Through the OTHER side of the Looking Glass..

Ive got something to say.
After all this time i thought of something.

I had an epiphany the other day, in Half Price Books.

When I first got seriously into modeling, and began to have some degree of success, I thought to myself "i cant believe I'm doing this/seeing this/cant believe I'm here." I thought that I was finally doing something interesting, finally had a world that someone would want to look into. And so I should move from obsessively documenting the things that pass me by in notebooks to obsessively displaying it in blogs. because its interesting. People want to read this. Live vicariously.

Well, the other day I went to the fashion section of Half Price Books, looking really for this Japanese street fashion book that I can't think of the name of, or at least something visually inspiring. But all they really had was a handful of books about models, certain models, or models in general. Things with titles like "Model: Life Behind the Lens".

And I involuntarily though something to the effect of, "How boring."

It caught me off guard, that thought. I remembered that I used to be one of them, I used to attempt to create exactly this kind of media. I used to think these things were interesting, right? It hit me.. I don't think I ever did think the soulless documentation of models because they are models was interesting, in and of itself. I thought it was interesting because I was trying to do it, and trying to find a way to sell it, so I looked for examples.

"Its only really interesting to the people who would rather be there instead of you."

Its funny how much I've changed, how much I don't even wish for the thing that not so long ago I hated giving up. I see girls I know who are still doing it, and I don't feel a wistfulness about it anymore, I think, if anything, I almost feel a relief when I see facebook posts - back and forth, telling industry people how great they are, using the vocabulary of friends just a little over-zealously to put in place a relationship that does not yet exist but is desired. I'm glad it isn't me, that I don't have to do that anymore.

A little caveat: I am not saying that I look down on modeling, or find everything about it boring. Only that at one time, I thought it was enough to make a story interesting and now I think it isn't enough. There are some people who can tell the story of their lives modeling with a vision that makes it interesting - there's at least one on my blog roll. This is more an arraignment of myself and the particular way I bought into it than anything else.

Accidental Brewriot - A Sunday Drive.

  "Let's just get in the car," says Ryan, after much debate on where to go and what to do there. We comply, and are soon driving south. At first I speculate that Ryan has chosen Ft. Worth, but he turns onto a frontage road where I expected a merge left. We drive through Oak Cliff, commenting on the houses and the scenery, and what a street could be like, filled out with interesting businesses.
   As we creep into Bishop Arts, we see an unexpected crowd - a mix of sunglasses, bare shoulders above summer dresses, hipster shoes and small plastic cups held aloft. I read a snatch of writing on a sign- "Homebrew Teams.. "
  "I think its a Beerfest."

 

  In line for wrist bands, I wished I had worn less and debated on whether a wrist band for beer samples is a good investment for a liquor person. Fifteen minutes later, we were armed with the proper supplies for the Bishop Arts Brewriot Homebrew Festival: wristbands, cups, and marbles for voting.

 

 

Paparazzi shot:  Jesus shoes and little dog.

 

Sweet Maggie cider was my favorite. The chocolate porter I had was also good, and not too chocolatey, but I took no pictures and cannot remember who it was by. :(

 

 

Ryan and Thom can't resist Uncle Buck's.

 

Rahr girl pours a Summertime Wheat - I want to like Stormcloud just for its name, but I know I could never love an IPA. 

 

Paparazzi shot: One of the best neighborhoods for checking out ink.

 

 

Paparazzi shot: slouchy tee shirts, chillin by the car.

 Ending the excursion on Lockhart's patio - after generous $3 Jameson shots.

Effingham, IL, 1981, Sartorialist Style...

I was scrolling through The Sartorialist today... (http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) and the vintage photos he does reminded me of this old photo that my sister dug up for Mother's Day on Facebook.

There was some Facebook debate over what town this was, but my mom remembered it was Effingham and knew what street she was standing on and what direction she was facing. Mom is 16 or 17 in this photo.

When I was a young teenager and I first saw this photo, I liked it because I got a kick out of the idea that my mom, despite her sometime protests about our spaghetti straps, had in fact once worn a tank top, in public, with her shoulders and collar bone showing. (By the time I was 13 or so,  I had no memory of her ever wearing anything that showed sternum or carried risk of bra strap exposure, despite her being still approximately the same size she was in 1981.)

Say it with pictures..

So I fianally got to shoot with two of my favorites at the same time- Anthony Chiang and Roxanna Redfoot. And I fianally got that smiley shot for Joe, my agent.

Ah this one reminds me of summers spent cruising Mason.. if you don't understand the comment you wouldn't get it if I explained either. :)

In my underwear.. or rather, Her Room's underwear.

Working at Dallas Market Week

The glorious view from the atrium..

Actually written Oct 31 2008..

I worked Dallas market week last week, and it was a really good experience. I was originally hired to model in the showroom, but Steve, the showroom owner, found out that I have a degree in Fashion Design, and my job title quickly became more flexible. It was really quite interesting watching the buyers shop lines and listening to all the conversation around me- kind of like being the proverbial fly on the wall. I worked very long hours- not to mention the hour it takes to make my hair behave like it belongs to a model- and at the end of market I never wanted to work again. But now I’d be ready to do it again next week if I could.

Dallas Market Center may be the most wonderful place in the world. If there is a more wonderful place, I’m sure its in New York or Paris or Milan. Or maybe in London, but that’s really not fair- the English accent makes everything more appealing. There are 15 floors, with a huge gaping atrium in the center that cuts down through all of them so that when you ride the clear elevator up you can window shop every floor for just a moment. Just going up to the 14^th floor where I worked made me feel like I was getting ready to do something quite glamorous and exciting.

When the place fills up with buyers, it suddenly becomes very hard not to go around blatantly checking out everyone’s shoes. It may be a stereotype, but it is true- for the most part, buyers are very glamorous. I often wished that I could be the Sartorialist (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) and just go around taking pictures of them all. But instead I had to stand and look pretty and be the object of attention. While there are young, trendy buyers to be seen, a lot of them are nearer to my mother’s age, or even her mother’s age for that matter. These were the women I was most fascinated with- you see glamorous twenty-something women in every magazine, (although sometimes all a story contains is young women who are presented as glamorous, although the particular specimens may or may not be.) But at market I saw so many women in their forties and sixties with devastating style and confidence.

The modeling in a showroom can run the gamut between the easiest kind of modeling and the hardest. In and of itself, the job is easy. Just stand and display a garment, turn when told to, put on something else when told to. The hard part is this- Market Center was FREEZING the entire time, and many of the garments I had to display were rather tiny swimsuits from Cia Maritima. Putting on a swimsuit is easy enough, but at the end of a day spent concentrating on smiling and not letting myself shiver I find I’m much more tired than I otherwise would have been. That said, I absolutely loved the bikinis- even the Brazilian cut ones- and the thought of how good they looked on me went a long ways toward keeping me warm. Plus everyone I got to work with was really cool.

Steve also has the distinction of having played guitar with John Denver- and I’m quite fond of John Denver so it was cool to hear some stories about that- and we also got to hear Steve play at Market Center one night! His website is http://www.steveweisberg.net/, you can see info about both the showroom and his music there.

I also got to show a few lines from time to time. I have never really thought of myself as a “seller” personality type but I must admit I did find it quite enjoyable. It’s not about convincing someone that they should buy something. It’s just about connecting a person who already wants a product to the correct product. I will most likely continue doing some work in the showroom for Steve, which I am looking forward to. Although I am focused on and enjoying the heck out of my modeling, it is good to feel like my degree is getting a bit of use.

An outfit I put together with some of the showroom samples

A Basic Timeline of Rika's Existence

The end of the eighties.. Rika’s memory starts here. She spent her childhood in the country in Effingham County Illinois- which is far far away from Chicago but only a couple hours from St. Louis. Rika has three sisters and one brother. Dad works on oil rigs, Mom stayed home for the first several years of Rika’s life. A good day for Rika during these years involves some of her cousins visiting. The TV only gets two channels, but Rika watches Ninja Turtles and Mario Brothers nearly religiously. She likes to play outside and frequently has boys’ haircuts.

Elementary school- Rika goes to Dieterich Elementary school. She is not very good at being a kid and never understands what the other kids are talking about because of her lack of watching TV and movies. She likes to read anything historical and is sort of a quiet dork.

Rika’s older sister has a 110 camera and she and Rika begin to take posed pictures of each other. Eventually they move on to 35 mm and eventually older sister emerges as the photographer and Rika becomes the model.

Rika's youngest sister participating in Oldest Sister's early photographic habit

Junior high- Still going to Dieterich, just a different hallway now. Rika does solos at chorus concerts and school variety shows. Starts to play bass guitar. Begins to discover the entertainment value of being odd. Older sister is the “hot girl” at school, Rika is generally well tolerated because of this. Rika starts dying her hair the night of 8^th grade graduation and keeps switching her hair color constantly until after college.

Rika (with wrench at left) with siblings. Photo by Carpe Diem Photography (Oldest Sister and her husband)

High school- Rika plays music with various buddies, eventually spend a significant amount of time playing heavy metal in Nine Circles with best friend/boyfriend Thom, her brother Levi, and neighbor Poe. Destroys a good percent of her voice this way.

Sews her own clothes because the nearest Hot Topic is almost an hour away in Terre Haute, Indiana. Works fast food and waitressing jobs. Gets good roles in school plays and does the announcements every morning on high school cable channel- allowing the whole school to quickly check out what she is wearing. Generally refuses to do homework and graduates 22 out of 42.

Y2K- The coming of the millennium is somewhat uneventful as Rika’s parents make her come home by midnight. Older sister salvages some of the night by insisting on bringing Rika home about a half hour late. J

Older sister becomes a serious photographer sometime during this era.

The graduation cap and the butch haircut caused by too much dying- photo by Christa Tibbs

Rika majors in Fashion Design in college. She works her ass off in school for the first time in her life and also works jobs like Denny’s and Casey’s gas station. Doesn’t have time to do much but school and work. Models occasionally for school fashion shows, ect., sometimes her own designs. Wins first place in eveningwear at Emerging Young Designer in St. Louis- gets a badass embroidery machine. Almost signs with a modeling agent in St. Louis, decides the guy is a creep. Graduates May 2008.

Models in Rika's creations for her senior thesis collection

June 2008- Moves somewhat inexplicably to Dallas TX, starts modeling seriously, and stops dying her hair.