Blonde on Blonde

From image to performance, I have many influences, male and female, from sexed up film stars to peacock rock musicians. One thing that is consistent in my ever-changing influences are blondes. As a blonde myself, it could be that I subconsciously feel that I can emulate what other blondes have. You always hear blondes claim that the likes of Marilyn Monroe (the Champagne of Blondes!) influence their image while brunettes may lean more towards Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn. I adore the likes of the dark and sensual Ava Gardner but I tend to just admire them.  My list of blonde icons are endless but here I’ve whittled it down to my top three and explore what it is about them, in terms of image, that makes me tick. And no, as much as I adore Marilyn she’s not here! 

One major source of blonde inspiration is Brigitte Bardot - the original sex kitten. The long tousled mane, the kohled-up eyes and neutral pout of Bardot is seen everywhere from sixties fashion connoisseurs to glamour models to Kylie. It’s a morning-after-a-passionate-night look that can be either individual or mainstream. Bardot’s sexiness was playful and appeared to come more naturally to her compared to American pin-ups. Bardot was sex. One of Bardot’s most celebrated moments on screen is her fiery dance in And God Created Woman (1956). In this scene Bardot moves as if possessed by an erotic demon, starting with baby steps to a slow drum beat and culminating to wild, skirt-ripping hip-swinging mayhem on a table. This scene has inspired many including a recent Dior Addict ad campaign and my mambo act!  Another iconic moment was in a TV special (Special Bardot - 1967) where a leather-clad Bardot draped herself around suspended chains and go-go danced around a motorbike to the Serge Gainsbourg-penned Harley Davidson. This sequence was swinging sixties sexy-sexy and partly influenced the look of my Biker Girl act. 

Like Bardot, Catherine Deneuve is blonde, French and worked and/or made love with the same men. That’s where the similarities end. Deneuve, like Alfred Hitchcock’s blonde actresses, is often cited as a quintessential ice queen. Deneuve has always appeared elegant and detached. Even in comedic roles she has never been brash. It’s the mysterious demeanour that keeps everyone guessing and a major part of her appeal. Her enigmatic coolness lent itself to roles in films such as Repulsion (1965) and Belle Du Jour (1967) where she portrayed suppressed characters consciously or subconsciously seeking a sexual outlet - classic fire under ice. In one of my favourite films, The Hunger (1983), Deneuve plays an immortal vampire who promises selected humans eternal life if they become her vampiric lover. Her slicked back blonde hair and ruby lips nonchalantly blowing out cigarette smoke stand out in the Bauhaus-led opening sequence set in an industrial club where she seeks out her latest prey. Deneuve's cool otherworldliness was perfect for the role. 

 My ultimate blonde icon has got to be Debbie Harry. Through VH1 and remixes of Blondie’s Atomic, I first became aware of Debbie Harry at the age of thirteen. She had Monroe-esque prettiness with slavic cheekbones and haphazardly bleached barnet combined with a feisty attitude and an innovative punk spirit. A devastatingly knock-out combination. Harry’s performances were full of character and variety - she would go from sexily breathy in Fade Away and Radiate to angry and trashy in Rip Her to Shreds. Image was an important factor for Blondie (apparently keyboardist Jimmy Destri got in the band because he wore nice shoes) but they also explored a wide range of music genres (including disco and hip hop which included a collaboration with Coolio on 1999’s No Exit) and wrote songs which have stood the test of time. Blondie had both style and substance. For me, Debbie Harry confirmed that you can be sexy and flaunt it without dumbing down or sacrificing individuality - a far cry from the fifties bombshell. Without Debbie Harry, there would be no Madonna or Lady Gaga.

My top three blondes all have different appeals to me be it kittenishness, enigma or edge. Their gold and platinum tresses reflective of their spirit and attitude. All three are not bubbly child-like blondes like the starlets from the forties and fifties (yes, Bardot’s career was launched in the fifties but it was the latter part and her sixties image has more universal influence). My top blondes are hot-blooded women who roared instead of squeaked. They graced our screens and magazine covers in the late twentieth century when sexuality became more overt thanks to more relaxed censorship laws. Image from the sixties onwards became less restrained which to me is sexier by far. I love pre-sixties looks but I can imagine a great shag must have ruined the victory rolls. Give me cool, subversive, tousled, back-combed, kohl-smeared super sexy blondes any day!       

Confessions of a Leopard Lover

I don't recall leopard print ever really being out of fashion. Regardless of whether it's "in" or "out", at some point every year the high street turns safari with animalistic clobber. Good news for my taste, bad news for my wallet. I observe up and coming trends but I'm highly selective with what I embrace. If there's a trend that I find awfully hideous or dull then I just ignore it, there's no obligation to follow it. In the sound words of Quentin Crisp, 'Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are'. Influences on my style tend to come from cinema and music, not the catwalk, as you will see.

My earliest memory of leopard print was watching the camptastic feature Batman (1966), which my parents bought on VHS when I was barely in primary school. In an attempt to lure Batman into a trap, Lee Meriwether's Catwoman poses as seductive Russian Miss Kitka. When we first see Catwoman as Miss Kitka, she emerges from a crowd of dark suited reporters and photographers wearing a long leopard print trench coat and matching Russian-inspired tall hat. In an instant, the outfit suggests the wearer's exoticness and other worldliness while at the same time it's a too damn obvious connection with cats. It's elegant and at the same time kitsch. My first memory of leopard print was an image you may associate with retro camp, as animal print tends to be, but it was not typically so in that it appeared more refined than a busty 50s pin-up in a bikini or Bet Lynch pulling pints.

 From my childhood onwards leopard has always lurked in my wardrobe in one guise or another. It started with a fake leopard fur hooded coat that my grandmother made for me. As a teenager, leopard print as a conscious taste kicked off with a grey leopard vest which I accessorised with pink plastic Disney jewellery (I was Kawaii and didn't know it!). When I graduated from university I teamed up my gown and mortar board hat with leopard court shoes. Even on soberly dressed days, you can be sure that there's a wild cat of a bra and thong set waiting to be unleashed from hiding. My most recent purchase is a What Katie Did Tiger corset which combines leopard with tiger patterns and contains gold thread. A masterpiece.The moment I spotted the Tiger corset online I could hear the Sirens call. Curiously, I go through phases with colours and most patterns yet leopard always stood its ground. For a pattern that at times is referred to as daring or brave that is some comfort zone!

As a burlesque artist, leopard has always played a major part in my garments from my debut performance of bumping, grinding and snarling to my turn as Scary Spice in a very rude tribute to a certain 90s girl group. Leopard is an extension of the fierceness that I portray. Of course leopard print representing the wearer's ferocity is a cliché. It's the same as a woman in a red dress representing sexiness (Jessica Rabbit and Michelle Pfeiffer on a piano in The Fabulous Baker Boys are just a couple of iconic examples) is a cliché. But what I represent onstage are cartoonish fantasies, not social realism (although the work of Ken Loach adapted for a cabaret show could be interesting)

The beauty of leopard is that for a usually beige/brown background with black irregular spots, it's wonderfully versatile. It's retro, punk, modern, post-modern, tribal and so forth. You could be trashy like Jayne Mansfield or subversive like Debbie Harry. Cheap and cheerful or luxurious and decadent. Ultimately, this is why my love affair with leopard has endured for so long and I'm sure the same goes for many others regardless of trends and fads. Purrrr!