Like most people drawn to fashion, art, things aesthetic, creative, and otherworldly I was a weird kid. Not too surprising. I didn’t really dress any different than other kids that came later (remember when I talked about my goth phase?) I just always set myself apart, being around other people seemed too simple somehow, too sad. Socializing always left me disappointed. Kids were cruel and boring most of the time. I preferred to make my own worlds, which were far more exciting because I controlled them. I think my interest in clothes developed because of my dissatisfaction with the present. Buying clothes was all about preparation for some fantastical future, as if when I wore them the people around me wouldn’t suck anymore and cool things could happened. But it didn’t really work people just noticed me more (in positive and negative ways) which was at least slightly more exciting.
Not a lot has changed since I was young. I’m still pretty strange thank god! And I still call myself an alien, partly because I’m so different from my parents sometimes I really question how the heck I got here! and because I think I like to distance myself from the rest of the world. I even considered renaming myself Aliena after reading Shakespeare’s As You Like It last year. Luckily Mattie discouraged me. But when I read the bio of Ntozake Shange in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf it made me want to change my name again. Shange changed her name in college after her and her husband divorced. Ntozake (besides having a mind blowing sound) in Xhosa means “she who has her own things.” It’s so badass. It’s a name of a woman who’s in control of her own universe. So here I pose a question: what do you think, is changing my name a good idea? Amanda McGowan just isn’t cutting it anymore, I wanna have a name that makes me feel like I'm in a Cocteau Twins song you know? Should I change my last name at least maybe to Gowan or Goowan! Ha! Or is this just my future thinking again, that my life will be amazing when I have a shiny new name that suites my weird self? Anyways in honor of aliens everywhere I donned this spacey dress to a dinner with friends.
Dress is vintage from etsy, necklace Chris Habana, shoes are Margiela borrowed from Mattie (a Beacon's Closet find if you can believe it!), f.y.i. poofy pink hair is apparently the best accessory to conceal a swollen jaw post wisdom teeth removal (Mattie forced me to take these pics even though I felt like I looked like this because she knows fierceness defies dental work)
Ok now let's pretend we're in an alternate universe together and look at some astral inspiration and listen to planetary tunes.
Still from 1983 Documentary on the Batcave Club (more on this soon)
Still from Bowie's "Life on Mars" video
Felix Labisse "Hommage a monsieur Ingres (le bain turquiose)," 1968
Felix Labisse "Le Grande Thebaide,"1978
Felix Labisse "la Thebaide," 1978 *Thanks for turning me on to this surrealist painter Maisie Cousins*
Space Witch by Don Freeman, 1959
Vina from Star Trek
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Aquatic aliens sort of
My spirit animal
Elizabeth Fraser speaks extraterrestrial
Weird planet house spotted in the tumblr universe
Uhura's bedroom on Star Trek Pt.1
Uhura's bedroom on Star Trek Pt.2
Uhuru is a goddess
If you're ever bored and looking for a show to blow the day watching, Roswell is on Netflix instant.
Grimes is my kind of gal
Viviane Sassen for Dazed & Confused October 2009
Second song I'm posting from the movie Tarnation...movie changed my life in high school
I could post so many Ariel Pink songs but let me stop before I creep you out too much....
-Amanda
SO MUCH OUTFIT ENVY. That dress is so Star Trek-looking somehow. On the topic of name-changing, I think it's interesting how our names are one of our main identifiers but we don't get to choose them. The main reason I would never change my name is that I'd worry I'd get sick of it, but I also think it's a cool way to take control of your identity a little bit.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I got my wisdom teeth out a few weeks ago. I felt kind of hideous and gross for a few days, but the swelling went down soon and I felt fabulous again! I hope you have a quick and easy recovery.
It is quite bizarre that we have no control over our names. I guess a lot of people don't even really think about it too much, but I feel the need to curate everything in my life so a name is a big deal to me! But yeah I'm pretty afraid that I'll get bored/hate the name I change mine too and then have to change it back. That would probably be the most AWKWARD thing ever and make me seem like such a diva....I mean I kind of am one but that's a secret haha. But yeah the whole wisdom teeth situation...damn it was hard not to have a self esteem meltdown. I challenged myself to go out in the world with the puffy cheeks and banana yellow bruises and it was sadly kind of hard (my hair acting as a camouflage certainly helped though). I got through it and am back to my fabulous self as well. But it was definitely a reminder of work I still need to do in the confidence department.
DeleteI LOVE that dress! It reminds me of lava for some reason. This post is great! I really like the Felix Labisse artwork, and all the Sci-fi goodness :)
ReplyDeleteI think I was in a similar position when i was much younger. I always felt incredibly alienated by my peers. I would literally create my own planets and fantasies so I didn't have to deal with people (despite being incredibly hyper and over excited about everything). I think my childhood has a lot to do with the way I dress now. I like the idea of dressing as an art. I've never been able to draw so getting dressed up filled the void. I tried the whole abercrombie thing in middle school and in the end I was pretty miserable.
ReplyDeleteAnyways,
You look like a Space Princess, which is incredibly bitchin. I really like the pucci 60's vibez in this post. Oh and also fuck yeah, Cocteau Twins!
Similarly I dabbled in the Aeropostale thing in middle school..Jeez those were dark days. It's great when you discover the person you want to be (which can change daily haha) and have the courage to dress that way! It's so much fun! Also a lot of my favorite artists work with textiles and other unconventional mediums so that idea that you have to paint or draw to be an artist is total poop. Clothes can definitely be an artist's tools!
DeleteFirst off: beautiful dress. The fabric is perfect.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really get what you're talking about here, and I think (like you said) a lot of people in the creative world have experienced this. I went through phases in elementary and junior high where I tried so hard to dress like the other girls assuming that that would make me friends with them and "popular". Obviously I was an idiot. But beside from that, I got over the disappointment from not being like them and turned to dressing for myself instead of trying to be another person. So yes, I was (and am) pretty much an alien. And yeah, I think everyone should really just embrace their inner alien... it would probably make the world more interesting.
That would be so RAD! I know there are more "out there"!
Deletewowwww your girls' style rules. and this is one of the best photo collections EVER. love this shit!
ReplyDeleteUber uber uber jealous of the tabi shoes! Have always wanted a pair.
ReplyDeleteBEACON'S CLOSET?! WOWWWWW hands down to you both. this dress is so pretty *_* and so victorialand...dressing like a cocteau twins song is pretty much always a winner...
ReplyDeleterock like moon rocks
ReplyDeletewatch this one i hope you like all this
ReplyDeleteCannabis Moonrocks