Dennis Rodman was way before his time

Dennis Rodman, NBA basketball player, stroke actor was slandered for his daring fashion choices in the 90's, but now is being appraised and seen as a fashion icon 20 odd years later. I'd heard of Rodman from a few rap songs, but then he started popping up on a few accounts I follow on Instagram that post good cultural references for fashion, art and movies and Dazed had done a post on him. I noticed how much he stood out, especially in a time and career that wanted men to be macho and tough. Rodman deterred away from this.

Something that is important as well, is that as well as being very influential through fashion, to me, he comes across as a queer icon. He is expressive, doesn't define his sexuality and he does what he wants to do. Queer is an umbrella term for anyone that doesn't define themselves as cisgender or heterosexual. Originally meaning 'odd'! Which some people would definitely use to describe Dennis Rodman.

I decided to create some imagery to show some of my favourite looks from Rodman and to show just how unique he really was for that time. Many headlines have had his name in them over the years; from marrying himself, to being best pallys with Kim- Jong Un, to dating Madonna. Avery eccentric man with so much lime-light on him.

When creating this image I let myself be free and just go for it and see where the design took me. I didn't want to spend hours on it and and didn't have any certain visual codes that I had to follow. Channeling how Rodman carried out his style, not having any restraints and just going for it!

You can see some influences from some of his looks that are making their way back into the styles we see today, a classic leopard print which never goes out of style, the sporty sunglasses which Prada have now started to bank in on, the sparkly tops which I presume were women's which are very Y2K-esque.

Rodman was way before his time and it's sad that only now he is getting the recognition for his daring fashion choices.