Visual AIDS—an organization benefiting and supporting artists living with HIV.

The collection will arrive online on June 25th, hitting Japanese Supreme outlets on June 27.

Tags: lgbt, lgbtq, leigh-bowery, supreme