LOOK AT LIFE / COCO HAMES

Sanctified and girli-fied.

By Coco Hames

See, I was just thinking about being female again, and I was thinking about the imagery associated with my sphere in this world, specifically the sphere of the musical world.  Tags would include, but are not limited to: garage, punk, rockabilly, trash, desert, surf rock, '50s and '60s pop icons and art, etc.  There are skulls, there are tattoos, there are greasers, and there are girls.  And these girls are undeniably attractive.  The natural female form is celebrated and presented with great care, and the end result is oftentimes a very girli-fied version of the woman.  You know what I mean, little dresses, pigtails, little school girl skirts and oxfords, etc.  And I am thinking to myself, how CUTE these girls are, and then I think about WHY they are cute.  And the cuteness, that's a noun, that's the undeniable part.  It's fucking cute, it's a fact.  But what I am really thinking about is why it is ATTRACTIVE.  And previously -- while not against self-expression in any form of any other person -- I was thinking to myself, I am NOT dressing like that.  Because all I could think was, who am I trying to appeal to?  Some GUY with a school girl fetish?  FUCK that.  But consider, I took a photograph a few years ago dressed up in this type of style.

Side note: I never actually wore that dress, I bought it on eBay for a '60s party and it didn't have a back, that photo shoot was the only time I ever wore it.  No wait - I wore it once, to that New Year's party at the Echo where Poni slipped in someone's puke and I caught her by the FACE, that was amazing.  But anyway, I'm not trying to get around the fact that I wore babydoll dresses, it happened.  And I was thinking the other day, WHY did I wear them?  I am generally uncomfortable in BEING of the second sex (which isn't entirely true, I'm just getting used to it is all), and I don't typically dress to impress anyone, let alone anyone who like their girls pigeon-toed and dumb-eyed, so what was I trying to achieve?  I was trying to look cute, I guess.  Because I was cute, I was young and cute and that's what was happening.  And I LOVED '60s music, so that was my representational homage, too: my visage, my countenance, paying visual tribute to the swingin' '60s.  That was the definition of that look for me.  But the impact of the photo carried different meaning than what I was trying to convey, which has always annoyed me.  But I was up against common public associations of imagery, and it's hard to change that.  Easy to achieve, hard to change: the ontology of the photographic image. 

Currently what has developed in MY mind as MY perception of this look is one that excuses, in MY mind see, and allows for this look in MY world of understanding.  Previously, I had considered this aesthetic as pandering to a male fetishized demand, which of course I personally CANNOT allow.  And I didn't understand how these tough, smart, punk women would subjugate any portion of their being to ANYONE.  So I knew that MUST not be what's behind the "look" for them.  Knowing I sound psychotic ranting about these things, I was kind of always too shy to ask my friends, "Hey, can you give me an in-depth reasoning behind why you dress the way you do?"  I only have a few friends, and I regularly scare people away, so I kept said girl friends and I thought about it, about what I was seeing: the youthfulness, the representation of girlhood, e.g. the pig tails, the school girl skirts.  But then the tattoos, the piercings, the breasts (which you do not have when you are a little girl) and the tough, real, adult attitude, mannerisms, etc.  The juxtaposition of the celebration of girlhood (which is different from femaleness) with BEING adult, from a female perspective, that's what I was interested in.  And I think I've figured it out.

Now for some, I do believe the "little girl" thing is a fetish and is an issue, but that was THE issue I was afraid of when I initially started thinking about this.  But (wo)man is reasonable in that (s)he can make a reason for anything, and I reasoned that since these women are not women who would make themselves subservient in any way (words I'm thinking of are "shrink", "small", "stultify") that THEY must have control of the definition of the code of their dress.  Anthropologically, these things matter, you see.  And what I understood THEIR perspective to be is that, for many girls, the girlhood-advent-of-puberty time is, like, the CRAZIEST exciting time of your life.  You recognize yourself as a sexual being, you learn what that power means, there is a new (as in, not ever there before) responsibility and definition of self, I mean, it's crazy.  And I'll bet a lot of girls, subconsciously or otherwise (we already defined and decided upon "cute", you see) want to remember and celebrate that time.  And so, for them, their "girly" look is powerful.  And it is attractive because not only do a lot of women respond positively to that imagery and its inherent representation, MEN do, too.  Because when those little girls were discovering their power, uh, dudes were discovering it too.  In themselves, and outside themselves, in that opposite sex.  There has to be a moment for a lot of men where Suzie goes from having stupid cooties to having mystical powers.  And then therefore, I like to understand the MEN who find this "look" attractive are responding to the subconscious memory of THAT sensory impulse, which is practical and reasonable, and understandable.

And that is why I like rockabilly girls and celebrate their look.  Go on with your punk selves, my sistas, it works, and I love it, AND now I know why.

Do you SEE why I hate shopping?  Do you SEE why I hate photo shoots and videos?  Everything MEANS something, and I'm always trying to figure out WHAT. 

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Blurt "co-co-editor" and advice columnist Coco Hames fronts The Ettes, which include Jem on bass, Poni on drums and Johnny on guitar. Their Greg Cartwright-produced album Do You Want Power arrived in stores last fall, their music was featured in the Drew Barrymore-directed film Whip It. They're currently working on their fourth full-length and additionally have a new collaboration with Cartwright called The Parting Gifts, whose debut record is due this fall. You can read all about that as well as details of their recent tour with the Dead Weather in our exclusive interview with Hames. For music, tour dates and details, check out the band at its MySpace page and the official website.