Back in July 1997, Goldie was on the cover of i-D. We hailed him “jungle’s first fully-fledged celebrity” because, well, he really was. “He dates Björk. His debut album has sold a quarter of a million copies. If his life before was intense, it was nothing like the last eighteen months. Now there’s a new TV series, a film and another record.” He was on fire. The Walsall kid had gone from graffiti artist to major label-signed record producer, artist, DJ and movie star.
All gold teeth, muscles and contagious energy, Goldie was a true originator of streetwear. He believed in doing one thing and doing it well: baseball caps, trainers, gold chains and plenty of Stüssy. Given his face is plastered across one of the T-shirts in i-D’s new DSM capsule collection, we thought it was the ideal time to look back at his style through some of Goldie’s most iconic looks.
In front of one of his graffiti murals, 1988
Before he was involved in music, Goldie was a successful graffiti artist. Here he’s pictured with his friend and protégée Dez, who he collaborated with on launching the first legal street art gallery in the UK. Check out the black leather beret and faded black leather jacket combo. See how he paired it with a baby blue roll neck sweatshirt, indigo blue jeans and converse. The 80s were wild.
In i-D, 1994
Wolfgang Tillmans shot Goldie for The Drugs Issue of i-D back in May 1994. Kicking back on a sofa, he gazes down the lens in a classic hoodie and jeans combo. It’s Goldie’s hair, here, that elevates the simple look to another level. The bleached blonde. The stacked diamond pinky rings. The Stüssy…
In i-D again four months later, 1994
You know what, we might just set this as our phone background because we’re seriously lacking vitamin D right now and well, this photo is radiating it. Shot by Stefan Ruiz for The Underground Issue in November, this time Goldie’s wearing a Stüssy cap and those 90s Oakley glasses that anybody who had ever set foot in a rave was legally required to own. For more Oakleys action, here he is in a 1995 Channel 4 doc talking about the rise of jungle with a white pair sat atop his head.
At a movie premiere in London with Björk, 1996
Apparently big fans of high-action spy films, Goldie and then rumoured fiancé Björk attended the London premiere of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible. Meeting her wavy tennis dress with a seriously wavy fit, Goldie combined a high-vis yellow fireman-type jacket, slacks and bright white Nikes, with a baseball cap and burnt orange tee courtesy of Stüssy. This would go down just as well in 2020.
Filming Everybody Loves Sunshine, 1998
You were probably aware of David Bowie‘s role in Labrynth, The Man Who Fell To Earth, and his Twin Peaks cameo. But I bet you didn’t know he was in a long-forgotten indie film about Manchester gangsters alongside Goldie? It happened! The collaborators — “Truth” came out the same year — and friends played gang leader Terry (Goldie) and old school gangster Bernie (Bowie) in Everybody Loves Sunshine, a movie about loyalty set to a jungle soundtrack. According to Goldie’s biography, halfway through filming (on the Isle of Man of all places) the production ran out of money and Bowie funded the remainder of it. Check out that suit and long leather coat combo. See the dynamic duo in action here.
At a movie premiere in Manchester, 1998
Another day, another movie premiere. This time Goldie was up in Manchester watching Still Crazy, a British comedy about a fictional 70s rock band starring Bill Nighy. We’re not 100% sure whether this break from Goldie’s fashion norm to embrace a statement tweed suit was in honour of a themed dress code or whether he just fancied dressing up that night. Judging by the strapless, flared lurex bodysuit his friend Meg Matthews (Noel Gallagher’s then-wife) was wearing, we’re guessing the former. But this was the 90s so who can really be sure!
Goldie as Bullion in James Bond: The World Is Not Enough, 1999
Come on, how many of you knew that Goldie was in a James Bond film? Playing a gold-toothed bodyguard, naturally (casting on point!), his costume as Bullion could easily have come from his own wardrobe: a jacket, T-shirt and thick gold chain. “I see you’ve put your money where your mouth is,” Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond remarked when Goldie, as Bullion, flashed a smile. Where his neck is too, by the looks of things.