Part of one of Michael Jackson’s most iconic costumes will be sold later this month when his Smooth Criminal white fedora is expected to make as much as £80,000.
Jackson wore the hat in the music video – atop a splendid 1930s-style white suit – for Smooth Criminal, the 7th single from his 1987 Bad album.
The hat is listed in PropStore Auction’s Music Memorabilia Live sale on October 23. You’ll need to meet an opening bid of £20,000 to compete for the item, which carries a £40,000 to £80,000 estimate.
Jackson, known as the King of Pop, pioneered long-form music videos that were more like short films. The clip for Smooth Criminal runs for around 9 minutes and 30 seconds, and formed the centrepiece of the 1988 movie Moonwalking.
Inspired by big Hollywood musicals and the 1930s gangster movie, the routine tipped a hat, literally, to Fred Astaire’s biggest scene in 1953’s Band Wagon.
The Smooth Criminal video paid homage to Golden Age Hollywood, and Jackson was dressed as a 1930s gangster in this sleek hat. Image courtesy of PropStore Auction.
After the last clapperboard clapped, Jackson gave the hat to costumier Phillip Dennis.
The hat is wool, numbered 1 and with Michael Jackon’s name printed on an internal sweatband. It was made especially for Jackson by the Golden Gate Hat Company, whose brand is also printed inside the hat. It has now been reunited with a feather that Jackson kept after the shoot as a personal keepsake.
In 2011, the red leather jacket Jackson wore in the video for Thriller (1983) was auctioned for $1.8 million. Two years earlier, the rhinestone glove Michael Jackson wore in a 1983 Motown 25 anniversary show where he first performed the moonwalk sold for $350,000 (rising to $420,000 with fees).
In this sale, buyers can buy two other Jackson fedoras, both stage worn, but considerably cheaper without the on-screen link. A black example carries a top estimate of £16,000; a white one could make £12,000.
