EPISODE 7 GRACE JONES
Dust off your Armani blazers and slip on those oversized sunnies, kids – today we’re talking about the singer, actor, and style icon Grace Jones. In this episode, we discuss some of her most famous collaborations, from the album covers she made with her problematique ex-lover Jean Paul Goude to an epic costume she created with her friend Keith Haring, and ask the question: what does it really mean to be a muse?
Dust off your Armani blazers and slip on those oversized sunnies, kids – today we’re talking about the singer, actor, and style icon Grace Jones. In this episode, we discuss some of her most famous collaborations, from the album covers she made with her problematique ex-lover Jean Paul Goude to an epic costume she created with her friend Keith Haring, and ask the question: what does it really mean to be a muse?
TW: In this episode we discuss the objectification and exoticisation of Black female bodies and the Hottentot Venus.
Image 1: Grace Jones Nightclubbing, 1985
Image 2: Grace Jones Island Life, 1981
Image 3: Grace Jones Performing at the Paradise Garage 1985, Estate of Tseng Kwong Chi and Keith Haring
Image 4: Alexander Calder, Josephine Baker, 1927-1929, Iron-wire construction, 39 x 22 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches. Museum of Modern Art, NY
Bibliography:
Grace Jones and Jean-Paul Goode, One Man Show, 1985. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgooF0X31pc&ab_channel=ReelblackOne
Grace Jones, I’ll never write my memoirs, 2015. Simon and Schuster.
Grace Jones on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzZHzmVk3Pc&ab_channel=AlanCarr%3AChattyMan
Hall, Jake. Exploring the complicated relationship between between jean-paul goude and grace jones, 2016, in I-D Vice. https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/d3v9k7/exploring-the-complicated-relationship-between-jean-paul-goude-and-grace-jones
Brazelton, Bennett. “The Futures of Grace Jones: Queer, Black, Dystopian, Eternal.” Fire!!!, vol. 5, no. 2, 2020, pp. 53–82. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5323/48573838.
Kershaw, Miriam. “Postcolonialism and Androgyny: The Performance Art of Grace Jones.” Art Journal, vol. 56, no. 4, 1997, pp. 19–25. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/777716.
Hobson, Janell. “Remnants of Venus: Signifying Black Beauty and Sexuality.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 1/2, 2018, pp. 105–20. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26421165.
EPISODE 6 MARILYN
Are diamonds a girl’s best friend? Do blondes really have more fun? We still have no idea, but we had a lot of feelings to share. This episode we’re talking about the life and looks of Norma Jean Mortensen, aka Marilyn Monroe, with tangents on plastic surgery, the colour pink, celebrity memorabilia and Kim Kardashian.
Are diamonds a girl’s best friend? Do blondes really have more fun? We still have no idea, but we had a lot of feelings to share. This episode we’re talking about the life and looks of Norma Jean Mortensen, aka Marilyn Monroe, with tangents on plastic surgery, the colour pink, celebrity memorabilia and Kim Kardashian.
Image 1: Norma Jean Dougherty photographed by David Conover (1944), via Pinterest
Image 2: Still of Marilyn Monroe from the film Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953) via Pinterest
Image 3: The original dress designed by William Travilla via Pinterest
Image 4: Photo of Marilyn while filming The Seven Year Itch (1955), via Wikemedia Commons
Image 5: Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday to John F. Kennedy in 1962, via Wikemedia Commons
Image 6: Kim Kardashian wears Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ dress to the 2022 Met Gala, via Pinterest
Bibliography:
Monroe, Marilyn, Hecht, Ben. My Story. Stein and Day, 1974
Steinem, Gloria. Marilyn. Henry Holt, 1986
St Clair, Kassia. The Secret Lives of Colour. London, John Murray. p.127
https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/sep/15/marilyn-monroe-seven-year-itch-dress
https://www.wmagazine.com/beauty/marilyn-monroe-beauty-evolution
Longworth, Karina. “Marilyn Monroe: Dead Blondes Part 8.” You Must Remember This, episode 100. Spotify, 6 May. 2023
EPISODE 5 ALEXA CHUNG
Fasten your peter pan collars and pull up your knee socks, because today we’re talking about the queen of indie sleaze herself, Alexa Chung. In this episode, we discuss thrifting, irony in fashion, and the unfortunate ubiquity of pleather motorcycle jackets for teenagers between 2012-2014.
Image 1: Alexa Chung early 2000s, via @indiesleaze on Instagram 20 September 2022.
Image 2: Alexa Chung at Glastonbury 2009 via I.D. (Photo by Martin Fraser/FilmMagic)
Image 3: Alexa Chung in ALEXACHUNG at the Met Gala 2018 (Getty Images via Vogue.com)
Bibliography:
Stephanie Rosenbloom, “The Making of Fashion’s Latest ‘It’ Girl” in The New York Times. Nov. 26, 2010
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/fashion/28ALEXA.html Sydney Gore, “Tumblr Girls, It Girls, and Girlbosses: The Evolution of the Influencer” in W Magazine, Feb. 11, 2022
https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/alexa-chung-it-girlboss-tumblr-2010s-nostalgia
Alexa Chung, ‘Alexa Chung on the unpolished appeal of Indie Sleaze’ in The Financial Times.
https://www.ft.com/content/a82ae431-f7cf-4bee-9e43-ff58ed77fe96
Brooke Bobb, ‘Alexa Chung’s Met Gala Dress Was Inspired by Anne Boleyn and Claire Danes in Romeo and Juliet’ on Vogue.com. May 08, 2018
https://www.vogue.com/article/alexa-chung-dress-met-gala-2018
‘Alexa Chung Fears for Her Life While Eating Spicy Wings | Hot Ones’ on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuONqBMf3XA&ab_channel=FirstWeFeast
EPISODE 4 YAYOI KUSAMA
In this episode, we are talking about the Princess of Polka Dots herself, Yayoi Kusama. We discuss her early work in New York City’s avant-garde scene, her iconic and short-lived fashion line, her collaborations with Louis Vuitton, her frequently Instagrammed light installations at the Tate Modern and the infinite terror of crumpets.
Image 1: Yayoi Kusama, No. F., 1959.Oil on canvas. 41 1/2 x 52" (105.4 x 132.1 cm). Image courtesy of the artist and MoMA, New York.
Image 2: Yayoi Kusama, Installation view of Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field, 1965, in Floor Show, Castellane Gallery, New York, 1965. Sewn stuffed cotton fabric, board, and mirrors. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore; Victoria Miro, London; David Zwirner, New York
Image 3: Yayoi Kusama, Walking Piece, 1966. Image courtesy of the artist and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Image 4; Unknown photographer, Kusama Fashion Company Photoshoot, 1968. Image via yayoi-kusama.jp
Image 5: Look from Louis Vuitton X Yayoi Kusama, 2012. Image via Vogue.com.
Image 6: Thea Voyles, 2021 Photo of Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life, 2011/2017. Tate Presented by the artist, Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro 2015, accessioned 2019 © YAYOI KUSAMA.
Bibliography in Progress
EPISODE 3 JANE BIRKIN
She’s an actress, a singer, a model, a muse, and she makes bangs seem like a good idea. That’s right, we’re talking about the effortlessly cool style Jane Birkin.
Image 1:Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin at the premiere of Slogan in 1969
Image 2: Jane Birkin in 1974 via Pinterest
Image 3: Paparazzi photo of Jane Birkin in 1994 via Pinterest
Extra reading to feed your Birkinmania:
Munkey Diaries 1957-1982, Jane Birkin, (2021)
“Everything You Need to Know About the Hermes Birkin”, Olivia Pennington, Sotheby’s, 2023
“7 Of Jane Birkin’s Most Iconic Outfits”, Zoë Kendall, 2020
“The Secret Stories of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg”, Maisie Skidmore, Anothermag, 2015
EPISODE 2 MARIE ANTOINETTE
In this episode, we are slipping on white muslin dresses for a frolic around the Hameau de la Reine, Marie Antoinette’s idyllic retreat at Versailles. We discuss 18th-century French portraiture and landscape architecture, and fangirl over Sofia Coppola’s 2006 masterpiece.
Image 1: Marie Antoinette in a Chemise Dress, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun, 1783, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Image 2: Marie Antoinette and Her Children, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun, 1787, Palace of Versailles, Versailles
Image 3: “Marie Antoinette and Her Ladies”, Sofia Coppola, Marie Antoinette, 2006
Image 4: “At the Petit Hameau”,Sofia Coppola, Marie Antoinette, 2006
Resources:
https://www.racked.com/2018/1/10/16854076/marie-antoinette-dress-slave-trade-chemise-a-la-reine
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30054251
Ferriss, Suzanne, and Mallory Young. '‘Marie Antoinette’: Fashion, Third-Wave Feminism, and Chick Culture' Literature/Film Quarterly 38, no. 2, 2010. www.jstor.org/stable/43797666
Higonnet, Patrice. 'Mique, the Architect of Royal Intimacy' Bourgeois and Aristocratic Encounters in Garden Art, 1550-1850 ed. Michel Conan (Washington, 2002).
Jollet, Etienne. 'Interior in the Exterior: Marie-Antoinette's Grotto at Trianon' Interiors and Interiority ed. Ewa Lajer-Burcharth (Berlin, 2015)
Martin, Meredith. Dairy Queens: The Politics of Pastoral Architecture from Catherine de Medici to Marie Antoinette (Cambridge, 2011)
Macarthur, John. The Picturesque: Architecture, Disgust, and other Irregularities (London, 2007)
Le Dantec, Denise and Le Dantec, Jean-Pierre. Reading the French Garden: Story and History, transl. Jessica Levine, (Cambridge, 1990)
Jill H. Casid, ‘Queer(y)ing Georgic: Utility, Pleasure, and Marie-Antoinette’s Ornamental Farm’, Eighteenth-Century Studies 30 (3, 1997)
Lauren Louise Dunley, ‘FRANCE IN RUINS: PAINTINGS BY HUBERT ROBERT C.1786 – 1788’ (MA diss., University of Birmingham, 2013
EPISODE 1 MARY-KATE & ASHLEY
Grab your fur coats and your Balenciaga City bags kids because today we’re talking about the Olsen twins! In this episode, we discuss capsule wardrobes, the Seventeen magazine fashion quizzes of yore, and the sartorial horrors of being a tween.
Image 1: “Chloe and Riley Lawrence”, Craig Shapiro, Winning London, 2001
Image 2: “Jane and Roxy Ryan”, Dennie Gordon, New York Minute, 2004
Image 3: Paparazzi photos from 2005-2006 in “A Guide to Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s Style Evolution”, i-D Magazine, Zoë Kendall, 2021
Image 4: Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen at a Jenni Kayne fashion show, 2007
Image 5: “Look 27”, The Row Lookbook, Spring 2023
Resources:
Influence, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, 2008
They Thought I Was You podcast Becca Roth and Lani Harms on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
“A Guide to Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s Style Evolution”, i-D Magazine, Zoë Kendall, 2021
“Everything the Olsens Have Ever Worn to the Met Gala”, Manrepeller, Leandra M. Cohen 2019
In this episode we also talked about the 2000s’ obsession with categorizing different styles, including Seventeen’s Ultimate Guide to Style, by Amanda Shoket (2014) and I Love Your Style: How to Define and Refine Your Personal Style, Amanda Brown (2009).