Hussar Jacket Project - The Original Garment

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Photo of Adam on stage in Hussar's jacket 1

I've been toying with this project for years, but never thought I had the talent to even try: stage costume/historic variation hussar's jacket (as modeled by '80's pop star Adam Ant, always a snappy dresser). I was an Ants fan like crazy as a teenager, and have lusted after the wardrobe just as long. Now that "Pirates of the Caribbean" has made the eclectically sashed, heavily eyelinered look trendy again I figure, now or never!

There are many pictures available of Adam on the web; in particular Adam-ant.net has a large collection. These two are taken from my own book collection; please see the Bibliography for full details.

This jacket was one of Adam's most popular stage costumes during the early 1980's. It appears on the cover of the "Kings of the Wild Frontier" album, and also in the videos for "Dog Eat Dog" and "Antmusic" from the same. Still of Adam in Hussar's jacket, showing more detail 2
David Hemmings wearing the jacket in a still from Charge of the Light Brigade 3 Given Adam Ant's collaborations with designer Vivienne Westwood, my first assumption was that this was another of her flamboyant "New Romantic" creations. This turned out not to be the case - the jacket was originally a costume worn by David Hemmings in the 1968 movie "The Charge of the Light Brigade". 4 I still haven't discoved how Adam Ant acquired the jacket, but evidently it's origin was well known and discussed by "Ant Fans" in the early 1980s. 5

I don't know the current whereabouts of the jacket, but given the following news articles I suspect it's either in the Victoria and Albert Museum costume collections or the property of Adam's daughter and ex-wife (scroll down to "Lorraine Goddard").

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