NYC 1985

I'm landing into JFK, an anxious 17 year old dreamer ready to conquer New York.

Happy to have my Grandmum living in Newark, New Jersey. I would be crashing in her little apartment until I found a place to live in the city. Little did I know how bad Newark and New York Ciity was in the 80's, but when you are seventeen, and you have your head in the clouds, what do you know.

All I saw was bright lights and big ideas. I felt that I was talented and big enough to make it here.

First thing, get a job. Actually 3 jobs, how else was I gonna make rent here. Two clothing stores in Greenwich Village on Broadway, (antique boutique) someone told me it's still there, and The Gap by the Empire State Building. Talk about your day and night clothing stores .I didn't last too long at the Gap, they fired me after I showed up from my other job with a T- SHIRT full of holes, they said I wasn't Gap material, go figure!

I found my style literally on the streets of New York. Vendors on the sidewalks selling laced up flat boots

t-shirts and jewellery was bought outside a store. Yes I worked in a clothing store, but I couldn't afford the cloths.

Me and my friends were the trendsetters for all the designers and magazines who came into our stores and took pictures of us. PR people gave us free tickets to get into the Limelight and The Palladium, so there would be the young cool trendy villagers at their clubs dancing. I would dance until 6am, and that's another story. That's why I came to New York City, to make it on BROADWAY! Unfortunately, there are a lot of obstacles when your on your own at seventeen, but let's get back to Fashion....

Let me tell you what I wore, torn T- Shirts, ripped jeans, a lot of black leggings, laced up boots, lots of those black rubber bracelets that Madonna use to wear. She got them from the venders in the city. I'll write a little thing you might not know about Madonna. Cutout sweatshirts that hung down from one shoulder, flashdance style. Big colorful oversized blazers with large shoulder pads, I wore my blazer over my black laced shirt, laced fingerless gloves. I wore a lot of cropped lace shirts, in black, black was my color then and still is. I wore baggy pants, they were called Haram pants back then with a cool black and white print on them and a black crop top. Did I mention my laced up booties. I went through them so fast because they were flat and you would end up with holes on the bottom of the soles and they were leather but they were very thin leather. You do a lot of walking and dancing in New York.

I had a lot of high low shirts, high in the front and very low in the back, with black leggings and my booties and don't forget the fingerless gloves. The cloths in the 80's weren't as fitted as they are now. The designers who are bringing back an 80's influence in their clothing have a more conscious effort in

flattering the body, or Im sure the majority of people would not be buying them.

We stuck to wearing the leggings and cropped tops, so we could show our figures, but once you put on that blazer or baggy pants, you looked like you were 50lbs overweight.

New York City is fashion and I was in the heart of it, I said I would mention Madonna. Well, everything she wore and her music video VOGUE came from the city. My gay friends, who called me CHINA DOLL, we would head to the piers on 9th street in the Village after work and we would turn on the boom boxes and start voguing. Hence the song VOGUE!!

A lot of my friends have passed away from AIDS but I am so fortunate and blessed to have known them and been with them through some amazing times that changed my life forever.

New York City confirmed my love for the arts and fashion but I left New York City when I was 19, I became very ill and with a broken rib, I flew back to my mom and dad's to recover and never went back on my own again. I never persued dancing and singing ever again but I focused on fashion.

Thank you for visiting me and I'm sorry it's been so long since I got back on my blog. I am working on the next project which will help put more consistent content into the blog. I appreciate your patience and your support.

love, m.