I found this on Wikipedia:
Diamond is known for wearing colorful beaded shirts in concert. Diamond has said that this was originally done out of necessity, so everyone in the audience could see him without the aid of binoculars. The Bill Whitten–designed and made shirts cost approximately US$5,000 each. Whitten designed and made the shirts for Diamond from the 1970s until 2007.
Which then got me looking into Bill Whitten, who has also done costumes for Lionel Ritchie, Elton John, The Jackson Five and New Kids On The Block. Apparently he has a store on Melrose in Los Angeles. The address is 8026 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, United States but from what I could see on the Street View of Google Maps, it ain't there. Still, I think this is worth investigating. If you know anything about Bill Whitten or his work, please feel free to leave a comment below. I just love the internet and how a small little footnote can lead you onto a googling Odyssey which may in the end just wind up leading you into investigating a company in Germany that makes the beads for the shirts.... You just don't know where each search will take you.
Hi! My father and uncle, Koko and Jack Berberian, worked for Bill Whitten throughout the 80s and they were the ones that brought Bill Whitten's designs to life for Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, Tom Jones, Kenny Rodgers, Siegfried and Roy, etc. In the 90s, the 8026 Melrose location belonged to my parents and my uncle. Throughout the 90s that location was a high-end menswear boutique where everything was designed and manufactured in-house. My parents are still in the fashion industry, specifically in costume construction. I was born and raised into the fashion industry and eventually created my own high-end women's contemporary line called Sarine Marie.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any questions or comments, you can reach me at info@SarineMarie.com!