Sometimes I just don’t feel right without pagan bling, crinolines, and a big ol’ fascinator. I’m Hot Topic incarnate, right down to the black lipstick and early-’90s Polaroid vibe. I’m playing a character in this shoot, deliberately channeling a very specific feeling, but deep down we all know it’s not really a character. Who among us didn’t have the Spencer Gifts/Inkubus Sukkubus/”you’re not my real dad!” phase? (Who among us ever really left it?) I still headbang to Voltaire doing 70 on the highway. I still keep The Satanic Bible front and center in my bookcase. Too bad I missed my era. I never got to take those 3emo blurred Polaroids for real. Is it unbearably inauthentic if I try to recreate their look in Photoshop?
Josh, bless whatever passes for his heart, bought me this dress form last month. I love dress forms. They’re delightfully eerie and they have a practical use. One day, knock on wood, I’ll have a whole collection. I need to design more photo shoots with them. They make such creepily evocative props.
Y’know, I was nervous about posting these. It’s hard to be shitty in the name of doing good. It’s hard to make deliberately bad art and hope people make note of the deliberation. But even harder than trying to be polished is letting oneself not be polished. I think these photos fit the mood I’m trying to convey. And that’s because of, not despite, their terrible, terrible quality. They remind me of the humble, awkward selfies Agent Starling finds in Fredrica Bimmel’s room.
My Kingdom for a Hat 
Still in that phase at heart. I often think about dressing up the way I used to. But it just looks foreign to me now. Witch at heart, but I’m natural now.
Yeah, I know the feeling. Pretty much all of the tall, lacy boots I wear in my photos are from Hot Topic. I’ve had them for years. I just can’t let them go. Whenever I wear them, I feel like a bad ass. So, they’re hard to give up from that emotional standpoint. Sometimes, I just need to go to a dark place and be moody and contemplative and introspective. I have to balance the light with dark and hope with realism. All of these feelings are encapsulated in how I dress. So, it come as no surprise that it affects what you wear and how you want to wear it. Nothing wrong with that, bro! ❤
Oh and I got your email! I will reply to you ASAP! ^_^
– Anna
http://www.melodicthriftychic.com
Hah. It’s funny how my perspective changed from last November to now.