MIKA GIGS

Styles and looks

I love seeing beautiful scenes on stage and the outfit is always a big part of it whether it's just simple pants without any shirt or a costume that works also as a show element. Everything happening on stage is an endless source of inspiration and I enjoy giving the outfits a lot of thought both during the shows and afterwards when going through my gig photos. Mika's sense of style is a part of his family heritage and we have seen gorgeous, stylish outfits since the beginning of his career starting with his mother styling and designing the clothes leading to his own atelier making tour outfits in Puglia, Italy.

When I look at different stage outfits I often think of a few main elements. There's elegance meaning visual beauty often connected to sophisticated cuts and colours as well as simplicity. There's comfort which may sound odd but is an important factor and refers to outfits that are correct size and allow Mika to breathe and move freely and also materials that look soft or at least somehow comfortable to wear. There's the wow element which means either beautiful details or a bigger surprise element and there are possible stories or messages to tell or express. Every outfit doesn't need to offer a wow effect or tell any story, those can be in the song, performing or show elements. However, we have seen outfits that express a clear, even literal message and there definitely needs to be wow moments in every show and those can happen using outfits as well. Lastly, there's something I call the signature element which simply means that the outfit says "Mika" and refers to something he's known for whether it's a flattering cut, a familiar theme or a particular, repeating detail. 

Royal style outfits are some of my very favourites of Mika's stage outfits and "royal" has during years become one of his signature styles. During 2011 festival tour Mika used a stage setting that referred to Marie Antoinette and in addition to paintings and chandeliers on the background everyone on stage was wearing 18th century style decorative outfits. Ida was one of the backing singers on stage that time and when I later saw her with Mika at the Versailles Royal Opera I immediately thought of that moment. At Versailles in 2020 Mika was wearing a simple royal style outfit with a gorgeous dark green jacket and a cream coloured ruffle shirt and everything was stunning: the venue, the performance and the outfit.

Stage outfits need to fill several requirements that the audience doesn't necessarily even think of simply because we are happy with the final result. The outfits need to look good combined with the stage setting and the background colours. They need to look good and make the artist stand out both from close distance and from far away. If the artist goes in the middle of the crowd the lights need to be able to pick the colour and make it visible so the rest of the people who are not close enough can still follow. The outfits need to be durable and take not only dancing or occasional jumping but also running, crawling, even rolling. They need to handle insane amounts of sweat and be somehow cleanable even though sometimes the clothes are simply sprayed with alcohol after shows to keep them hygienic. It's usual for artists to do collaborations with designers or fashion houses and occasionally wearing certain outfits on stage can even be written in agreements. During tours the outfits are sometimes planned long in advance because of possible television recordings or photo shootings. Shortly put, there can be things happening behind scenes that we don't know that can have an impact on why certain outfits are used on stage. 

My favourite outfits are simple and fitting. Regular people often consider what to hide or how to fix their body proportions with clothes. For Mika there's nothing to hide and nothing to fix. He is beautifully tall and has an amazing figure and an amazing posture. Well-fitting suits, simple pants with pretty shirts or just simple pants without any shirt look all amazing and super elegant. I love feminine cuts or details in shirts because I generally love mixing elements like that and because I think that can add a tiny bit royal vibe to any outfit. I love seeing materials that are soft or even flexible because that automatically adds the comfort factor. I generally love dots and the dotted shirts from the Revelation tour 2019-2020 are obviously among my very favourites. After being the main element during the 2012 Polkadot tour dots can also be called a signature style for a good reason. The dotted ruffle shirts were wow details in each outfit but the big wow element of the Revelation tour was the huge Stay High heart in the end of the show and I loved this outfit even without dots. The simple light blue suit was elegant and pretty, looked comfortable and was perfect with the heart coming out from the piano.

My personal favourite colours are light and dark blues, petrol, different forestry greens and cream and champagne tones over bright basic colours in big surfaces but of course I do understand why bright basic colours are used and love seeing fresh colour combinations and for example red and white in dots or pink pants with pretty white shirt or even mixing pink and a little bit bright red like we have seen several times. I adored the Red Bird (red suit, red shirt, red wings) in the beginning of the Apocalypse Calypso show because the wow effect was huge. However, in Brighton the red suit looked even better without a shirt and the red wings used only with pants and no shirt or jacket at all made the wow effect not only huge but iconic. The Mika universe is colourful and white outfits combined with multicolour elements like a fully white suit in the confetti rain or in the middle of colourful flowers or a white outfit decorated with crocheted flowers or embroideries in different colours look all amazing.

My favourite story telling moment is from 2022 North America spring tour where Mika introduced his collaboration with designer Mira Mikati and the outfits told a part of the story each. The black anatomy suit revealed the inside of the human body giving a thought of vulnerability, a fixed red heart referred to healing and in the end of the show the flowery suit and flower cape told about blooming. Revealing the human anatomy doesn't sound stylish but was in reality an extremely elegant moment especially with beautiful lights. 

Year 2022 brought us more details with royal style and I absolutely loved the combination of the light blue trousers and the crown and the cape that were used together at Coachella 2022 and later at different European festivals. The beautiful performance, the elegant colours and the cape going round and round created a major wow moment. If anything could possibly top the 2022 royal outfit it was the upgraded royal outfit from the 2023 tour where the crown was replaced by the massive tiger head and the light blue flower cape with the gorgeous green cape. Tiger is an important royal animal and the outfit felt both royal and symbolic. These two outfits from 2022 and 2023 have been my huge favourites, photos below. 

Year 2023 can't be mentioned without mentioning the flower themed outfits. We saw amazing elegance. Many of the outfits had beautiful cuts and colours and extra wow details in stunning, beautiful flowers. We saw also big flowers that were planned to be show elements but could almost be categorised as accessories and that gave poetic vibes. The beautiful pale, powdery pink outfit with the peony style big flower was gorgeous. The colour was not really pink but something between light pink and champagne and the shape of the flower reminded a real peony. The striped light blue and white outfit from Tarvisio was lovely and stylish and I particularly liked seeing the suit without any shirt or even necklace which gave the look beautiful simplicity.

This year the most impressive Apocalypse Calypso outfit was definitely the Blue Bird which was the most beautiful outfit ever seen. The blue and green shades were rich and looked more royal than any particular royal elements. My first thought was that the symbolic story was distinct - the firebird being released from its cage in the beginning and the transformation to the bluebird happening in the end of the show - but later I understood that might have been just my interpretation because the blue bird outfit wasn't used regularly. It might be meant just as a show element. Whatever the case, the Blue Bird was breathtakingly stunning. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous outfit with enormous wow effect. I generally loved seeing rich colours during the arena tour and the strong yellow and violet suits were my favourites after the bird suits. 

After the theatrical arena tour the Apocalypse Summer Nights brought us the full elegance. One of my favourite moments of summer was the important performance at Paris Solidays where the whole cavalcade of elegant suits were introduced one by one the band and the choir being equally elegant on the background at the same time. We saw the white embroidered outfit used with the prettiest, a little bit feminine top underneath, we saw the elegant, shiny pink rainbow outfit for the first time. The pink rainbow suit had a very elegant shape and material and afterwards I have enjoyed looking at the Life In Cartoon Motion album cover and comparing the colours and the shapes in the pink suit to illustrations in that. The carefully considered elegance together with the giant red heart and intense energy made the performance at Solidays one of my favourite ever big festival performances. 

The white embroidered suit became one of my favourite "message" outfits. With the message I don't refer words written on the flowers but the fact that the suit could be customised for different moments. At the important Paleo Festival the suit had "Paleo" written on the back and at the Brighton Pride it had "Brighton" instead and it was a lovely message to tell: "This event is so important that my outfit was customised for it". The light blue flowery suit was one of my favourite ever stage suits. The cut, the colour and the slightly shiny material together created a special wow moment and as a beautiful extra touch the suit was used with pretty, blue necklaces. The combination of the elegance and the prettiness made my day every single time and what I loved most was seeing the suit even at smallish local events. Those events became my favourite summer moments because of the atmosphere and because the crowds were warm and loving. The audiences deserved to see Mika in his pretty, light blue suit. The outfit choice can be a message itself. Having a possibility to see the artist in a particularly beautiful outfit makes the audience feel important and the moment special. 

The white suit with the face theme is basic style and the material is sturdy. What I love in it is the idea. Using the face suit with the signature pianos created clear signature moments that are essential for the show structure. Sometimes the context is meaningful. Sailor boy outfits are not my biggest favourites in general but I absolutely loved seeing the white sailor boy outfit at the small and charming seaside gig in France. The moment was perfect for it. The outfit looked simple and fresh, it had signature dots in the collar and the pants had a classy, elegant shape.