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A look at the influence of Costumery:

The Jackie Transformation

So many who passed through the gilded doorways of Mother/Jackie 60 were aspiring legends. Knowing intuitively that they were someday destined for greatness. They may have come in black simple clothing still unaware of the fashion transformation that was t o one day overtake them, but after their tenure at Jackie 60, they changed the way they saw dressing forever. So many came and had that first sparkle of glitter rain down on them, making them bright shiny and aglow with the real glamour that permeated the clubs ten year herstory.

Though plain and simple in purity at first, the layers of leather and rubber and all that is fetish soon began to make its mark on the throngs of hungry fashion lovers. There were real transformations to be seen all around the club. With the encouragement of the clubs weekly theme dress codes, people were pushed to new extremes each week to bring a new look and to be seen and appreciated by the masses.

This excercise in costumery pressed so many into service that an entire new generation of appreciative clothes lovers were born. Even now on the streets of New York City and in cities around the globe can you often see a stylish young person carrying off a look that was inspired by the themage of Jackie 60.

For those who are unaw are of the influence that Jackie 60 and the world of Downtown nightlife has had on the youth of America one need only peruse the archives of The Downtown Costume Institute created and preserved for all time right here on the Mother Web Site. So the next t ime you feel hungry for that exciting new look that you have yet to discover, I suggest you take a fashion tour of the stylish and thought-provoking world of Jackie 60 and The Downtown Costume Exhibit pages here at Mothernyc.com.

Moved from Jackie Legends Forum by Chi Chi

[This message was edited by Chi Chi on 05-23-01 at 09:40 PM.]

[This message was edited by daddy on 07-16-01 at 08:42 PM.]
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Was just about to start a topic for the new Downtown Costume Institute exhibit/benefit
coming June 30 and saw this fab post of Bobby's that had gone unanswered in Jackie legends. Thought it could have a new life as a start to a DCI topic. Thanks bobby...

The show is Saturday night June 30 at CBGB's Gallery and it's a new full exhibit
(DCI 3) STRANGE PARTY:THE EAST VILLAGE 80's.
We'll be showing some rare nuggets indeed that we've never shown before, including Thierry Mugler's costumes for Joey Arias and Klaus Nomi when they appeared with David Bowie on SNL, the famous Larry Shox skyline suit, the infamous Evita and Valentine's gowns by Mr. David for Miss Glamamore/ Boybar and Ruben and Isobel Toldedo's "devil in the blue dress", circa '86.

This is a real, honest-to-goodness benefit for DCI - Johnny and I have been paying the storage out of pocket since February, and we really need to get this stuff photographed, catalogued and online this summer. CBGB's
is being wonderful and donating the space on a Saturday night.

Here is some of the help we need and anyone who can donate their services that weekend, especially in the afternoon or evening of the 30th is going to have a special place in our hearts: Setup hands especially from noon to 7 PM at the venue, display queens especially mannequin dressers, a steamer, a van or small truck for moving mannequins, security, cashier, stage manager.

Also, if you can help us promote this event, mail cards to a list that would be relevant, put a banner and link for the event on your site, etc., that would also be a big help. We are trying to get to the next level with the collection, and every letter I get like the one from friends of Dorian Corey or Madame (both of whose amazing costume collections pretty much disappeared in rummage sales and by thievery) I know we simply HAVE to do this work.

If you can help us, please email me at the address in my profile or call the office at 212 929-6060 and leave a message with a good time to call you back.

Past DCI info is at http://www.mothernyc.com/dci

[This message was edited by Chi Chi on 05-24-01 at 01:08 AM.]
So exciting to see my post finally getting the attention it deserves. Or rather the attention that The Downtown Costume Institute deserves. We were all so fortunate to be there to experience the fashion of the periods that we have lived through. I hope some of the younger readers will take the time to browse through the pages on the Mother website devoted to costumes of the scene.r
I had you down for the second half of the cashier slot -approximately midnight to three. You'll be sitting with Kitty and Leather Mike at the front table, taking all those precious donations. I can think of noone better for this slot, and thanks!

You'll be taking over from Club 57 legend Dany Johnson, who will do the 9-midnight slot...

What a supreme team for this night!

love to you both..
As Greil Marcus points out so beautifully in the book, those lipstick traces (on a cigarette) can re-emerge decades or even centuries later in a new form, to re-energize or inspire. So it was, in microcosm today. We'd just finished several grueling days of storage weeding and moving, and decided to toss the mbanal reconstruction items from the 1999 shows, like the generic beatnik black turtleneck and the thriftshop black slip recreation of Holly Woodlawn's black strip.

When facing down a collection as formidable as ours has become, an entire bin of rare 80's Westwood, the Todd Tomarrow leather Victorian bustle (recently donated) and the Flawless Sabrina beaded gown from The Queen, these faux items no longer seem worth keeping.

So we piled them into this sad-sack piece of luggage that had been on many a DCI tour that still had the little plastic skeleton hand keychain that they give you on the New Orleans graveyard tour dangling off the side.

We left it by a dumpster and by the time we were getting into our cab, a wharf-rat old-school Avenue D wino was already going through it and then, as we pulled away, he had hoisted the bag and was carrying it off down the street, excited by his haul.

We imagined him setting up a little shop on the street, selling the slip and maybe the used metallic tights within to some new generation of JC drag performer buying the slip that we bought in a thrift shop to match the slip that the TRASH costume designer (if there was one) bought in a thrift shop almost thirty years ago to match the slip that Holly used to wear.
(Or maybe Holly just wore her own thrift-shop slip, we'll have to ask her when next we meet.)

Lipstick traces. And a beautiful end to the day.

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