I have to confess to generally not paying much attention to the world of music.
Occasionally a single will grab my attention and I’ll download it on iTunes, I like to listen to some big band swing or something like the Andrews Sisters and I’m partial to a bit of mid 90s grunge and indie or a bit of rock occasionally. I’m not much of a consumer of music so Paloma Faith passed me by a little, right up till I fell in love with her a bit when she appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks in Autumn of last year.
She was wearing a little yellow pill box hat atop the most AMAZING hair and a jacket covered in pom poms. And she was funny. Funny, and a little bit odd.
This, I thought, is a girl that knows about dressing up. She’s got that retro vintage twist, but she knows that the advantage of being a modern girl is that you can wear what you want, mix your decades, or go out in a leopard print leotard.
Her outfits are sometimes pure quirky fun, sometimes a mix, and sometimes pure vintage glamour, but she always dresses like she’s having fun. Speaking as a girl who seems incapable of wearing jeans and a t shirt without unconciously trying to create a “theme” I appreciate this urge towards fancy dress in others.
This is one of my favourite photos. I love the ladylike goth feel. The outfit has a futuristic feel in the pattern on the top, but overall it feels retro, but dark and mysterious.
But, like all my style icons, Paloma Faith is no mere fashion plate. She’s got an MA from Leeds University, an amazing singing voice, and she says things like “…And I get disappointed with people of my generation, because I think there’s a culture of numbness; of getting completely smashed the whole time, and not thinking about anything.”
She’s a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, a little bit retro queen, and very much her own person. Plus, I love the quirky, deco, theatrical feel of her website.
So, for a love of dressing up, Paloma Faith gets the almost imeasurable honour of joining the ranks of the Retro Chick Style Icons
