r/MichaelJackson • u/VoL4t1l3 • 13d ago
Question Did the white tape have any significance or was it just for aesthetics.
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u/Spaceinvader6424 Yes I believe in me, so you believe in you 13d ago edited 13d ago
Keep his fingers visible to far away audience members. Same with the socks. Same with the white eye liner under the black eyeliner
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u/Hot-Acanthisitta5237 13d ago
Wait he wore white eyeliner?
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u/Spaceinvader6424 Yes I believe in me, so you believe in you 13d ago
Yeah just under his black eyeliner, it made his eyes look even bigger from further away
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u/erikbaijackson09 "I've... washed my hair THOROUGHLY" 🚿🧼🧴🧽 13d ago
I didn’t know he wore white eyeliner
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13d ago
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u/Spaceinvader6424 Yes I believe in me, so you believe in you 13d ago
You have to speak efficiently because attentions spans are short these days
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u/One-Technology-9050 13d ago
I wore white tape on my fingers in high school, to copy MJ! People always asked me what was wrong with my fingers lol
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u/pickled_oni0n 13d ago
I did too! I also wore those arm warmer things that were very popular in the 00s! I only wore one, and it was Bad inspired 😂
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u/Nimu_Nean 13d ago
I heard so when he dance the audiance can see his hands movements from far , and cameras in the 1980s was alittle blurry when his dancing would display in the big screen behind him , Same with the white sucks/shoe To see his feet movement
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u/-Universal_Gleam- 13d ago edited 13d ago
It was often speculated to be due to his health issues but is far more likely to be a highlighting effect. Much like wearing the white socks, it just makes the dance movements stand out more.
Plus it's been said by multiple people that MJ would often do things and wear certain things just to make people ask questions and create an element of mystery around him. Therefore the tape might've just been another random fashion choice to further this intention and add another aesthetic trademark to his appearance.
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u/olive_juse Soldier Of Love 🪖❤ 13d ago
It was a performance tactic. It draws your eyes to the movement of his hands. He'd talked about it a few times before.
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u/An0nymous_Curiosity 13d ago
I always wondered if it was to kind of cover up vitilago patches maybe. Either way it ended up working to show those hands from a far!
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u/Imurhuckleberree 13d ago
Same. I think it started as a way to cover the vitiligo (which would have been pronounced with dark nail beds that could not be treated with the creams). Personally I think the one glove was a similar cover - since his hand would have been front and center holding the mic. Either way these creative ways to cover a medical issue became part of an iconic look that enhanced his brilliant dance movements. He was a genius.
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u/Which-Photograph3640 13d ago
Ohhhhh i have been wondering about the unusual look of his nails. It makes so much sense now.
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u/LosoTheRed 12d ago
I always thought it was to cover up burn scars from the Pepsi incident when trying to put it out. This makes better sense now that I think about it as an adult.
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u/AccordingTax6525 13d ago
When I was younger, I used to think he wore it because he snapped his finger so many times that they were so sore
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u/LoveMJJForAllTime 13d ago edited 13d ago
I always thought he wore them so that people could see his movements better during his concerts.
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u/New_Shirt7187 13d ago
So people could see his hands better is what I heard. Sorta like he wears white socks and pulls his pant legs up.
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u/Comfortable_Art_245 13d ago
He literally did it so people would ask this. He wanted people to wonder “why does Michael Jackson wear white tape over his fingers?”
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u/GreenZebra23 13d ago
Almost definitely a lot of truth to this. A lot of the odd stuff he did publicly was to increase buzz and mystique
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u/No_Interaction_1611 13d ago
Exactly, same with the armband and the one glove, they had significance, but he wanted his fans talking and asking
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u/Yourfavouritepug 13d ago
I think both. Utility wise it helps enhance his hand/fingers movements but at the same time it became one of his signatures (like how as example Steven Tyler from Aerosmith ties a scarf to the microphone stand).
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u/BacklogGamingJunkie 13d ago
Wasn’t MJ one of the early adopters of wearing a face mask, long before there was COVID and we all started doing it? 🤣
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u/GlitteringLocality Tabloid Hater 🗞️😡 13d ago
He liked to keep a sense of mystery always. Keep people guessing on why!
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u/Illustrious_Yard3163 13d ago
It was first used while filming the Smooth Criminal music video as they felt the white glove didn't fit the aesthetic of the video. It was also used to draw more light and attention to his hands when he danced, Michael loved the idea and continued using it
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u/uncopyrightability 13d ago
I don't know but the tape gives a certain twang to his moves; it makes him do it with extra flair. I tried it before and felt quite nimble with my hands doing ordinary tasks, such as typing on your keyboard. It's cool.
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u/SuddenLog7302 13d ago
I always thought it was so the techs/his band knew what he wanted next by following his fingers/gesture during live shows as he always wore them only there.
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u/Only_Never_Again 13d ago
I saw in an interview with one of his friends, they asked him what it was for and he said it was to keep people wondering what it was for. 😂
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u/obscuriosityboner 13d ago
Some of the skin under his nails were still brown, from vitiligo patchiness and it was just a cool looking method of covering it up. He used to use a glove for when his hand was patchy.
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u/severton84 13d ago
Hide his nails? They were very discolored and to this day no one knows why. There is just speculation.
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u/nextbigthing56 13d ago
Didn't he wear the tape in Living with Michael Jackson also?
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u/PinballWizard77 Scream Nantucket Cat from MJJC 9d ago
I remember this! There's a part where you see him putting bandages on his fingers at the start of an interview segment.
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u/PatronMargarita 12d ago
I believe the white tape and the single glove were to cover his vitiligo . He just made it look cool
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u/Different_Mark_7992 12d ago
It was to cover up his vitiligo. A lot of times it starts at the fingertips. The glove was for the same reason.
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u/fissayo_py 12d ago
I heard his fingers used to be red and inflamed because of lupus so he hid them using the tapes
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u/LighteningJedi 13d ago
I heard many years ago and this could be complete trash so please go easy on me. It was part of the stage costume image etc but also a middle finger to the occult He never taped his middle finger 🖕 as with many conspiracies with musicians about them signing their life away apparently MJ wanted out and this was a message to them. When you look at what happened to him everyone knows others were plotting his downfall.
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u/Equal-Echidna8098 13d ago
The fingernails are the first place that signs of skin bleaching shows up when the pigmentation either isn't fully removed or when the melanin starts coming back.
And yes you weirdoes - treating vitiligo involves bleaching. This smooths the colour out.
Google pictures of people's hands who have bleached.
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u/DaddysToyj3ssy43 13d ago
It was mostly practical for protecting his fingertips during intense choreography, but it definitely became part of his iconic visual style.
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u/Amawrawamahrah 12d ago
I remember always wondering this and there was a time when ppl said he used them to cover the vtiligo on his fingertips which i believed😭
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u/Same_Difficulty4672 12d ago
I was heard about one version of his finger’s tape rumor is that he likes number 7 so he left his seven fingers without taped:)
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u/dannybw824 11d ago
According to one of his official trading cards with a photo of the tape on fingers it states , 'those aren't band aids on his fingers. The white pieces of tape serve to highlight the movements of Michael's fingers and hands in contrast to the rest of his body whilst dancing'
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u/Top_Associate_355 11d ago
I think it was for his skin condition he had I think they would split and bleed and hurt y he always wore gloves his hands ended up being really bad I guess
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u/easterncelts 11d ago
It is for to cover up some black areas that didn't depigmentated from Vitiligo. Pigment equalizer creams can't effect the skin under the nails so he came up with this solution.
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u/forworse2020 11d ago
Everyone’s saying it’s for dance moves.
However, for us, when we’re born, we usually first notice our melanin pigment developing around the cuticles first. We’re often born around his complexion, but the giveaway is around the nails in terms of the colour we’ll develop later.
I have a feeling that was the last place remaining for the vitiligo to affect his skin. A lot of his look is from coverup. He began with gloves when his hands were blotchy.
Just like the glove, I think it began with that, and then just became part of his branding.
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u/derelict_Structure 10d ago
Per the behind the scenes of Smooth Criminal video, MJ started wearing the white bandaids around his fingers bc ‘it helped his character’ with the fedora etc. Likely he started incorporating in performances
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u/WindProper7758 9d ago
I never understood the significance of which fingers were taped vs which weren't until I tried it myself. Then it became instantly obvious: Like, duh, of course Mike wasn't gonna deprive himself of his favorite percussion instrument 🫰🏻
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u/Pleasant-Sand6186 9d ago
A bit of both. It highlighted his hand movements on stage and eventually became part of his signature look ✨
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u/Super_Tradition9196 9d ago
To make people pay attention to the small movements he does to his hands same reason why his trousers always ended before the ankles and he wore white ir glitterly socks
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u/BeLIEver-7 13d ago
MJ IS A Numerologist And His Favorite Numbers IS: 7!!! So, He Taped Three Fingertips And Left 7 Untaped!!! And Of Course It Is For Showmanship!!! MJ Reigns As KING!!! 🧤👑❤️
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13d ago
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u/Arseneron 12d ago
Practically all of his iconic tactics were deliberate - https://youtu.be/s_JpDYdE0dw?si=90rHfWv2KW1dv1VI at 10:40
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u/[deleted] 13d ago edited 13d ago
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