Freddie Mercury's 'Who Wants To Live Forever' video-worn dinner suit, 1986

Freddie Mercury's 'Who Wants To Live Forever' video-worn dinner suit, 1986

A bespoke two-piece black wool dinner suit, the single-breasted jacket with pointed lapels of black moiré satin, the single button fastening and cuff buttons similarly covered, lined in black ‘silk’, labelled ‘David Chambers, London’, the corresponding trousers with pleated front, the broad waistband with concealed hook and eye fastening, unlabelled; with turquoise moiré double-breasted waistcoat with pointed lapels, lined in turquoise silk, unlabelled; an ivory cotton self-patterned formal shirt, with pleated front, wing collar and single cuff, labelled ‘JUN Men’ and a white satin self-tied bow tie, unlabelled

(qty 5)   

An identical dinner suit, waistcoat and bow tie were worn for the ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ video, filmed at Tobacco Wharf in London’s East End on 16 September 1986. Directed by David Mallet, the video featured the National Philharmonic Orchestra and forty choirboys against a backdrop of hundreds of candles.

The single, from the album A Kind Of Magic, was used for the soundtrack to the film Highlander, and an alternate version of the video features clips from the Tobacco Wharf footage cut with scenes Freddie and Queen shot with the film’s star, Christopher Lambert. Freddie also wore this ensemble a year later when performing ‘Barcelona’ with Montserrat Caballé at Ku nightclub, Ibiza during the festival held to celebrate Spain holding the 1992 Summer Olympics.

See lot 59, Polaroid no. 160 for Freddie wearing this suit, waistcoat and bow tie at Garden Lodge with Jim Hutton.

LITERATURE

Freddy Mercury, The Great Pretender, A Life In Pictures, Welbeck, 2020, p. 124 (illus.)

Queen, The Complete Illustrated Lyrics, Backbeat Books, 2012, p. 368 (illus.)

The Definitive Biography Of Freddie Mercury – Bohemian Rhapsody, Lesley-Ann Jones, Hodder & Stoughton, Paperback Edition, 2012, illus. between pp. 136 & 137.

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