"Fashion" is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 14th studio album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980).
Co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti and recorded from February to April 1980 at New York and London, it was the last song completed for the album.
Originating as a reggae parody titled "Jamaica", "Fashion" is a post-punk, dance and funk track structurally similar to Bowie's "Golden Years".
Its accompanying music video, directed by David Mallet, reflects the lyrical themes, depicting Bowie and his musicians as street thugs interspersed with shots of dancers rehearsing and a parade of New Romantic individuals.
[2][3] The band, like Bowie's four previous albums, consisted of Carlos Alomar on rhythm guitar, George Murray on bass and Dennis Davis on drums.
Roy Bittan, a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band who were recording The River (1980) in the adjacent studio, played piano.
Unlike his recent Berlin Trilogy, wherein Bowie wrote lyrics almost immediately after the backing tracks were finished, he wanted to take time writing melodies and lyrics for the Scary Monsters songs;[4] he and Visconti reconvened at the latter's own Good Earth Studios in London in April 1980 for vocals and overdubs.
[6] A post-punk, dance and funk track with reggae elements,[3][7][8][9] "Fashion" contains structural similarities to Bowie's 1975 hit "Golden Years".
[a][2][10] Fripp's guitar riff, which the guitarist himself described as "blues-rock played with a contemporary grammar",[3] was compared by author Peter Doggett to John Lennon's "Cold Turkey" (1970).
Doggett also identifies elements that suggest possible inspirations from other songs, including the "mechanical structure" of M's "Pop Muzik" (1979) and the "nonsense syllables" of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" (1977) in the final verse.
[2] Biographer David Buckley believes the song "poked fun at the banality of the dance-floor and the style fascists" of the New Romantic movement.
[2] David Mallet shot a music video for "Fashion" in a New York nightclub owned by his friend Robert Boykin called Hurrah.
Smith and the Rumour drummer Stephen Goulding,[c] as street-tough guys interposed with shots of dancers rehearsing and a parade of New Romantic individuals queuing outside a soup kitchen, one of whom was May Pang, the ex-girlfriend of Lennon and future wife of Visconti.
[2][12] In his book The Complete David Bowie, Pegg says the video "crystallises the song's anxiety about misplaced idolatry and style-leadership".
In 1998, Glamma Kid released a rap version titled "Fashion '98" for his album Kidology, which was a minor UK hit.
[2] In 2003, the Dandy Warhols sampled on the song for their Welcome to the Monkey House track "I Am a Scientist"; Bowie received a co-writing credit.