kid pics!

[rm]

January 1982.
I was nine.
This was taken at a B&B in East Hampton.
Yes, those are brown velvet knickers.
And my mother sewed all those little decorations on the cardigan, which was pink and I found objectionable. The shirt is eggshell satin, my first men's poet sort of shirt.
I remember when this was taken, and I had wanted to look powerful, like I owned things that were old.
I think it's interesting to look at now. You can tell I was sick.
We saw ghosts on that trip.

My guess is that this is December 1983, making me 11.
That's my mom.
The dress was given to me by my cousin Cindy who was a follower of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and could only wear red, and so always bought me things that were red. This was from Cerutti, a very expensive NYC children's store. I now own the jacket my motehr is wearing there. See! I grew up in the wizarding world! At least aesthetically.
ETA: for those who have read drafts of the book so far -- Mairome is older than this by a few years and isn't white, but my facial expression here is very very her.

My best guess here is that this is May of 1986, making me 13.
The hair is horrible. And was the result of Vidal Sasoon not listening to my instructions. My mother bought me gold earings that year, so that I would look like a girl.
The outfit is horrible.
But I can't believe my face.
At the time, I had no idea I looked like that.
Although I did understand by then that I stared at people like that and that it was bothersome to most of them.
You can kind of tell I am sick here too.
I used this photo for beauty pageant applications, including Miss New York National Teen-Ager 1987, which I eventually competed in in Albany.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

So was I, around other people. But I was poised if it didn't involve them as a rule.

And I wore my mother's black Norma Kamali gown to my high school prom!

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I was especially awkward in photos. :(

By the time prom came I was living in Connecticut, hating it, and was too angry and punk rock to go to a prom. I would have worn a latex dress with buckles probably or some horrible thrift store thing.

My mother wanted me to wear pink and blue Laura Ashley all the time, but my aunt bought me a Norma Kamali dress made out of grey jersey that I wore to a shred when I was 13. It came from Bloomingdale's.

[rm.livejournal.com]

OH I remember the whole grey jersey thing. I think I have a photo somewhere of me in a Norma Kamali dress of that ilk. How funny!

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

A college friend who grew up in Manhattan also had one of those dresses. I think many of us did! And I will never forget my first Betsy Johnson dress. Or the purple velvet Anna Sui skirt I got at a sample sale. Or the Steven Sprouse tights I used to have. I don't have any of that stuff anymore. I'm too fat to wear any of it -- but still.

Oh gosh, you've made me terribly nostalgic for clothing. I've been so busy, sick, and depressed the last few years I've pretty much given up on my appearance completely.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Steven Sprouse!
Oh this is so fun.

I used to own a fuschia strapless lace Betsy Johnson gown I bought at a sample sale for $10. It would never ever fit me now, but oh man!

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I still have a black silk Betsey Johnson cocktail dress. I looked like a Victorian orphan if I wore it with Mary Janes. Gosh, I used to spend so much time reading Interview, and W, and Elle, and the Voice. I used to go into Charivari and try on coats that were shockingly expensive and covet them.

I also still have a pair of green suede Fluevog oxfords that need repair. I wore them all through college with a black faux fur coat and black sunglasses. I looked like an extra from a Fellini film.

I miss that -- having fun with clothes. I'm bland as hell right now.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Did you ever read Details before it was a men's magazine?

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Not regularly - but I remember being confused when I picked it up and it was clearly a men's magazine.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Heheh yeah. When it was a club kid mag it had the most beautiful production values and clothing spreads ever.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Yes, I recall. I used to run passes for Limelight and Tunnel in the late 80s and very early 90s. I knew people who were obsessed with Details and another magazine I can't remember.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Project X? Planet X? something like that. I can't remember anymore. We may well have crossed paths at some point.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Maybe, who knows. I can hardly remember. Well, after 1993 I was in New Mexico for five years. But before that it is entirely possible. And we could probably start talking about shows we were at and find crossover there too.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm sure! I moved t oDC for college in 1990 and was down there through '94, although I did come up to NYC a lot.

But Love & Rockets, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nick Cave... yeah.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. I remember when the Ritz moved uptown into the old Studio 54 and that felt so weird because I loved the downtown location. I saw Love and Rockets there and many other people.

I have a very weird memory of seeing Julian Cope and Siouxsie at the little theatre at MSG. And then a few years later seeing Julian Cope at a place in Chelsea and interviewing him. He told me all about his pink boxer shorts covered with hedgehogs drinking tea - because that was all he was wearing. They were some British TV characters I didn't know about at all.

Did you ever go to the World? It was on 2nd.

[don-negro.livejournal.com]

The early 90's will be an Avalon to people our age, because we remember it, but we can't search for evidence of it online....

I was just thinking about a blurb in the old Details about Scott MacDonald, who was the editor of The Big Takeover, a zine I wrote for a couple of times (once dictating a story over a long distance line from Texas to Warren, PA)

Whenever I start feeling old, I remember how much has been packed into these years.

[fleur.livejournal.com]

Yes!! I remember having a subscription before it changed.