The special cover, which is on sale at the V&A only, depicts a neon heart with the words “You Loved me Like a Distant Star” and a signed message from Tracey to Bowie which says “Thank you Mr Bowie, Tracey Emin 2013”. The cover mark’s David Bowie’s first album release for a decade and the ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibition at the V&A, which opens 23 March.
The limited-edition Tracey Emin design is one of three covers created for the Harper’s Bazaar April issue this month. The other two are dramatic black and white images of coverstar, Kate Winslet, dressed in Louis Vuitton. The Kate Winslet covers, photographed by Alexi Lubomirksi, are available now to subscribers and on the newsstand from March 5.
Tracey Emin, who was appointed a CBE in this year’s honours list for the services to the arts, also writes about her longstanding friendship with Bowie in the April issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
In the two page article, Tracey recalls first meeting Bowie, at the age of 32, at a restaurant where he approached her and a group of friends and said “Hello, my name’s David Bowie, sorry to interrupt. But Tracey, I’d just like to say I really appreciate your work.”
Writes Tracey: “We fast became friends. He always seemed to have a knack for knowing things about me that no one should know – incredibly caring and intuitive. Whenever I spent time with him, I couldn’t help but think of The Man Who Fell To Earth.”
Tracey also writes about the impacts of Bowie’s lyrics on her life, nearly being crushed by fans backstage after one of his concerts and the day Bowie stunned Tracey by saying he had travelled by tube to visit her house in Spitalfields. Writes Tracey: “He said, ‘Yes I often travel by Tube. I wear a baseball cap and read a Greek newspaper. The most hassle I ever had was some guy saying ‘Oi mate, has anyone ever told you you’re a dead ringer for David Bowie?”
