David Bowie (May 1970) Curious Cover

A strikingly androgynous cover from Curious Magazine capturing Bowie and Freddie Buretti at the dawn of glam culture — a moment when fashion, sexuality, and art collided in Britain’s post‑Swinging London underground.

📰 Publication Details

Publication: Curious Magazine

Date: May 1970

Country: United Kingdom

Issue: No. 19

Section / Page: Cover Feature + Article

Format: Photo Feature / Interview / Cultural Profile

📰 What the Clipping Shows

The cover presents David Bowie and Freddie Buretti in vivid 1970s attire — Bowie in a patterned Mr Fish “man‑dress” and Buretti in a satin blue ensemble with a paisley scarf. The masthead Curious appears in bold blue type, surrounded by provocative article titles such as “Transvestites: Queen Drag and the Fairies” and “Our Sexual Lives: The Roaring Sixties.”

📰 Visual Archive

Curious Magazine No. 19 (May 1970) – David Bowie and Freddie Buretti photographed in London, symbolising the birth of Bowie’s androgynous era.

This issue matters because it represents one of Bowie’s earliest public explorations of gender fluidity and theatrical self‑presentation, predating Ziggy Stardust by two years.

📰 The Story Behind It

In 1970, Bowie was transitioning from Space Oddity into the Man Who Sold the World period. The Curious shoot coincided with his collaboration with Freddie Buretti, whom he met at London’s El Sombrero Club. Together they conceived the short‑lived Arnold Corns project — a prototype for the Ziggy persona.

“Curious issue #19 – May 1970 – a ‘sex education magazine for men and women’. Early Bowie rarity with a price tag that matches its scarcity.”

The article and imagery positioned Bowie as a provocateur of sexual identity, wearing the same Mr Fish dress later seen on the UK cover of The Man Who Sold the World. The editorial tone reflected Britain’s fascination with “gender‑bending” — a term then used to describe Bowie’s defiance of masculine norms.

This cover became emblematic of Bowie’s early experimentation with androgyny, influencing the glam aesthetic that would dominate the decade.

📰 Related Material

• Curious Magazine – Issue No. 19 (May 1970)

• The Man Who Sold the World UK LP cover (1970)

• Chronicle entry: Arnold Corns – Early Ziggy Blueprint

Additional material connected to this entry is listed in the tag index at the foot of the page.

📰 Closing Notes

This Curious cover stands as one of the earliest visual statements of Bowie’s gender‑fluid artistry — a cultural artifact marking the genesis of glam rock’s aesthetic revolution.

“Instead of modelling one of Buretti’s creations for the cover of Curious, Bowie wore his infamous Mr Fish ‘man‑dress’.**”

---

All magazine scans, photographs, and original text excerpts referenced in this entry remain the property of their respective copyright holders.

This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non‑commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference.

No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied.

---