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PICTURES OF YOU

Today I would like to give props to Robert Smith of The Cure. The master of morbid make-up is 49 years old today. I'm sure he would hate to hear it, but he has become a fashion icon over the years despite having said that he doesn't care about clothing. He's also said that he hates the term "goth" and would never consider The Cure as such.

I've been following his career for over twenty years and there's no denying he has had an impact on the world of style. That big teased hair and red lipstick (Mary Quant Crimson Scorcher) that has become his style signature has influenced a multitude of performers and pop culture figures (The Crow, Edward Scissorhands, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, etc.). Legend has it that the lipstick look came about after an opium-fueled night with Siouxsie and the Banshees during which Robert grabbed Siouxsie's lipstick and went to town.

He's been called "pop culture's unkempt poster child of doom and gloom" so it's no surprise that he's inspired tons of goths, including yours truly, to tease their hair and wear lots of crooked red lipstick.The first time I saw him without make-up, I didn't recognize him. When talking about wearing a bare face, he has said: "Nobody notices me. Nobody thinks I'm me. But then I look less like me than most of the people coming to our concerts. "

He's still teasing his hair and wearing the eyeliner and lipstick except nowadays he's working with people like Ashlee Simpson (I must admit I love her song Get Outta My Head! This makes me wonder if he might have had something to do with that). He's even inspired a hair product from Lush called "goth juice."

Happy Birthday, Robert! Here's to another twenty years of Aqua Net and red lipstick!

dressing up dressing up

circa Japanese Whispers

Applying Mary Quant Scorcher Red

Exactly what about me says "goth" to you?

working the bird nest look

Still "Mad Bob"

Hump Day Fashion Icon

TWIGGY: HIGH FASHION SUPERHERO!

This week's Hump Day Fashion Icon is inspired by a dream I had a couple nights ago. In my dream, I was looking in the mirror over my vanity. As I frosted the rims of my eyes in thick black eyeliner and drew on big bottom lashes, I realized I was looking back at Twiggy.

No surprise that I would dream of seeing Twiggy as she's one of my all-time favorite fashion icons. After being discovered by an agent at sixteen, the skinny girl born in London was advised to change her name from Lesley Hornby to her childhood nickname, "Twiggy."

Soon after, she became one of the first "supermodels" and the "Face of '66" in Britain. Her mod look was heavily inspired by Mary Quaint and "swinging London." Now 59 years old, the former supermodel has been a guest judge on America's Next Top Model and proves she's still got style and glamour to boot.

She was never one to toot her own horn, however. Looking back she says, "At sixteen, I was funny, skinny little thing, all eyelashes and legs. And then, suddenly people told me it was gorgeous. I thought they had gone mad." Not mad at all, actually. Tall, androgynous, with big doe eyes and a kicking bob, Twiggy is a fashion superhero!