DARK INSPIRATION

Kevin Aviance - Din Da Da. The video for this classic house/voguing song takes directly from Grace Jones/Jean Paul Goude with it's surreal imagery, oversize props, colors and multiplied images of the star. If you are going to be inspired, then be inspired by the best! Unfortunately, Kevin's video quality pales in comparison to the pure genius of the song.

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Grace Jones - Slave To The Rhythm. This is absolutely beautiful, artful and thoughtful video making. Mr. Goude's questionable use of negative black stereotypes (golliwogs, pickaninnies, overly sexualized black body parts, blacks-as-savages, etc.) has been extremely questionable, but I do consider it amazing art - visually, emotionally, audibly and mentally stimulating.

SCENTS YOU'VE BEEN GONE

During the summer time, I was the kind of kid who enjoyed going outside and meeting up with my friends to play kick ball, 4-square, dodge ball, go bike riding, rollerskating, and even hop around on my pogo stick. But I also lived for a good round of game shows and soap operas. One of the best parts of my tv watching was the TV commercials. I loved a good fragrance commercial because they usually had a combo of raw sexuality, glamour, humor, sassiness and a sense of breaking out of a mundane existence. Isn't it hilarious that a 9 year old lil' fat, black, gay child in Detroit got all that?!? Well, they spoke to me!!! Here are some of my favorites:


The chick in this ad had a very Valley Of The Dolls quality - she looked like she might end up at a swinger's party after she finished with the stranger at the front door!
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Fierce - Halston and Pat Cleveland - doesn't get much better......
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70's supermodel Shelley Hack, later of Charlie's Angels fame, really personified the 70's girl - strong, feminine with a masculine edge, saucy, smiley, jaunty and skippy. Loved it!
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My absolute favorite - this is the iconic 70's fragrance ad - the Peggy Lee jingle, the skirt suit, the Mary McFadden-esque gown - Amazing!!! This 70's iconography has greatly influenced my aesthetic view of fashionable women - the fiercely, strong woman who wears her femininity and her sexuality on her sleeve.