David Bowie: the story of his fashion mugshot

David Bowie always managed to look presentable, even when he showed up at a police station at 4 a.m.

In 1976, David Bowie embarked on his Isolar tour in the persona of Thin White Duke, whom he described as «a very fascist person, pretending to be romantic but lacking in emotion.» Bowie would sometimes invite his friend and collaborator Iggy Pop to travel with him.

In the early hours of March 21, after a concert at the Community War Memorial in Rochester, New York, four inspectors and a police officer searched Bowie’s suite at the American Rochester Hotel. According to the report from the Democrat and Chronicles, according to the local newspaper, police found 182g of marijuana. Bowie and three other people—Iggy Pop, a bodyguard, and a woman from Rochester named Chiwah Soo—are charged with criminal possession of cannabis, a a Class C felony punishable by 15 years in prison.

David Bowie and Iggy Pop were arrested under their real names, David Jones and James Osterberg Jr. The band spent the rest of the night in jail and was released at 7 a.m., after each posted bail of 2000$. He was scheduled to appear in court the next day, but Bowie left town to head to his next concert in Springfield, Massachusetts. His lawyer appeared in court on his behalf to ask for the court’s leniency, explaining the severe penalties he would face if he failed to fulfill his commitment to the concert. He promised the judge that Bowie would appear the next day, March 23.

David Bowie did indeed keep his lawyer's promise and arrived at court in his elegant suit from the Thin White Duke. That's where the mughsot was taken, so we'll never know what Bowie looked like when he was arrested and imprisoned At 3 a.m. Police escorted the rock star through the courthouse hallways, shielding her from the crowd of fans gathered outside the courthouse. Reporter John Stewart described the scene in the next day's issue of the Democrat and Chronicle :

«Bowie and his band ignored the journalists' questions and the fans' shouts, except for one teenager who managed to get an autograph as he was getting off the escalator.".

The loudest welcome came from the shouts of half a dozen alleged prostitutes awaiting trial at the end of the hallway, outside the courtroom.

When City Judge Alphonse Cassetti asked him to explain the charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance, Bowie replied, «Not guilty, Your Honor.» The court used his real name, David Jones.

He stood quietly at the front of his bench next to his lawyers. He was wearing a gray three-piece suit and a pale brown shirt. He had a matching hat. His two companions were brought before justice for the same charge.

The attorney for Bowie and his companions argued that none of his clients had been arrested before. The judge allowed them to remain free on bail pending the grand jury’s decision, scheduled for April 20 (that is, the 4/20, (You couldn't make this up.) Bowie and his entourage continued their tour, and the grand jury decided not to indict anyone. The incident was largely forgotten until an auction house employee, Gary Hess, stumbled upon Bowie’s mugshot among the belongings of a retired Rochester police officer. Gary saved the photo from the trash, and his brother sold it on eBay in 2007.

Below is a video of Bowie in court after his arrest for cannabis possession in 1976.