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| Twiggy |
Quote of the Day --
"It's sort of like a mockery in a way of reality because they think everything is smiles and sweetness and flowers when there is something bitter to taste. And to pretend there isn't is foolish." -Edie Sedgwick
Message --Twiggy, was the world's first ever supermodel.
Her angelic face was the face of fashion during the 1960's, and became an idol for millions of teenage girls of the sixties revolution. Thirty five years later, she is still a significant figure in the fashion world, especially mine.
Perhaps the many cultural differences we see in movies and books between our generation and Twiggy's produce skeptical opinions about the sixties and its sex and drugs rebellion, but we should not criticize their generation based on our current social norms; that was over 40 years ago and a lot has changed. Some for the better however, some for the worst. Either way a lot can be learned from its madness--you just have to look behind the product or person.
People in the sixties and seventies were experimenting with life in whatever way they could; mainly fashion and drugs. After undergoing massively drastic societal reforms, what seemed like a new world was born, rejuvenated and refreshed and ready to be played with. Many actors, artists and models began expanding their horizons and creating very deep and meaningful things. Maybe thats when the quote "Don't judge a book by it's cover" came into play. People began rebelling against the social norms with no care of judgement from others; diversity was actually quite encouraged. People did what they wanted, wore what they wanted, said what they wanted--even if it didn't make since.
A great movie depicting the life of another famous model and actress during the sixties and seventies is called Factory Girl. Sienna Miller plays Edie Sedgwick who was closely tied with artist Andy Warhol for the majority of her career. Definitely recommend watching it to get the full effect of how outrageous things were in the sixties. It's one of my favorites :)
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| Andy Warhol |
However, one of the other main aspects of the sixties revolution were the drugs. Its abuse was especially portrayed in Factory Girl and Edie Sedgwick died at the age of 28 of an overdose, found the next morning with a BAC of 1.7. Yeah, likeee whoah.
The crazy drugs and ridiculous amounts of drugs taken back then seem outrageous but has the majority of our society not become just as dependent on drugs? Hello: medical marijuana (or real:), spice, xanx, klonopins, ecstasy, shrooms, bath salts, roxys, valuum, etc. The main focus of college kids is on drugs, sex, music. Many people call this the "college culture" that's taking the nation by storm. It seems that no matter the time or generation, we are always running away from life.
But why? In our generation, so many aspects of life have been supressed by status quos and the criticism that floods the majority of media/social media (which practically makes up the majority of our life). Facebook, twitter, youtube, all that good stuff; there's criticism each owner of those accounts has or will face probably excessively. It exposes your every move, every look, every thought, everyTHING. The anxiety of being perfect to resist criticism in all these things is almost too much to bare.
Is that why college students resort to drugs to escape the realization of being judged 24/7? Is that why depression rates in America have sky-rocketed? (It affects more than 21 million Americans and is the leading cause of disability in the United States for individuals ages 15 to 44). Is that why there are free therapy sessions (or atleast 10) at almost every college campus, mainly used by students who are depressed? Is that why the majority of college students probably end up spending more money on alcohol, drugs, bars, clothes to wear out, etc, than they end up paying for college itself?
What if we instead we remembered the sixties and what good it offered. Diversity would be expected and encouraged, and we were no longer afraid to be who WE really are. Maybe then we wouldn't feel the pressures of succumbing to the "college culture" in order to be accepted which leads many of us to resort to drugs to block our thoughts, save us. Back to Fashion. What if today we just wore WHATEVER we wanted, with no worry of what others thought? Would you dress the same? I know I wouldn't. If you could be WHATEVER/WHOEVER, dress HOWEVER, think HOWEVER, would anything change?
For me, I think I'm a sixties baby and maybe I'll just start dressing like Twiggy or Edie :)
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| Edie Sedgwick |
Have a ☮ day :)
♥‿♥ Kitty
