Tina Turner Maintained Her Showgirl Flair Throughout Her Decades-Spanning Career

Hi, my name is Chioma Nnadi, I m the editor of Vogue.com,

and this is Tina Turner s Life in Looks.

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Ah, there she is.

So this is 1964, and this is Tina Turner after a performance

at the Skyliner Ballroom.

At this time Tina was working with her husband, Ike.

And at that time her husband was very much dressing her.

This is a knee length shift dress,

very reminiscent of her Motown look.

Quite conservative, and not showing her famous legs,

which she obviously later really did,

and was completely liberated,

and you saw her come out of her relationship with Ike

as this very empowered woman who completely was at ease

with showing skin and showing those amazing legs.

So, more to come.

So here she is, it s 1971,

she s singing at the Greek Theater,

She s still part of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue.

You see a hint of where she s going.

She s wearing this wonderful sparkly Azzaro dress.

She was wearing a lot of Loris Azzaro,

and she even wore him on the cover

of Rolling Stone and Ebony.

She s beginning to lean into that short, very sparkly,

very glamorous skin-bearing aesthetic

that we obviously love her for.

And love this detailing along the bust line

and this translucent detail along her abs.

The way that she moved, the way that she lit up the stage

was like very few performers of our time.

There was just something magical about her.

She almost was like, possessed in the best way.

I think she used fashion to amplify that.

Ah, I love this look.

This is 1975, the first time that she appeared with Cher.

And both Cher and her are wearing Bob Mackie.

Bob was really intentional about how he paired them.

He understood that Tina needed to show her legs,

and then you see how he highlighted Cher s abs.

It s just a really complementary pairing.

They look incredible together.

Bob Mackie really understood

how to make women shine on stage.

I think they saw a lot of themselves in each other.

They had similar life experiences.

They both understood and loved fashion,

and there was this real chemistry between them on stage,

that translated into real life.

They were just lifelong friends.

This is the premiere of Tommy.

This was the first movie that she played in.

The movie was actually based on The Who s 1969 album.

Tina played the Acid Queen,

alongside some really star-studded names.

Elton John, Eric Clapton. Jack Nicholson was in it too.

And here she is in Bob Mackie, you know, this full fur.

I love that the dress is undone to kind of reveal skin.

You know, she s glowing.

This was when her relationship with Bob Mackie was starting

and they started working together.

As the story goes, Tina would go out and buy dresses

in Paris, wherever she was touring in Europe,

and Bob would help her cause they would cut them up,

they would refashion them and make them stage ready.

Because she actually at that time didn t have the money

to commission original pieces.

Now here we have her, this is 1977.

This is her famous Disco Inferno look.

And at this point she is divorced from Ike,

so really this is her rising like, you know,

phoenix from the ashes of her marriage

and really coming into her own,

felt like she was about to take flight and soar.

And wasn t she right?

Her legs are showing, her arms are showing,

she has these amazing lame gold wings.

She was always thinking about how these things

were moving on stage, right?

There s this sense of movement,

because can you imagine what this dress looked like moving?

You have the fringe, you have the wings,

you have the sparkle, the shine, you know,

she understood what it meant to make a statement in motion.

Wow. So, 1978, and this is the famous flame dress.

Bob made this dress for her, and it became something

that so many other performers, celebrities wanted to wear.

Cher wore a version of this look. Elton John, Beyonce.

It really was something that hit the zeitgeist.

Having someone like Beyonce wear this dress 27 years later

just shows you like, the cultural resonance of Tina,

and also of, you know, fashion.

I don t know if I have the confidence to wear this dress,

but I definitely think my alter ego

would love to wear this dress at some point.

Wow. So this is Tina s Private Dancer album.

Tina just looks incredible.

She began to wear these wigs that she styled herself.

She would often backcomb them to make them bigger,

and she was so involved with the creative process.

It was to mark a departure from, you know,

the Tina that we knew before,

which had this like, pin straight blow-dried hair

that she had with her husband.

This is Tina on her own. This is Tina solo.

This is like Tina that was like, really in her power.

This album had What s Love Got to Do with It,

and I think it s really insane

to think that that was a cover, you know,

and she made it her most famous song.

She made that song go around the world.

So much about what Tina s wearing here

speaks to kind of what she needed on stage.

She was very intentional.

She wore fishnets because they didn t pull as much.

She s famous for wearing, I mean, all kinds of heels.

She had a fantastic sense for shoes.

She wore Manolo, she wore Louboutins,

but these weren t particularly a name.

She wore them because they were comfortable.

And you ll see in the albums after this

that she solidifies who she is.

There s that same spirit, that same aesthetic,

and she s very much empowered and liberated.

This look is from 1985.

Here she is at the Grammys, looking incredible.

She has her signature hair,

and she s wearing this wonderful chainmail dress.

Red is so good on her, you know,

she used colors sparingly, but when she did,

it was really powerful.

This was the moment when she really got her flowers.

She was nominated for five Grammys, and she won three,

one of which was Record of the Year.

Ah, this is one of my favorites.

This was shot by Peter Lindbergh in 1989.

Here she is with Elia. Iconic designer.

This point they d really cemented their friendship.

I think you have all of the the things that Tina loved,

embellishment, I mean, look at those strands of beads

and this movement.

Tina was also a model for Elia. She walked in his show.

Here Tina is at Wembley Stadium in my hometown in 1996

wearing the most incredible Versace dress.

The most micro-mini of dresses that you can imagine.

Tina worked with Gianni and Donatella on this dress

and they made this crystal encrusted design

especially for her.

When she saw it, she had one piece of feedback,

make it shorter.

It just had to be shorter.

And she danced backstage with Gianni in it,

and it was just, she came alive in that dress.

It was one of the last dresses that Gianni made,

and you can see the signatures,

the Versace logo in the straps, you know,

was always very subtle, but very obviously Versace.

This glam look was done famously by Kevyn Aucoin.

They had this wonderful relationship.

She was in his book Making Faces.

They had a really, really, really special friendship,

and he always considered her as a mother.

What I couldn t believe when I see this picture

is that she s almost 60.

She broke all the rules when it came to age.

She didn t abide by any of that.

This is a really special moment.

2008, the Grammy Awards.

Here she is with maybe her ultimate fan, it s Beyonce.

Beyonce said when she was a child,

she really wanted to be Tina.

I mean, we all wanted to be Tina.

This performance of Proud Mary that she did

at the Grammys with Tina was like,

an absolute career highlight and dream for her.

And you can just tell by the look on her face

that she is beyond excited.

They look sort of super complimentary here.

Tina s out of her signature dress

and into these pedal pushers, still showcasing her legs.

Beyonce is wearing a very, very Tina dress,

like ultra short to showcase her legs,

obviously encrusted with crystals,

and I think it was really moving

that Beyonce paid tribute to Tina on her Renaissance tour,

and she performed River Deep, Mountain High

and it was just a really touching moment.

Beyonce turned to the crowd and said,

If you re a fan of of Beyonce, you re a fan of Tina.

I wouldn t be on this stage if it wasn t for her.

Ah, and here we are, our final look, this is 2019.

This is the opening night of Tina Turner: The Musical.

She said, it was like about turning poison into medicine.

She was 80 here.

This was her like, nearing the end of her life,

but on a really beautiful note,

and being able to close a chapter and celebrate her life

in a way that she was part of the story.

Tina attended the opening night

with her friend Oprah Winfrey on one arm,

and her husband Owen on the other.

She got a standing ovation.

She got up on stage

and I think it was very emotional for her.

I think she understood that this was an opportunity

for her legacy to live on.

I think, you know, Tina,

and going through her life and looks,

it s just a reminder of just like,

how fashion and clothing can spark joy

and how you can shape your own narrative

through your clothes and how it can amplify

the most special times of your life

and moments in your life.

Tina was such a shining example of that.

She understood that the power of fashion,

the power of clothing, the power of clothes

to really sort of magnify what she was feeling on the inside

and project it to the outside.

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