If, at the mention of "shampoo", your first thought is not of washing your hair but of these fabulous ladies, then congratulations - you have passed me "cool test" (I'm joking, washing your hair can be pretty fun too).
I've loved Shampoo since my childhood self first saw their video for Trouble on The Chart Show. I saw two, older-than-me awesomely bratty girls who, if I'm completely honest, would have terrified me in real life (not so much now though, thankfully!).
I was about 7/8 at the time, too young to buy any music magazines or know how to check for TV appearances, so my Shampoo experiences were very few, and very far-between. Hearing them on the radio caused excitement that was only rivaled by a new episode of Animals of Farthing Wood and the release of The Lion King.
Thanks to the internet - especially this Tumblr - I've been able to catch up on a lot of that stuff.
Shampoo was made up of Jacqui Blake and Carrie Askew, two schoolgirls who were best friends and had their own Manic Street Preachers fanzine - they even appeared in MSP's video for Little Baby Nothing.
They decided to form a band, taking the name "Shampoo" from the playground nickname, "The Shampoo Girls", they'd been given after always turning down boys with the excuse of having to "wash their hair".
Their first single, Blisters and Bruises, was released on pink vinyl in 1993 and generally ignored by the (tasteless) public, despite receiving positive reviews from NME and Melody Maker.
In 1994 though, they had huge success with their song Trouble, and album We Are Shampoo. They ticked the two boxes of 90's mainstream success in the UK - an appearance on Top of the Pops and a cover of Smash Hits magazine.
Trouble even went on to be featured on the soundtrack to the Power Rangers movie and, more excitingly, Foxfire. The band seemed to have their biggest success in Japan, though they never really reached the levels of popularity they obviously deserved. Their follow-up albums Girl Power (1995) and Absolute Shampoo (2000) couldn't match the, albeit short-lived success of their debut release, and they eventually split-up in 2000.
I've read that a lot of teenage girls actually hated Jacqui and Carrie, which is a shame. I can't help but wonder if they'd have been more popular now or if they'd just come across as a weird attempt at selling 90's nostalgia through pop music.
Style-wise, the girls were a picture of pink, plastic kitsch (the artwork for We Are Shampoo also featured a collage of Barbie dolls and sweet wrappers). With their platinum blonde hair, cropped t-shirts and platform shoes, they were like what Baby Spice always wanted to be. But guess what, she wasn't (still my favourite Spice Girl though). An influence of mine? Of course! I'll leave you with some of my favourite Jacqui and Carrie outfits...
What kind of blogger would I be if I didn't talk about my style inspirations? I'm joking, of course, but hey, I'm going to talk about them anyway!
Personally, I quite like reading about other people's style inspirations. It's interesting (and pretty cool) that anyone can be an inspiration, not necessarily someone who is involved in fashion.
The first person I've decided to talk about is D'arcy Wretzky, former bassist in Smashing Pumpkins - not only is she a style inspiration, she's a musical inspiration to me too.
Her style changed throughout her time in Smashing Pumpkins, going from cool grungey look to a more cyberrific goth style. I'm not great at truly analysing or dissecting a person's style, so prepare for basically a few pictures and me gushing about how much I like them :-p
She's wearing a Blue Velvet t-shirt, need I say more? I'm always slightly jealous when I see people who are able to look so great in an unfitted t-shirt and jeans... I just don't feel like I can pull it off that well (I still try though, oh well!). Maybe it's a case of being my own worst critic, but I always feel like I just look lazy and like I haven't put any effort in... and not in the good way I might be aiming for.
Again, something don't feel I can pull off, yet still continue to try - the baggy sweatshirt. A staple of any grunge fan's wardrobe! And see how she's wearing sunglasses but the picture doesn't look that bright? That's cos she's cooler than you.
This is D'arcy in the video for Bullet with Butterfly Wings - obviously the space-goth vibe has taken over, and she pulls it off brilliantly. I think, in most cases, if someone has or has had blue hair, then they're probably pretty awesome (why yes, I have had blue hair myself!).
She almost looks like a different person here, but it's take more than that to trick me. Mostly, I'm love with that dotted bass she's playing!
Blue hair and black gothy make-up, perfect combination. What do you think of D'arcy's style?
If you were to have a glance through my wardrobe, you'd know straight
away that I love polka dots. I was thinking about my love of polka dots
yesterday (like you do!), and thought I'd write a post about the QUEENS
of polka dots... Strawberry Switchblade. Of
course, they were much more than just polka dot queens; they were an
awesome synthpop duo (made up of Rose McDowall and Jill Bryson) in the
early 80's.
If I'm honest, I fell in love with them before I'd even heard them, based purely on seeing this picture:
I quickly took to the rest of the internet to hear as many songs as I could, and find out every last detail of these ladies. The first song I managed to listen to was Since Yesterday,
and I was surprised at first, it wasn't at all what I expected them to
sound like! On first listen, there music is quite poppy (don't get me
wrong, I like a bit of pop), but then you start to notice the lyrics,
the harmonies, all the subtleties that make their music so addictive.
In a way, it reminds me a bit of The Birthday Massacre; they're music
is very synthpop-influenced, but the lyrics are often much darker. I
read somewhere (I wish I could remember where!), I think possibly an
interview with the band... someone said the name was a good reflection
of their music; sweet and happy sounding, like a Birthday, but with
darker undertones (the "massacre"). You could definitely apply this theory to Strawberry Switchblade's music.
They
weren't around for that long, only releasing one album and a few
singles, so I guess it's not unsurprising that, without the internet, I
had no idea they ever existed. Like a lot of great things though, they
were really popular in Japan.
Check out the video above, if you haven't already, and try listen to
some of their other stuff. I'm going to talk a bit more about their
style, and the influence I think it's had on me. Their style
definitely has elements of Lolita fashion to it, which I love. I discovered Strawberry Switchblade a couple of years before I'd even heard of Lolita, let alone the many substyles attached to it. Lolita,
and other Japanese street styles, were the first kind of fashion blogs
I used to read and I still love those styles (there are too many to
list here, I'd rather talk about them in their own posts and give them
the attention they deserve!) today. Rose and Jill were the first girls I thought of when I first saw these blogs.
Of course, this was the 80's, so the hair is BIG. These ladies weren't
concerned with sticking to the trends though, so they often took their
big hair further, usually by adding lots of polka dot ribbons and big
bows or flowers.
I think it's only fair to give these ladies at least SOME credit for my love of synthetic dreads, hair falls etc. I plan on making some falls adorned with polka dot ribbons myself sometime, I'll be sure to post a picture when I do.
Polka dots aside, I think it's the DIY ethic that lies at the heart of the Strawberry Switchblade style. While I've dabbled in making things, it's only now that I've decided to take it a step further and actually make things on a regular basis, a process I plan to chronicle on this blog. I guess it doesn't hurt that a Hobbycraft store has just opened here!
