It’s been quite a while since I have done a photo shoot that doesn’t involve pushing a trend or product I love. While I love sharing my style with people, I often forget it is only part of what I love about doing this whole crazy fashion thing. It’s easy to forget that even though fashion is rooted in capitalism and is corrupted and co-opted and used as a tool of sexism and racism, it’s also an art.
About a million years ago, I took professional guitar lessons for a hot second. I was trying to get pregnant and figured I should jump on the baby bucket list items while I had time. I still can’t play more than Karma Police and Oh Comely very, very badly but one thing I did learn was that music and fashion were similar conduits for me.
Arranging chords is just like putting together an outfit. You have some options and there really is no real rhyme or reason as to why certain things go better together than other combinations. And when people try to sell you on rules for how you should pair things, you can take those rules and end up with basics and Bach, or you can ignore them and end up with statements and Stravinsky. My favorite aesthetic and sound has always been dissonance.
Stripes and florals? That is some polyrhythmic shit right there.
Sometimes I think I like putting an outfit together more than I actually like wearing it. While wearing an outfit without an audience isn’t as gratifying and cathartic as screaming to Dillinger Escape Plan in your car alone on a dark night, arranging it can be. That’s the thing I will never need followers for in order to enjoy. This must mean I’m in the right place. For the right reasons.
Being surround by art definitely doesn’t make me want to call myself an artist, though. There will always be that separation for me between what I do and “real” art. The kind people sacrifice for. The kind you can’t sell with your personality, only with your skill and your perspective. And thank god, because my biggest skill literally is my personality.
At least it’s an original.
All photos lovingly taken by Annette of From Annette With Love and Fat Girls Traveling at the SFMOMA. <3