On the Street: The Annals of Outrageous Self-Invention, 1980-1990

“On the Street” is a collection of photographs by Amy Arbus; the photographs presented here were selected from Arbus’s original photo-column that ran in “The Village Voice” between 1980 and 1990, a page that documented New York City’s downtown area’s most vibrant, creative dressers and personalities.

Now that Manhattan is only habitable for the very rich, many New Yorkers love to reminiscently look back to the truly mad and crazy ‘80s, an era when the Bowery could be quite dangerous and apartments were still fairly affordable. Back in the original 1980s and 1990s, Amy Arbus found the subjects for her extremely unique photographs mostly by just wandering around the Village, looking for people who were wearing visually creative and unusual outfits, a lot of polka dots, or stripes, or everyone wearing hats in the summertime. At the time, there was nothing else like it. Until Arbus’s photographic work, there hadn’t been any kind of record of the East Village scene when it was comprised of this particularly promising, hopeful group of talented, interesting people.

Describing her pictures from this 1980s to 1990s collection, Arbus stated, “In terms of the clothes, I think they were fantastic and funny and outrageous and silly….There was no kind of judgment going on at the time. Everyone wanted to be noticed, no matter what it was for. That’s completely gone. Being noticed is irrelevant now. You have to make such waves to be a success at things now that dressing differently may make an impression, but it’s not going to get you a career.”

Madonna, St. Mark’s Place, 1983; Lesbian couple, 8th Street, 1981

Alan and Charles Rosenberg, Central Park, 1985; Fingernail Extensions, 23rd Street and 8th Avenue, 1988

Pia Guccione, 8th Street and University Place, 1988; Phoebe Lègére Accordion, 10th Street and Avenue B, 1987

Tongues Down, Rafael Araujo, 7th Street and 2nd Avenue, c. 1987-88; Jenny Gift-Wrapped, 59th Street, 1982

Susanne Bartsch, Houston Street and West Broadway, 1987; Miranda Pennell, Columbus Avenue, 1984

The Clash, Broadway, 1981

Jan Long, Cooper Union Square, 1982; Julio Q, Broome Street, 1985

Our fav movies from the 90’s. Paris Is Burning is a 1990 documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the poor, African American and Latino gay and transgendered community involved in it. Many consider Paris Is Burning to be an invaluable documentary of the end of the “Golden Age” of New York City drag balls, as well as a thoughtful exploration of race, class, and gender in America.

Creative team Reed & Rader(NYC), brings life and imagination to the game. Pamela Reed and Matthew Rader are on a fast track to capturing pop art surrealism and high fashion in one. I got a chance to chat with them earlier today, looking forward to building with them one way or another. PEEP GAME + FINALLY FASHION SPREADS THAT ARE WORTH GOING GOO GOO GA GA OVER…

Filed under women you need to know about:
I stumble upon fascinating women from time to time while researching for our upcoming collections. I recently found Ms. Penny Arcade who isn’t your average cultural pop legend icon from New York (as the late Andy Warhol or Edie Sedgwick). It is impossible to describe the juggernaut that is Penny Arcade without entering the world of hyperbole that she not only inhabits, but also personifies. Since first climbing out of her bedroom window at age 13 to join the fabulously disenfranchised world of queers, junkies, whores, stars, stalkers and geniuses, she has become one of the most influential performers in the world. By fearlessly displaying her singular brand of feminist sexuality and personal conflict she has garnered countless fans worldwide with an emotionally and intellectually charged performance style. It was also in 1990 that she created her most famous work, her sex and censorship show, BITCH!DYKE!FAGHAG!WHORE! …a blend of political humanism, freedom of expression and erotic dancing, BITCH!DYKE!FAGHAG!WHORE! toured the world twice both as an international festival as well as a commercial hit in 20 cities around the world. We approve!

Listen to this:
Penny Arcade’s Rebellion Cabaret – Penny Arcade and Chris Rael
Live performance recorded January 2005 at Fez, New York City