Freddie Mercury's Flash T-shirt made for stage and video, and red vinyl trousers, 1979-1981

Freddie Mercury's Flash T-shirt made for stage and video, and red vinyl trousers, 1979-1981

An ivory cotton T-shirt decorated on the front with large hand-stencilled lettering ‘FLASH’ in red outlined in black, the back similarly hand-stencilled with a stylised ‘Flash Gordon’ lightning bolt motif as seen on the cover of the Queen soundtrack to Flash Gordon, 1980, in red outlined in black, red hand-painted trim to neck and sleeves, 31 cm long, unlabelled; with a pair of red ‘vinyl’ jeans, with woven label on the back waistband ‘King Jeans Original Cowboy Style’ and two further ‘King’ labels to back right-hand pocket, care label inside with fabric with details: ‘Face: 100% Polyurethane, Back: 100% cotton’, further interior labels include size; ‘U.K.30’

(qty 2)

Freddie Mercury frequently paired a Flash T-shirt with red vinyl trousers on stage throughout ‘The Game’ tour of 1980 and into 1981. This combination is pictured on the inside sleeve of Queen’s Flash Gordon film soundtrack of 1980. He also wore a Flash T-shirt with denim jeans for the Play The Game music video, 1980. Peter Hince’s famous Freddie jump image from that shoot, with Freddie wearing a Flash T-shirt, subsequently appeared on the cover of the single Another 'One Bites The Dust', 1980, concert posters and other worldwide Queen promotional material.

A notable early public appearance of Freddie wearing a Flash T-shirt was at a party at the House of Commons held by the Arts Minister, Norman St. John Stevas, to celebrate British Music on 3 August 1980. There are several shots by Richard Young and others of Freddie with Elton John on that occasion. One of the earliest pairings of the Flash T-shirt with red vinyl trousers occurred in Berlin on 30 November 1980. Freddie continued to wear his Flash T-shirts off stage until circa 1985. He is thought to have had around three of them: one is in this auction (lot 212) and one was sold at auction in the U.S. in 2020.

Freddie’s use of red vinyl trousers first occurred in 1979 and heralded a new change of image for him. Peter Freestone had just started working with Queen as their wardrobe assistant on the British leg of the ‘Crazy’ tour when Freddie decided he was going to go for a new look. Freestone recalls “I had to buy three pairs of red PVC trousers... [a few] ties to act as belts…skate-boarding knee pads and really lightweight white boots with black stripes, the sort that boxers wear... To start the show... [he’d wear] a leather jacket which he would then take off and perform in a T-shirt.” These red vinyl trousers became an integral part of Freddie’s new macho style which replaced his catsuits, ballet shoes and long hair. He also grew a moustache which initially received a mixed response from his fans. 

One of the earliest appearances of Freddie wearing red vinyl trousers on stage occurred at Birmingham International arena on 24 November 1979. He continued to wear them on stage throughout ‘The Game’ tour, 1981, the ‘South America Bites The Dust’ tour, 1981 and South America ‘Gluttons For Punishment’ tour, 1981. They remained a key part of his stage wardrobe for three years. Peter Freestone mentions buying three pairs of red vinyl trousers for Freddie. Another pair are in this auction (lot 212), and a pair was sold at auction in London in 1996.

LITERATURE

Freddie Mercury, Peter Freestone with David Evans, Omnibus Press, 2009, p.21

Queen: The Neal Preston Photographs, Reel Art Press, 2020, illus. pp.115,136-7, 141, 198, 206 & 217

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