” The men behind the Man in the Mirror were L.A.-based costume designers Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins. They quietly designed most of Jackson’s personal and concert tour wardrobes — tens of thousands of pieces, many with military details — working from a Michael mannequin in their studio that was built to the singer’s exact measurements. The pop star’s directive was always, “This is what the world’s wearing — top it,” the designers said in 2005. And they tried. One jacket — worn in a 1990 L.A. Gear ad campaign — was black suede and covered in miniature gold license plates.”

Costume designer Deborah Landis designed the iconic leather “Thriller” jacket, settling on the color after learning that “there would be a huge dance with ghouls, and the ghouls would be very ragged and coming from dust,” she said recently. “So I thought, what would make Michael pop? I went through the palette and came up with red.”

Images via LaTimes