Grace Jones jumps around dressed as a bush for red carpet premiere of her new documentary

The legendary singer put on a playful display for photographers 
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Alistair Foster26 October 2017
The Weekender

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Grace Jones lived up to her maverick reputation by wearing a foliage-style headdress to the premiere of a documentary about her life — and declared that London is the “heartbeat of artistry”.

The model, singer and actress brought BFI Southbank to a standstill as she showed off the creation by milliner Philip Treacy before heading into a special screening of Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami, by Sophie Fiennes.

She revealed that her outfit for last night’s event was a tribute to her late mother Marjorie. She said: “I just buried my mum a week ago, so I said to Philip, I need a kind of mourning, but not mourning outfit so I didn’t have to show my eyes because I have been crying a lot.

“My mum loved to dress up, so this is for her. I’ve got a lot of mixed emotions. It’s a strange time for the film to be coming together.”

Grand entrance: Grace Jones on the red carpet
Getty Images

Jones, 69, also paid tribute to the capital, saying: “There are a lot of amazing artists here — the heartbeat of artistry is here.”

She said her best memories of London were from nightclub Heaven in Charing Cross — rather than slapping chatshow host Russell Harty on live TV in 1981.

She said: “I played at the Heaven club, the big gay club, a long time ago. They just let me be myself.

“That was the most outrageous memory. To just be myself. I know you want me to talk about Russell Harty, but that wasn’t really my biggest memory!”

Speaking about the rise of social media and the effect of the internet on the arts, the Jamaican star told the Standard: “You can have internet, one hundred million tweets, views, this, that, but how do you go forward? I believe performance is the key.”

Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami is set for UK cinema release on Friday.

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