Maybe I should talk about where these characters come from. It would be hard to trace all of the influences or analyze this completely, but the rotten little seeds were planted in my youth by watching horror movie after horror movie.

NYLONA INGALLS-WILDER

The masked killer was always scarier and much more of a threat than an oozing monster or alien. People could actually meet these faceless weirdos in real life and that made these characters much more appealing to me. Italian Giallos and movies like Tourist Trap, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eyes Without a Face, Alice Sweet Alice and many others, all convinced me that this wonderfully jarring “look” was so horribly fashion forward. I started calling it Extreme Glamour.

Another source of inspiration came from some photos I saw in an old San Francisco fashion/arts magazine from the 80s. There were images of a woman walking down SF streets in sky high-heels and a hood or mask of some sort over her face. The pictures were burned on my mind forever and it wasn’t until recently that I discovered that they were shot by the incredible photographer, Austin Young. Looking back on it now, I realize that they were very fetishy, but at the time that was something I just didn’t understand. In my impressionable young mind I thought the model was the most bold and fashionable person alive–just out running errands.

And I can’t forget one of my most important influences, Bullwinkle. The rubber glove-wearing moose. He was right knowing that a nice pair of rubber gloves made for a striking accessory.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 12:16 pm and is filed under "the look", fashion, polaroid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.