David Bowie, a constant source of inspiration to the fashion world.

He was
famous and well known for his image and powerful influence on fashion design
as he was for his music. Throughout his career, he had inspired fans, celebrities,
stylists and fashion designers. Ironically, Bowie always said he was not
interested in fashion, only wanting his music "to look how it sounds" while it’s
possible to identify ‘Bowie-isms’ on many a runway such as in Jean Paul
Gaultier’s spring 2013 women’s wear collection, “Rock Stars,” when the
designer showed a ‘Bowie-esque’ asymmetric star-spangled net cat suit,
when Haider Ackermann sent out sharp-shouldered button-down shirts with
contrast collars on mulleted models, and Alessandro Michele at Gucci
challenged gender conventions by putting men in floral suits with matching
shirts. (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/fashion/david-bowies-fashion-
legacy.html?_r=0)

From the lightning flash face paint of Aladdin Sane, the oversize shoulders and
white shirt collars of "Thin White Duke" to the trilby hat and floppy fringe of
the alien he played in the movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Bowie boldly
broke boundaries in style and gender with his influential looks for decades now.
(http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5f8cfe759bbf41e6aa9ab48dfdfa0282/david-bowie-
held-powerful-influence-fashion-design)

Decades after he released 1973's "Aladdin Sane," designers and editorials still
reference the red lightning bolt painted across his face on the album's cover and
still recreating his patterned bodysuits, while stylists are still slipping eye
patches over models' eyes.( http://fashionista.com/2016/01/david-bowie-
fashion-influence) Then there was, of course, 1972's flame-orange haired Ziggy
Stardust, his most recognizable invention – when you see someone with hair
dyed a saturated orange-red, you know exactly who inspired it. David Bowie
was a great artist and a timeless fashion icon and will remain a reference.
(http://www.salon.com/2016/01/11/david_bowie_held_powerful_influence_on_
fashion_design/)

While many late rock stars are rightly saluted for their influence and impact,
Bowie occupies a higher historical tier entirely. He's not just an influential
rocker not just one of the most influential rockers. Among rock stars, he
influenced more musical genres than anyone else, living or dead. He is, in that
respect, the most influential rock star.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6843061/david-bowie-influence-genres-
rock-star)
No one is ever going to question how essential he was to glam rock. The Rise
and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and Aladdin
Sane ensured his long-term career. Glam rock as a genre owes him just as much.
If Bowie had not gone glam, history would remember it as a goofy, cute
curiosity, a sub-genre full of wacky fashion and frothy pop songs, but producing
no serious content. Most glam rockers are remembered as that ‘glam rockers’.
Bowie, however, produced two albums squarely within the style while
simultaneously transcending it. The aforementioned titles aren't simply glam
classics -- they're rock classics. They're singer-songwriter classics. They are,
simply put, works of art. And then there's folk. With "Space Oddity" alone, his
importance to folk-rock (and what would later be known as freak folk) was
forever sealed. But that wasn't it, songs on Hunky Dory and The Man Who Sold
the World only furthered his impact on the folkie singer-songwriter realm. The
latter LP, featuring some of his hardest-rocking material, also solidified his
impact in the hard rock scene. While no one is ever going to call Bowie a metal
icon, his dark, theatrical tales and presentation inspired contemporaries like
Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper in the early '70s. And in the '80s, glam rock
became an essential touchstone for any metal act with a chart presence, from
Def Leppard to Guns N' Roses to Twisted Sister. In the industrial rock realm,
Bowie's impact can't be underplayed: It's impossible to imagine Trent Reznor or
Marilyn Manson having substantial careers without Bowie paving the way for
them. And when grunge replaced pop-metal as the go-to genre for rebellious
teenagers, Bowie was once again a touchstone. Pioneering grunge act Green
River (the band whose members would go on to form Pearl Jam and Mudhoney)
covered "Queen Bitch," and more famously, Kurt Cobain gave "The Man Who
Sold the World" new life on MTV Unplugged.

So even in metal/grunge/hard rock -- genres he hardly pioneered -- Bowie's

influence is still essential.

Bowie's importance to electronic music, however, is far more direct. With Low,
Heroes and, to a lesser extent, Lodger, the Berlin Trilogy gave electronic music
its first major rock world crossover. No, Bowie didn't invent anything new --
even before Kraftwerk, Silver Apples had been experimenting with synths and
electronics in the late '60s, and classically trained composers started recording
in that realm as far back as the '50s.

But Bowie took the icy, arty electronics of Kraftwerk and brought them to a
comparatively mainstream audience. That's not to say Bowie ripped them off,
though -- he and Brian Eno brought a new level of sonic cohesiveness to what
Kraftwerk started. Trans-Europe Express is a pioneering classic, but certain
songs on side one have dated. On the other hand, there isn't a note on Low that's
aged since it dropped in 1977. It's not a timeless record -- it seems to exist
almost entirely apart from time. His greatest artistic
achievement, Low's impact wouldn't be fully felt for a generation -- it wasn't
until Radiohead's Kid A that rock and electronic would once again meet and
move forward in such a mature fashion.

Often neglected in rockist retellings of history, Bowie is no less essential to pop

music. New Wave and synth-pop artists drew heavily on everything
from Ziggy toHeroes, and when he went full-on pop with the assistance of Nile
Rodgers, his Let's Dance LP helped set the template for the next 30 years of
alternative dance music.

The importance of Hunky Dory to '70s pop and indie music can't be neglected
either. An album that careens from the proto-punk "Queen Bitch" to the
willfully weird song sketch "Andy Warhol" to the radio-friendly "Changes" is
pretty much the blueprint for every lo-fi indie pop album of the last 25 years
(just try to think of Ariel Pink existing without Bowie). The only other major
rock artist making pop albums that stylistically eclectic at the time was Paul
McCartney, although his efforts weren't quite as artistically adventurous. These
are the few examples of the music genres that he had brought great and
significant impact on. During his days in music, he was forever changing,
forever inventing and he will always be an inspiration and impact that can be
felt for the centuries to come.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6843061/david-bowie-influence-genres-
rock-star)

David Bowie had nearly as many on-screen personas as he did musical ones.
That added another dimension to a career that can’t be defined solely by albums
and songs. It was no accident, either. Bowie put no small amount of effort into
his film sideline. (http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-acting-career/)
Bowie has never really had acting expertise, but he has the kind of onscreen
presence that's inherent, not learned by trade. It's impossible to take your eyes
off him. And while not the best example of the craft, his roles were always truly
Bowie, whether he graced films as Warhol in Basquiat, as Pontius Pilate
in Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ,played himself as a small cameo
in Zoolander, or gave a surprisingly electrifying (pun intended) performance as
Tesla in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006).

(http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2016/01/david-bowie-film-influence)

While many would call David Bowie a musician first, perhaps he should be
known as an experimenter. Just like in his music and his personas, David Bowie
did not conform to a specific style of acting or character. While he was involved
in deep dramas, not all of his roles were serious, and he did not fear taking on
roles that needed some imagination both in film and on television. Bowie
played the Goblin King in the 1986 film Labyrinth, playing off a darker fairy
godmother figure. This was perhaps one of his most beloved film on-screen
characters. Bowie worked with David Lynch on Twin Peaks (1991). This was a
perfect pairing given Lynch and Bowie’s draw towards experimenting with
surreal imagery. Bowie also did a voiceover for the children’s TV
series SpongeBob SquarePants in 2007. This was an interesting role given
SpongeBob’s lack of gender conformity which perhaps appealed to Bowie,
giving him a way to channel his willingness to bend the rules in a child-friendly
way.( http://rockingpotatoes.blogspot.my/2016/02/david-bowies-impact-on-
film.html)

His influence in film could be felt even when David Bowie wasn't even in it—
Todd Hayne's 1998 musical drama, Velvet Goldmine, for instance. The title not
only takes from Bowie's 1975 track, but the entire film, taking place in the glam
rock era, based its aesthetic on Bowie, as can be seen in Jonathan Rhys-
Meyer's glitzed and glittered Brian Slade, who even sings in a Bowie inflection.
The rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch could also be credited to Bowie's
influence (unsurprisingly Bowie co-produced the L.A.production of the rock
opera). He inspired and made friends in film over the years, most notably his
spirit twin Tilda Swinton, who appeared in his music video ("The Stars (Are
Out Tonight)") as his complementary alien self, and spoke at Bowie's exhibition
opening.

Needless to say, David Bowie's death is an inestimable loss. But his work—and
even bigger, his influences—lie in so many corners of pop culture, from music
to art to film. Bowie will always be with us. And I'm certain he's watching from
some planet up above. (http://ca.complex.com/pop-culture/2016/01/david-
bowie-film-influence)