Eight New Year's Resolutions of and IndieChild

1. Take More Photos: Everything around you makes for a great photo. It's just a matter of taking the photo. I need to take time to see the world I live in through a lens. This means not only the interesting shapes of the world but also relationships between people I know, and people I don't know. Every time I see my friends, we make memories. I don't want to grow old and forget. I dream to be an old person with heaps of photos who can bore kids with them (jokes, they wouldn't be bored, they'll be in awe of what my friends and I did in 2012).
2. Clear Out my Wardrobe: I just have so many things that aren't worth keeping, so many things that just don't work with me. And the less clutter I have in my life, the more 'zen' I feel and just so much more creative.
3. Blog More Often: I mustn't let great stuff pass by that I can share with my fans. Also, like my photography (which often appears on my blog), my Blog is a huge creative outlet for me. I feel really ill when I can't release the creativity that builds up/brews within me. Once I've put myself out there (ie being published to the world), I start feeling really inspired and the juices of creativity start to flood back in. I'm really looking forward to your comments!
4. Stand Up For Myself More: This is a really important resolution for me. I'm too nice to everyone, even people I don't like. And what happens is I get walked all over. I need to always get my point across and stop being walked all over by everyone. 
5. Go On a Road Trip: I've always really wanted to go on one and I think I need to because they're such an important part of growing up and finding who you are. Normally, when you're driving around town, you have no thoughts. But not on a Road Trip. it's a perfectly designed time for figuring out things about myself - I select the music (maybe I'll also jam in the back) and I may or may not know which roads I'll be taking across this vast country.
6. Devote More Time to my Music: This resolution is really important to me. Music is not just a huge creative outlet for me, but working on it makes you better at it. Music makes us truly human, it connects us. And part of standing up for myself means not being afraid of people judging my own compositions. Music is great because it's in both time with others and time spent by myself.
7. Laugh More and Have Great Times: Spending every moment I can with my friends ensures this. Who doesn't want to have a good life? There are so many funny things out there, such as funny websites. I've really got to incorporate fun stuff into everything I do. It shouldn't be too hard if you've got a) a funny bone and b) can see potential.
8. Redecorate my Room: Their bedroom is where teens can really let it all out - their feelings, their personal style and their creativity. I really want to make my bedroom totally me, I mean, I'm not going to be a teenager forever! I'm really inspired by being a teen. The room really needs to be an explosion of "me". All sorts of childhood and thriftshop trinkets have stories and I feel a connection with them. And I find that crap chucked/strewn across my room really inspires me. I'll just wake up and see all this stuff which really gets me in the frame of mind for my day (before even doing my glam-rock makeup!)

tous vos cliches

Head scarves have been around god knows how long and same with turbans. Timeless pieces. What we should not fail to think about are the different types. There are gypsy ones, pirate ones, religious ones, Queen Elizabeth II ones, cancer sufferer ones, babushka ones, Paris Hilton ones, fifties ones like Audrey Hepburn ones and Grace Kelly ones, and of course "ethnic" ones, the list goes on. I've been a wearer of the Grace Kelly in my past. Let's just say many people with good taste have worn headbands/scarves/turbans and many people with bad taste have as well. Today, there are people who think the fifties was the ultimately ideal decade and try to make their 21st Century life into a 1950s one.

In my search for images for this blog post, I've noticed that Elizabeth Taylor is the queen of the headscarves.

Enough of the Elizabeth Taylor pictures, Billie!

Take note as I talk about the alternative headband/scarf, the topic of this blog post. The original one worn by modern alternatives is the one you see hippies wearing at markets. I bought one of those long ones that you scrunch up, but I wear it as a tube top. Unlike the Paris Hilton Band, these alternative ones actually hold back your hair and protect the ears from the cold. This makes them ideal for outdoor ventures. I've seen this great picture on Facebook of friends on school camp wearing those Indie bands that scrunch up with flannel tops. Where one must tread carefully is when experimenting with the second Indiest style. This is the headband turban like Ashley Olsen wears. The ready-sewn-together  "silk" band that gives, as Americans would say, that "Oriental" vibe is quite inferior to the home-knitted variety or the nice silk scarf tied around the head.

An example of the essence of the alternative headband/scarf and its wearer? Well, take a look at Zaz singing Je Veux with her strong voice. Get the message.

I'm starting a new section of the blog called "Dear Billie" (how creative am I?), which is where you can ask me a question and I might answer it publicly. I'm starting it off by asking myself a question and answering it, so that you get what it's all about if you haven't encountered this sort of column/post before. The beauty of it is that the readers don't have to know your true identity unless I sell it or anything.

Dear Billie,

I don't really know what to say so I'm just gonna say a lot.
I've always been ahead of the trends. Other people are copying me and that's the thing, they aren't giving me credit.
Like, I don't want to be rude or anything, but I was in to the Beatles before every other Tom, Dick or Harry. And they never tell their friends that they first heard about them from me. Also, I liked the Beatles before they got on to iTunes.
I have always been into vintage stuff and the sixties and I have always known who Adolf Hitler was and about Ralph Lauren.
Maybe people don't always know that I know things, like, is it because I have not been walking around in one of those t-shirts with the big polo symbol?

People don't appreciate what I appreciate. Seriously guys, you have a lot to thank Ralph Lauren for.
Sometimes I have a great idea and don't do it or I have a great idea and do it and get "dissed" by the public. And then five years later (seriously), everyone's doing it, even the popular people. 
Is it just me or...oh my god! I'm getting all chocking up over this. Oh my god! I just remembered how when I was little, kids copied the way I tied by shoelaces with bunny ears. And then they all denied it being first done by me.
Please tell me what's wrong. In the past twelve months alone, people have copied these things about me:

1. Wearing Doc Martens with a floral dress;
2. Taking photos with soft lighting. I was using Vaseline or thing cloth on the lens, but people are using this online programme...?;
3. Dip-dying. When I first did it, everyone thought it was called tie-dying;
4. Liking their mother's old clothes. Dude, and they all hated their mothers before!;
5. Reblogging on Tumblr. Seriously! I was the first to reblog!!!!!!!

And now people are calling things "Indie". But I feel they don't actually "get" Indie stuff. It's as though suddenly everything I liked has now got a label because it just so happens that my taste is "Indie". Only it wasn't called that back then, it was just me.

xoxo Your Only Fan, Australian teen, 2011

Dear You're only a fan so after I reply, don't reply.

Sometimes the world just isn't ready for things. Perhaps similar to your case, Mahayana Buddhists believe that during the Buddha's life, people were not ready for the deeper truths of the Mahayana Doctrine. Just remember, if you're ready but they aren't, it's okay. This is called wisdom. I think it's hard to be the right guy at the right time. But hey, look, it'll all come together. Jesus lead a difficult life but this was part of a bigger plan which we can now see. And we, the ones who nailed him to the cross, can now love and appreciate him.
I think there are several paths you can choose from for success.

1. Be assertive about your style. This will be positive if people already like you because you will become known and admired for your style and you will become famous. I don't think Plan One will really work if people don't already like you because they will not want to look like you and you will never be given credit. (I'm guessing people already like you if they follow your style);
2. You stop being Indie. I don't think people in Australia are into steampunk nor "popular music/culture", so that's always an option;
3. Do as my Year Eight Latin teacher told those who finished their work quickly and accurately, which is to sit back and feel/look smug.

Whatever. You go girl! Whatever you do, show the world your taste and creativity - don't confine it to your Moleskine Notebook! I think people on the Internet will get you, like they got Tavi Gevinson. Maybe you should get a blog like me.

Sincerely,

Billie

P.S. When I first described Indie style to mum, she was like what the hell, Doc Martens with a floral dress is a "classic look". ("What the hell" is the look I got off her face, not what she really thought/said).

P.S.S I think you should watch this episode of Lizzie McGuire where Gordo's retro style is ripped off by everyone at school 

I Heart My Hair

Chapter #6 of Stuff Indie People Like by Joanna the Friend. It has a bit of a personal backstory - our cool Year Nine Religion and Philosophy teacher telling us about how she notices girls in particular getting a new haircut when they go through a big change in their life. That was related to the lesson because we were watching a seventies movie about this guy who gets into a cult and consequently gets a new hairstyle.

The last time I changed my hairstyle was at the end of my time in Singapore for my return to Australia. I didn't manage to get a new haircut for starting at my new school. However, in the couple of weeks before school, my hair had grown out quite a lot and was looking like The Rachel. [What does that mean? That I wasn't into new beginnings/newness anymore; that instead I was going through a time of growth?]

Which reminds me about how I love watching the changing hairstyles on the TV show Friends. Starting at the beginning: Joey moves in and Chandlers gets rid of his beard (okay, that one doesn't really count because we don't know about that until a flashback occurring later). Rachel leaves Barry and her old life at the altar and goes to New York where she then undergoes radical change - so does her hairstyle after the first couple of episodes!!

“when you don’t dress like everybody else, you don’t have to think like everybody else”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/fashion/iris-apfel-90-stylish-and-on-hsn-up-close.html?pagewanted=all

why can’t I show the top of the page like links on facebook.

Zebra Micro Mini

Are you an Indie whose signature look is animal prints? I think not. Animal prints are not florals, which is why they are not what first comes into your mind when you think about Indie patterns. And I reckon this is because they are seen as unnatural and fake. They do not conform to the Principle of Organics. Animal prints decidedly belong to a couple of looks and that has been an unquestioned point in society. But today I am daring to challenge. Because I have seen a photo on the Internet of the Indie Icon Françoise Hardy in  a zebra miniskirt.

source: http://www.listal.com/viewimage/2421771

xoxo

Indie Inspiration

I had to force myself to sit down and write this blog post. Sometimes things are such a drag and one is surrounded by the type of energy that blocks up the joke pipe and/or system of progression of ideas. But it's okay now because I've tied back my hair in a way I haven't done in a while and have been drinking Turkish apple tea from the special glasses which were a gift from a friend a couple of birthdays ago. But anyway, I was really inspired a few days ago reading a post on beautyfool.net about how to do fake dreadlocks with hair gel. (Note: Indies are always being inspired by this or that.) From there I went to find some images but was quite unsuccessful. 

So anyway, the dreadlocks style is rooted deep in ancient history and have been worn by many religious groups. Just look it up on Wikipedia. According to that one unreliable source (with questionable information on Australian breakfast under Australian cuisine), reasons for wearing dreadlocks are to express "deep religious or spiritual convictions", "a manifestation of ethnic pride", "a political statement" and as "a fashion preference." But that was hardly new knowledge. Dreadlocks are totally a mark of commitment to something. Like, they take ages to form, so it would be unwise to embark on the journey and decide half way through that you no longer wanted to be making whatever statement you supported before.

Dreadlocks are an iconic fashion statement among rebels. In the fifties, the Mau Mau rebels lived in the forests of Kenya growing dreadlocks and fighting against British rule. And of course the Rastafarian wearing of dreadlocks to, apparently, rebel against Eurocentric ideals about beauty and the way things should be cannot go unmentioned.

These days the dreadlocks look is associated with hippies, cults and new subcultures I didn't know existed until I saw them mentioned on Wikipedia and had no desire to look at their page. So pretty much, they are worn by people who are hard-core and are displaying their rebelness. And their inspiration was possibly the reggae vogue blah blah blah Bob Marley, a staple on the Facebook profile of Indies. The rebelling is probably against commercialisation of everything in society and the absurd triviality of society's routine (such as cleaning your head).

image: http://themusicsover.com/2010/05/11/bob-marley/

Online, the alternative can congregate together as a community on sites such as dreadheadhq.com. And purchase accessories, hair care items and synthetic extensions (I get this image of opening up a drawer in the dark and landing my hand upon fat coils) at dreadlocks.com.au. And the impatient dreadlocks lover could always get a salon dread perm using chemicals, which I reckon is what they did for the Argentinian brand Complot's verano 2009 collection. (Ha! And they've got all these pages about backstage, which is an Indie like, because it's a peak into the Industry.)

images from http://lomejordelamoda2008.blogspot.com/2008/10/complot-primavera-verano-2009.html