I’m sure we all look just this fashion-forward when we’re doing a spot of house painting, right?

Informative Caption says:

English singer, musician and actor David Bowie (1947 – 2016) paints the coving of his ground floor flat at Haddon Hall in silver paint, Beckenham, south-east London, 24th April 1972. This was after the recording of Bowie’s concept album ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’, but before its release on 6th June 1972.

I learned a new word! “Coving” is “a curved or shaped strip of wood or other material fitted as a feature at the junction of a wall with a ceiling,” or what we Americans would call the moulding. Bowie’s coving — his Bowving, if you will — is as spectacular as his ensemble, as is his ceiling, and I would expect nothing less from him.

Haddon Hall has since been demolished because, per the internet, the roof was threatening to blow off — which does seem like a potential issue. It does look like it might have gotten a bit structurally precarious:

David Bowie, Haddon Hall, 1971

This seems a bit tilty. Very rock and roll!

(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images, Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images))
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