Can we talk iconic fashion moments?💃
For as long as I can remember, I didn’t think I was a fashionable individual. Clothes seemed like a foreign language, a foreign concept. Fucking hell, fashion was just straight up foreign to me. Clothes never made sense to me as I grew up watching Fashion Television and was always so envious of those who could style themselves in such a way that seemed effortless or flawless.
I don’t know when it started happening. It’s entirely possible it started when I stopped caring what other people thought. It’s entirely possible it started when I started to believe I was ‘that bitch’. I may have gained a fashion sense when I stopped caring and just fucking put clothes on my body. My iconic fashion sense came out when I literally didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought and I just dressed for the body that I had, not the body that I wanted to have. For me: fashion has been about being fearless and about being political. It has been about taking up as much space in my fat body, and being as unapologetic about it. Sorry, not sorry.
But my choices haven’t always been on point….
It All Started With Fun Fur
When we think about iconic fashion moments, I’m sure one doesn’t include fun fur pants on their round-ups. The next time I’m making a list, you had better believe I will be including them. Actually, they will be number one on my chart for 90’s fashions. Fuck those Blossom hats, rave couture or bust.
The year was 1997 and in a dark, dimly light room, the Muchmusic Video Dance party had taken over our high school auditorium. If you had never experienced this, you missed out. Rave culture was having a bit of a moment during this period, and the “DJ” decided to play The Prodigy’s “Firestarter” back-to-back with The Chemical Brother’s “Block Rockin’ Beats”. Everyone in the auditorium collectively lost their shit, and in the back of my mind, all I could think about was how I wanted to experience a rave IRL.
Outside of those music videos, I had no idea what a rave was or what to expect from a rave. Of course, I decided to log onto to AOL and IRC to figure it out. I figured that if there was a rave subculture happening in the UK, then there must be one happening in Toronto. I remember watching The New Music on City-TV filming at a rave, so I just had to find it online somehow and become a part of ‘the culture’. This is how I went to my first rave at the age of 15.
At these parties, I found my chosen family of misfits and because of them, I wanted to make my very first pair of fun fur pants. Obviously I decided to use my high school home-economics class for this sewing adventure, because earning credit while making outfits for my nights out seemed reasonable.
My very first pair of fun fur overalls were baby pink and blue and had an extra wide 60” leg openings. Move over Kikwear and Snug, you’ve got nothing on me. I thought they were the most epic thing ever and wore them to school almost every single day.
Apparently, I was the only one who thought I was cool.
Each and everyday, I would walk to school and be met with taunts like, “You fucking freak,” and “Nice pyjamas,” and to be honest - I didn’t really care. For the first time in my life, I had these overalls and they were just as unique and colourful as I was. I had found a community where I fit in. The taunts were meant to hurt me, but to be honest, they just made me stronger, they just made me want to make and design more fun fur clothes and so I did.
I went to raves for years, but I stopped wearing fun fur not to long after I started raving. Oh and I am still having iconic fashion moments to this day.