Happy birthday David Bowie! Today marks 67 years since the singer fell to earth and brought with him a sense of style that's as continually eclectic and game-changing as his music. In fact, we'd go so far as to say that he invented pretty much every trend we can think of. Before anyone else thought of it either.

Where would glam-rock be without Bowie's androgynous disco style, and would the suit be suitable stagewear for anyone other than a crooner if he hadn't worn so many Zoots? Answer: of course not. He's still strong going today too, as the star of Louis Vuitton's recent Christmas campaign and dancing alongside Lady Dior Marion Cotillard in his video for The Next Day. Plus, would Beyoncé have thought about sneaking her new album onto the internet if Dave hadn't pulled the same trick with is latest record earlier the same year? Doubt it.

Here's how he's been ahead of the fashion game since he first burst onto the scene. 

 

60s: You might more commonly associate the Mod look with the likes of Mick Jagger, but Bowie was owning it first, in skinny trousers and Chelsea boots that men are still wearing now. 

70s: Can you imagine being convinced about the jumpsuit before Bowie's Ziggy Stardust days? Before then, they were for dancing professionals and aerobics instructors only. But après Bowie, le déluge...

70s: He was the king of the jumpsuit in the first half of the 70s making it one of his most iconic looks. Indeed, his many all-in-ones were a prime attraction at the V&A's recent retrospective of the singer.

70s: He wore legless ones on stage too. So it wasn't Lady Gaga who started the trouserless trend after all. Could this be the first instance of a grown-up wearing a playsuit?

70s: big dogs didn't start with Beethoven, you know, nor with that statement dogs phase in the early 00s: Bowie's parading of this Chihuahua-destroying beast in a publicity shot for his 1974 album Diamond Dogs proves otherwise. It also proves that dogs existed before the internet amde them ubiquitous.

70s: his style influence even had the power to make the mullet cool, before it became the uncoolest haircut, and subsequently the coolest again. He clearly had a profound effect on the not-blonde-lady from Abba.

70s: Yves Saint Laurent's le smoking debuted in 1966 and caused scandal in the upper echelons of Parisian society. Ever the style chameleon, Dave adopted the style and smartened up for his 1976 film, The Man Who Fell To Earth, championing it both on and off screen, and inspiring men (and women) the world over to embrace the look themselves.

70s: during that time he even made lounge suits seem rock and roll on stage too, eons ahead of the rehabilitation of smooth yacht rock by self-conscious hipsters. Robbie Williams in his deplorable swing phase and even Justin Timberlake in his present-day tuxedoed guise have plenty to thank David Bowie for. 

80s: you have to wonder if all the spandex David Bowie wore in Labyrinth planted the seed for American Apparel's Disco Pants that would go global decades later, despite the high-waist and camel-toe potential,  

90s: Céline's printed suits and Jw Anderson's matchy-matchy paisleys have caused a stir all the way from fashion circles to the high street in recent seasons, but David was on it almost twenty years earlier. 

90s: even the bomber jacket, the statement fashion garment of now and a staple currently on both men's and women's fashion scenes – was backed by Bowie the first time around.

00s: Bowie closed his comeback year with a starring role in a Louis Vuitton campaign in 2013, cementing his place as the reigning king of cool in the year that this house switched designers from Marc Jacobs to Nicolas Ghesquiere. So you see, David Bowie is always one step ahead of everyone else. He's more fashion than fashion itself.