David Bowie’s perpetual stylistic reinvention (don’t call him a chameleon) became a standard many pop stars would come to adopt. To put his visionary genius in perspective, we assembled a reel of ‘70s and ‘80s TV clips, highlighting the ways in which Bowie’s shape-shifting tendencies were marveled at, questioned, and explained by the man himself.

[Edited by Julian Muller with Erika Audie]