What persona did David Bowie adopt during the Station to Station era?

During the Station to Station era, David Bowie adopted the persona of the Thin White Duke.

The Thin White Duke emerged around Bowie’s 1976 album Station to Station and its title track, whose lyrics introduce the character. He presented the Duke as an elegant, emotionally detached figure, usually dressed in a white shirt, black trousers and waistcoat, with slicked-back blond hair.

The persona followed the flamboyant Ziggy Stardust and Halloween Jack characters but looked deliberately restrained. It was closely associated with Bowie’s Isolar Tour, also known as the Station to Station tour, and with his role as Thomas Jerome Newton in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth.

The Duke is sometimes confused with Bowie’s other fictional creations. Major Tom originated in “Space Oddity,” Aladdin Sane belonged to the 1973 album of the same name, and Halloween Jack was linked to Diamond Dogs. The Thin White Duke, by contrast, belongs specifically to the mid-1970s Station to Station period.