Photo by Joseph McNally
 
Negative Year: 1988
Print size: 20.8x29.7cm 
Style: Vintage gelatin silver print
Stamps on the verso
 
The Backstory:
 
The fashion designer Stephen Sprouse designed urban looks influenced by graffiti and punk rock. In 1987, he designed a punk relaunch that included a white blazer with black graffiti that read "God Save NYC."
Cher appeared in the blazer on "Late Show with David Letterman" singing "I Got You Babe" with Sonny Bono, and again in a black and white photo in 1988.
The look remains one of Cher's most fashion-forward looks.
 
But who is behind the fashion icon?
 
Cherilyn Sarkisian was born in California in 1946.
Her parents divorced when she was an infant and her mother went on to marry six more times.
The encounter with Sonny Bono in 1962 changed the 16-year-old's life forever.
They started perfoming as a team, got married and between 1965 and 1972 Sonny & Cher charted a total of six "Top 10" hits.
The couple became icons of the mid-'60s "flower power" scene.
However, they lost their favor with the new 70s generation, and they started their own TV show.
Unfortunately, they divorced in 1976 and Cher had to rely more on her own talents from then on.
She had her first Broadway debut, got nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscar and was honored at the Cannes Film Festival for her moving performance in Mask (1985).
Along with all this newfound Hollywood celebrity came interest in her as a singer again.
 
She is the only artist to date to have a No1 single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2020s.
Last No1 song? – “DJ Play a Christmas Song” (2023).