As Michael Jackson’s Thriller album reaches number 2 in the UK charts, following a Halloween boost, a new book reveals the secrets behind the star’s amazing stage outfits. In his memoir, Jacko’s stylist for 25 years, Michael Bush, reveals what it was like working for the King of Pop, who died in June 2009, aged 50, from an accidental overdose of the anaesthetic drug Propofol.
Bush, who joined Jacko’s Bad and Dangerous tours, recalls the childlike singer keeping his style team waiting for hours while he watched The Simpsons. While he was obsessed by the British Royal Family ’s crown jewels.
In King Of Style II: Dressing Michael Jackson, the stylist and designer says: “Right up until the very end, Michael Jackson was my employer and, ultimately, my friend. ’Bush’ he would say to me, ‘when my fans look at me, they look hard. And when they look hard, they’re taking inventory. So every detail counts’”.
Bush reveals Jacko’s emotional attachment to his trademark budget-priced black Florsheim loafer shoes – which were all he could afford when learning to dance, growing up in Gary, Indiana. He recalls working on the Bad tour in Japan in 1987, saying: “I once shined Michael’s scuffed Florsheims.
“Michael saw me putting polish on them and said ‘no! Don’t touch my shoes. Don’t ever polish my shoes’. He was seriously upset. He said, ‘the leather is worn the way I like it. And if you coat them in polish, the shoe will slip. If I fall and twist an ankle, we are all out of a job’.
“He told me his mother, Katherine, once saw him imitating the oscillating movements of the family’s washing machine when he was small. And he taught himself to dance in Florsheims. He feared if he tried to dance in anything else, he would lose the magic in his dance steps.”
Taking two pairs of broken-in Florsheims on tour for the star, Bush adds: “I was so paranoid about losing them that I slept with a pair beneath my pillow every night.”
Bush was running Jacko’s style team with his late partner Dennis Tompkins in 1985, when he discovered the Billie Jean singer’s obsession with our crown jewels – especially the Imperial State Crown, kept at the Tower of London.
He recalls meeting Jacko in Neverland in 1990 to discuss what he would wear to be honoured by President George H.W. Bush as Entertainer of the Decade. He says: “He was gazing at a photo of the Imperial State Crown.” Jacko wanted a replica.
Despatched to the Tower of London to see the genuine article, only to discover it had been removed for two weeks, Bush says: “Dennis ended up sketching from a book called The Crown Jewels of England and worked out Michael’s measurements. Replacing the original’s central Second Star of Africa diamond with Michael’s dancing-feet emblem, when we showed it to Michael he clapped and beamed.”
Now 68, Bush also created the special boots Jacko wore to perform his 45-degree lean in the (1987) Smooth Criminal video. Designed to lace up and immobilise the ankle, they looked like regular Florsheim shoes. But Bush says: “The mechanics were underneath. When we showed Michael, we packed a wooden plank to be used as a makeshift floor, so we could lock the shoes onto it.”
Jacko doubted whether they’d work, but Bush says: “Michael puffed his chest, stiffened his joints and, with blind faith, leaned forward and gasped. It was nerve-racking.” They were a resounding success.
Bush and Dennis also handcrafted off-stage outfits for Jacko, including the black ensemble and Levi jeans he wore as best man for Liz Taylor’s marriage to seventh, and final husband Larry Fortensky at his Neverland ranch in October 1991. Tempers frayed when Jacko refused to tell Taylor what he planned to wear. Bush says: “Afterwards, Michael said ‘if she knows I’m wearing Levi’s, she’ll want to wear them too’.”
But the glittering black jacket he first wore to moonwalk to Billie Jean in 1983 on US TV was from Bullock’s Department Store in Sherman Oaks, California.
Bush says: ”Days earlier, Michael spotted his mother wearing the sequinned jacket. It was sleek and shiny, so Michael decided to wear it.” Jacko also preferred flying on commercial planes to private jets. Bush says: “Sometimes he wandered into coach to greet surprised passengers.”
And he drank so much Evian that case loads were delivered to his hotel rooms. Assuming the vast quantities ordered were for bathing, in Sweden on the Bad tour, hotel staff arranged them around the bath. From that grew the myth that Michael washed in Evian,” says Bush.
But he had some highly irritating habits, according to Bush, who remembers journeys in his limo, saying: “He would pull his jacket zipper up and down, like a DJ scratching a record while chewing bubblegum.” Bush met Jacko for the final time in LA to discuss ideas for his This Is It 50 date residency at the O2.
He says: “Man In The Mirror was to be the final song. Michael planned to make his grand exit by boarding an airplane called MJ Air. Before he boarded, I was to meet him, hand him a suitcase and cloak him with a trench coat. Michael would then turn his back, board and fly away.
“We rehearsed until 1am. I told him ‘you made me the luckiest guy ever to hold a needle and thread’. Michael hugged me and replied, ‘no, Bush. You’re changing my life again. Thank you.’ I walked Michael to his car and took his Florsheim shoes home.”
Later that day, Michael died. Bush says: “The final curtain had literally come down.” Two weeks later, Jacko’s sister La Toya asked Bush to dress Jacko for his funeral. He says: “We began to piece together the outfit. In went beads, pearls and rhinestones.
“Dennis worked on a military-inspired jacket, upon which I sewed a Tinker Bell. We designed Michael’s final armband around a solid silver British royal crest. We honoured his love of black Levi’s, creating a pair in leather.”
Jacko had once asked not to be buried in his famous white Billie Jean glove, so Bush used another – also adding his aviator sunglasses. And, of course, he added his beloved Florsheim shoes. He says: “I checked with La Toya who simply said, ‘he has to go out of this world dancing. Definitely the Florsheims’. I wanted to make Michael proud and I took care of it, dressing Michael one last time.”
A tainted legacy
Michael Jackson’s legacy has been tainted by child sexual abuse allegations:
- When his biopic, Michael, was released in April, it was criticised for omitting events after 1988, including the 1990s abuse allegations, due to script rewrites and legal constraints.
- In 1993 Evan Chandler accused Jackson of sexually abusing his 13-year-old son, Jordan. The criminal investigation closed without charges, and Jackson settled a civil lawsuit out of court in January 1994 for a reported $25 million, without admitting guilt.
- In November 2003, Jackson was arrested and indicted on multiple counts of child molestation, conspiracy, and administering an intoxicating agent, involving 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo. But a Santa Barbara County jury found him not guilty on all 10 counts in 2005.
- In 2019, the two-part HBO/ Channel 4 documentary Leaving Neverland, featured allegations from Wade Robson and James Safechuck, claiming Jackson groomed and abused them as children. Jackson’s estate denied all claims, taking legal action against HBO.
- Retrospective films, like 2026 Netflix docuseries Michael Jackson: The Verdict, dissected the 2005 trial.
*King of Style II: Dressing Michael Jackson is available to pre-order, priced £75, from www.juliensauctions.com
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