Missy's inflatable suit ran on a bike pump

The hook

"The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" hit music TV in June 1997, and the first thing anyone remembers is the suit: black, shiny, blown up like a cartoon. It wasn't a trash bag. Stylist June Ambrose built it from a tire inner tube under patent leather and vinyl.

The Pump

The suit leaked on set. Ambrose stood behind Missy with a bicycle pump and blew it back up during every take. She said the leak made it look even stranger.

"Missy Elliott will be my modern-day cartoon character." — June Ambrose

What was happening

The label asked how to sell her

Ambrose says the label put the question to her directly: how would she sell this young woman to mainstream America? Hype Williams' treatment pictured Missy blown up like a tire-ad mascot. They answered with a cartoon, not a pin-up.

The detail people forgot

She called it a mask

Missy told Elle in 2017 the suit was a way to hide her shyness behind the chaos of the look: "I knew I could have on a blow-up suit and still have people talking."

Why it matters now

In 2019 she accepted MTV's Video Vanguard Award and wore the suit again on stage, 22 years after the video. Same silhouette, same shine. It still looked like the future.

"It was bold and different." — Missy Elliott