Bundle up, kids. It’s time for a leisurely stroll down memory lane with Flashion Backward. Let’s wander through UI’s archives and see what ancient creaking box of treats lies in wait for our greedy pawing pleasure so we can all explore the strange vortex in which fashion and musicians meet.
Today, we’re revisiting electropop sensation Yelle, whom it’s hard to imagine calmly strolling anywhere. Or bundling up. The French songstress got her first dose of fame and glory on MySpace with the insta-classic “Short Dick Cuizi,” a takedown of a Parisian hip-hop performer from the group TTC. She emerged from the glory of newfound Internetz fame with a brand spanking new career, a big fan in MTV, who played her shizz consistently, and a gig as a model for Reebok.
But in a very non-fame-thru-the-Internetz way, there’s actually cash behind Yelle’s stunning flash: She produces “thrilling pop exercises” with a “commanding voice” and “plentiful talent.” When she’s not entertaining her fans and scaring the bejesus out of the targets of her ire, she’s hopping around like an otherworldly sprite.
She looks as if she was just beamed down from some galaxy far, far away where aggressively odd fashion choices (who would think wearing a giant happy face necklace and brandishing a fake beam of lightning would look like the height of chic?)–a strange marriage of old-school Madonna tongue-in-cheek faux slut-wear, Working Girl-esque ’80s corporate gear and possible castoffs from the set of Three’s Company–actually look well thought-out, and quite frankly, splendid.
And unlike most ridiculously hot and haute models and cultural icons who claim they were ugly ducklings who never did well in school, when Yelle talks smack about her high school experience, you actually want to hug her, not whap her upside the head with your set of dusty old yearbooks which most likely contain damning evidence of your own, indubitably more traumatic and hideous, high school experience.
TOPICS: Flashion Backward, Kathleen Willcox