David Bowie Paper Dolls Recreate Some of the Style Icon’s Most Famous Looks

Per­form an inter­net search on the phrase “David Bowie Paper Doll” and what do you get? Hint: it’s not a cov­er of the Mills Broth­ers hit. David Bowie paper dolls are pro­lif­er­at­ing in aston­ish­ing num­bers.

Sharp­en your scis­sors and behold!

The most com­pre­hen­sive career rep­re­sen­ta­tion is the Thin White Paper Doll Cutout Heather Col­lett designed for the Cana­di­an Broad­cast­ing Cor­po­ra­tion (above). There’s even a print­er friend­ly ver­sion for those who are seri­ous about play­ing with Aladdin Sane, Zig­gy Star­dust, Labyrinth’s Gob­lin King, and oth­er Bowie alter egos.

But wait! There’s more…

Elu­sive design­er Vod­ka Caramel’s Amaz­ing 70’s Bowie Paper Doll cel­e­brates some of our hero’s most glam­orous looks, but sad­dles him with the crotch of a Ken doll and no few­er than four inter­change­able heads! And we thought the Thin White Paper Doll’s crew socks were an indig­ni­ty.

A Span­ish fan observed Bowie’s 65th birth­day by updat­ing the abbre­vi­at­ed tighty whities of a noto­ri­ous 1973 pho­to shoot to a mod­est pair of stan­dard issue Y‑fronts. Inter­est­ing­ly, this paper dol­l’s sus­pendered Hal­loween Jack suit arrives with bulge intact.

Points to Serge Baeken above for rec­og­niz­ing the paper doll pos­si­bil­i­ties in the Pier­rot cos­tume Bowie sport­ed in the video for 1980’s “Ash­es to Ash­es.” (Fun fact: Bowie made his the­atri­cal debut—and wrote the music for—a bizarre 1968 pan­tomime about Pier­rot.… His char­ac­ter’s name was “Cloud”)

Artist Clau­dia Varo­sio’s entry in the Bowie paper doll stakes could pass as illus­tra­tions for a 1970’s children’s book. Title? Boys Keep Swing­ing, after a cut from Bowie’s 1979 Lodger album. Chaste young girls would love the t‑shirted, non-threat­en­ing Bowie.

The com­par­a­tive­ly con­ser­v­a­tive, full-faced Bowie above comes to us via Swedish fam­i­ly mag­a­zine Året Runt. I may nev­er learn anoth­er word of Swedish, but thanks to David Bowie, I can now say paper doll (klip­p­dock­or). In appre­ci­a­tion, allow me to share anoth­er exam­ple of David Bowie klip­p­dock­or…

If it all starts seem­ing a bit rote, mix things up by hav­ing artist Mel Elliot’s paper doll Bowie swap  duds with fel­low pop star / style icon paper dolls, Bey­once, Deb­bie Har­ry, and Rihan­na.

(image by Elec­tric Sor­bet)

There is only one David Bowie, but there can nev­er be too many David Bowie paper dolls. Make your own today!

Relat­ed Con­tent:

96 Draw­ings of David Bowie by the “World’s Best Com­ic Artists”: Michel Gondry, Kate Beat­on & More

50 Years of Chang­ing David Bowie Hair Styles in One Ani­mat­ed GIF

The Musi­cal Career of David Bowie in One Minute … and One Con­tin­u­ous Take

Ayun Hal­l­i­day is an author, illus­tra­tor, and Chief Pri­ma­tol­o­gist of the East Vil­lage Inky zine. Fol­low her @AyunHalliday