“Why do you wear those outlandish clothes?” That was the provocative question asked of Bob Dylan during his 1966 Australian tour. “I look very normal where I live,” was his deadpan reply. Even in that era, when fashion was really starting to get wild, there was no place on earth where the musician’s appearance — typically a tapered, striped suit topped with a halo of untamed brown ringlets — would be considered normal.
Whenever we discuss Dylan, we must bear in mind that we’re talking about a dozen or so different characters. The superlative shape shifter has changed his look as often as he has his sound. And each and every one of his personas has had a singular sense of style and projected an image as carefully crafted as any of the icon’s song lyrics.
1963
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Bob Dylan makes a name for himself in the Greenwich Village folk-music scene sporting denim, suede and a trusty black corduroy cap.
1965
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The leather-clad singer ruptures American music at the Newport Folk Festival when he steps onstage and goes electric.
1966
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Thin suits and pointy boots are hallmarks of Dylan’s style right before a motorcycle accident removes him from the public eye.
1969
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When he does reappear, the musician has grown a beard and is all but unrecognizable.
1973
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Dylan dons a cowboy hat and Wild West garb in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, for which he also supplies an atmospheric soundtrack.
1979
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As part of the Rolling Thunder Revue’s traveling caravan of musicians, he channels commedia dell’arte with colorful scarves and zany hats.
1987
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Dylan’s head of curls is on trend in the eighties, when he delves into gospel and tours with the Grateful Dead.
1990
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In true nineties form, he sports an oversize top and statement sneakers as part of super group the Traveling Wilburys.
1997
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The musician has the look and sound of a living legend reinventing himself once again with the release of his album Time Out of Mind.
2005
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Dylan’s constant fashion evolution continues to this day. His music has never stopped changing — and neither has his look.
Read this article as it appears in the magazine.
