The Most Iconic Michael Jackson Style Moments In Honor of Thriller 40

Fun Fact: The White Suit that Michael sported on the cover of the Thriller album, was designed by Hugo Boss. That’s right, Hugo Boss created the iconic suit back in 1982 for the album’s photoshoot, and they recently brought it back in 2018 to celebrate what would have been Michael’s 60th birthday with a limited-edition release that consisted of 100 individually numbered suits. With Michael’s 65th birthday being next year, it will be interesting to see what other things are done from a fashion standpoint to celebrate the occasion.

Do us a favor, take a close look at the kid in this commercial and see if you recognize him. Look familiar? That, ladies and gentlemen, is indeed Alfonso Ribeiro aka Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in that commercial with The Jacksons. That’s just one of many memorable things about this spot that was used to accompany the brother’s upcoming Victory Tour that year, and that black and white leather motorcycle jacket Michael wore was a killer as always.

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the glitter suit that Michael wore to celebrate his mother back in 1984. The gold glitter blazer was accompanied by a red glitter tie, and Michael’s signature white bedazzled glove which had been introduced the previous year at his iconic performance at Motown 25 (which we will get into a little later). Aviator glasses had also become a signature staple of Michael’s outfits by this time, which we would continue to see through the following eras. 

The first of many entries for Michael in the Guinness Book of World Records would come at the beginning of 1984 at the New York Metropolitan of Natural History presented by CBS to celebrate his certifications for the album. Approximately 1500 guests were present to party along with Michael, who was accompanied by Brooke Shields, and wore a navy blue button-down military style jacket, matching pants, and of course, the bedazzled glove.

While not officially a part of the Thriller album, the release of Paul McCartney’s single Say Say Say, which featured Michael, from his 1983 album Pipes of Peace was yet another memorable fashion moment. The music video (which was filmed in October of that year), featured some pretty cool looks from the duo, all of which were custom designed by Versace.  

Michael received his official star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 20th, 1984, and as you can see, he was stylishly decked out for the occasion with a slightly similar version of the glitter military jacket that he wore to the 1984 Grammy ceremony. It’s definitely on our bucket list to visit Michael’s star one day.

Michael was photographed in 1983 by Todd Gray, who produced this photo of Mike in his private home theater. The backstory (which was documented in his 2009 book Related: I’m With Michael) behind this picture was quite funny as the photographer was unsuccessfully trying to get a picture of Michael laughing. Gray had to eventually end up making a funny clown face, the result of which made Michael laugh. The turquoise cashmere sweater and jeans was a simple look, but still very much a standout.

Here. We. Go. Since the celebration of Thriller 40 is going to span the entire year, we are going to save the in-depth style breakdowns of Michael’s short films from the album for our Fashion on Film series, but we’ll leave you with a slight preview of what we’re going to talk about for each video. As we mentioned earlier, MTV had previously declined to air the video for not being “rock enough.” Long story short, CBS essentially had to threaten to pull all of their artists from MTV in order to get the video played, to which MTV finally relented.

The 1984 American Music Awards ceremony was a monumental night for Michael, taking home eight awards which included the American Music Awards Merit Honor. To put it in perspective, Michael basically received a lifetime achievement award presented to him by legends decades older than him at the ripe old age of 25-years-old. He also donned one of his most recognizable outfits to date at that award show, wearing a red sequin military jacket never before seen, and never seen since. 

Folks, we present to you the music video style for “Beat It.” Again we’re going to do a deeper dive into this later, but there were two main components style wise of the “Beat It” vid: the keyboard design t-shirt that we see Michael wearing at the beginning, and the red leather jacket with gold embellishments that he paired over top a colorful tee. Black pants and loafers with white socks completed the outfit, making it one of Mike’s most recreated to date.

Another one of Michael’s most recreated outfits, the 1984 Grammys were yet again special night for Michael because to put it succinctly, he cleaned up. Like…cleaned up. Eight Grammys, and...this blue and gold sequined military jacket. This outfit still hasn’t been topped to this day, and it has been heavily referenced, with one young lady designing a prom dress modeled after the outfit. Even Offset recently pulled up to an event paying tribute to this 84’ Grammys fit. A jacket that has truly withstood the test of time.

Oh boy. Listen, we are going to have a time when we do our fashion deep dive into Thriller, for now though, enjoy the jacket so legendary that it has its own security. Seriously (the jacket was escorted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland not too long ago with a ton of security).Oh, and let’s not forget the Varsity Jacket as well. 

Another Fun Fact: The Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas has a Michael Jackson store right next to the auditorium where the Michael Jackson One show takes place, and it has recreations of a lot of Michael’s jackets, including the Varsity one.

The first ever performance of “Billie Jean” in front of a live national television audience. The first time Michael ever did the moonwalk in front of a live national television audience. All done in a black sequined jacket, a glittery undershirt, a white sequined glove, black pants, penny loafers, and of course, the socks. Many believe Motown 25 to be the beginning of Michael wearing the singular white glove, but he actually started wearing the glove during The Jacksons 1981 Triumph Tour because he thought “one glove looked cooler than two.”