Idée Fixe: Beulahland

I've been inspired by Queen Michelle of Kingdom of Style to do a post on my fun times in the '80's. Unfortunately a lot of my photos seem to be missing, however that's pretty common in the chaos I thrive in. (Eventually I'll have an "AHA!" moment and problem solved. I hate the zen minimalist thing, gimme clutter and signs of a life well-lived any day!) So I've decided to do it in parts as I don't want to bombard one post with 673,013 pics. I have some of my original clothes I'd love to show too, mainly to show how fashion really does recycle trends. (Ye Gods, I can't believe my stuff is now "vintage"!) For those of us who lived through the first wave of punk/ goth/ metal, the new trends are retro and ridiculously overpriced when we were the DIY generation! Many of us have made these pieces part of our style, so it sometimes feels a little odd to see everyone jumping on the bandwagon. But OTOH, I love that a new generation has discovered the fun fashions we enjoyed!

One word of warning: I worked in nightclubs and East Village retail stores. You will not find a single "secretary dress" anywhere in my collection of clothing! (Okay, if I were doing a vintage post, you'd find them from the '50's and '60's, but no 80's big shouldered secretary dresses allowed in this post.)

You'll find a few fav pieces I've kept and continue to use over the years, I consider them so much a part of who I am style-wise. They're so well-loved that you'll have to pry them from my dead hands for me to part with them! (Sorry, dear daughter at age 9 as already borrowed some things, and has a list of what I may never sell or donate!) I've also included some of my diverse looks over those years... enjoy and laugh your bum off, I certainly do! I've also tried to keep it to chronological order so you can see the changes over the 80's decade.

This is an early 80's photo taken backstage at a fashion show I did for one of my good friends Michael Wylde. Look at that wig! (I still have both that wig and a white version!)

Next to me is Michael Wylde, who I had done the fashion show for in the above pic. And next to him is Chrys. The three musketeers, always ready for fun! I believe this was taken with me straight off the plane from London (jet lagged to the max) in "The Pit" at Beulahland on Ave A. Sadly my pretty green hair doesn't show as well in this pic.

Here's another taken around the same time. Ahh, my green mohawk. (Looks yellowy because of the flash, but it actually matched the puke top perfect.) What you can't see is the hideously huge 70's platform shoes I styled the look with. Uh-huh. It was a fashion show at Danceteria, something about London in NY, so it featured indie London designers. I'm wearing rubber from Fetish or Die which was in Kensington Market. Little did I know that a few years later I would be living in a house in London with Catherine the designer, and that we'd become lifelong friends! Funny how things work out like that, eh?

Around the same time frame. My friend Marie from London and I in a late-night restaurant. That red band on my arm? A Ronald McDonald watch I absolutely adored!

Can't make a post without Manic Panic! Here's a pic of me fresh from London with my Antenna extension's (no one in NY knew what the heck they were yet) in front of the original Manic Panic retail store, where everyone who was notable on the scene shopped. We had a blast and met so many great people! Again the putrid acid green hair colour (I still miss it!)

1980's London Tube passes, which depict the evolution of my hairstyles (and colours!) That first pic that's in B&W, I had my pretty green hair! I think it might have been just before I got my extension's, I basically had a mohawk and had let the top grow long so I could cover it if I wanted. Recent hairstyles at the Fashion Weeks show just how things come full circle eventually.

Fashion Show for Fetish or Die, my dear friend Catherine's stall at Kensington Market. Note the studs on that whopper of a belt! (One of the ones you'll have to pry from my dead hands.)