Freddie Mercury's vintage jacket, worn regularly in the mid-1970s

Freddie Mercury’s vintage jacket

worn regularly in the mid-1970s, including for Top Of The Pops rehearsal and in numerous promotional photographs

Vintage Renaissance-style short jacket in rich burgundy silk velvet, stitched overall with fine gold-coloured thread in a honeycomb pattern, open fronted with tie fastenings at the waist, quilted shoulders heavily pleated at the top, the pleats graduating in size to the hem, full balloon sleeves with covered drawstring at the cuffs, lined in deep red ‘silk’, unlabelled 

This cherished burgundy velvet jacket, acknowledged by Freddie as a favourite, was regularly worn by him between 1974 and 1976 for both individual and group photo shoots. One of its earliest appearances is in a publicity photograph of October 1974, in which Freddie appears with his band members at a party at EMI to celebrate the success of the single Killer Queen. The jacket's next photographic appearance dates from a solo Mick Rock shoot in which Freddie poses in his Holland Road flat in December 1974 (see lot 159). Mick Rock describes this garment as Freddie’s “favourite jacket of the time […] He wore it all the time until he started to make some money and found Zandra Rhodes”.

In 1975 Freddie is photographed wearing this jacket on his first trip to Japan at a gold disc presentation event on 18 April 1975 – the day before the opening night of Queen’s Japanese Tour in Tokyo. He can also be seen in this jacket at the presentation of an award from ‘Music Life’ magazine for Best Album of the Year; on stage for a rehearsal for BBC’s Top Of The Pops show in November 1974; and at Queen’s party celebrating the release of A Day At The Races, at Kempton Park, October 1976.

In addition, lot 8 includes (no.78) a black and white image of Freddie wearing this jacket whilst walking in a city street with his bandmates.

LITERATURE

Freddie Mercury The Great Pretender, A Life In Pictures, 2012, illus. pp.51-53, 58-59.

Phil Sutcliffe with Peter Hince, Mick Rock, Reinhold Mack and Billy Squier, Queen The Ultimate Illustrated History of The Crown Kings of Rock, Voyageur Press, 2009, illus.pp.89-90.

Queen The Complete Illustrated Lyrics, Backbeat Books, 2012, illus. p.237.

SPECIAL NOTICE

This lot is being sold for private use only. No right to reproduce or otherwise commercially exploit the copyright or other intellectual property in the lots is included with the sale of lot. Queen Productions Limited and Queen Music Limited and other rights holders reserve all their rights.