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When I was a kid, my dad was incredibly interested in the hand-painted promotional canvas tarps that advertised traveling freak shows in the early 20th century. The outsider art compositions and huckster verbiage really engrossed him. He even painted a collection of satirical freak tarps, more of a gag than his usual work, depicting freaks through a lens of 21st-century norms and shifting taboos like "The Unpierced Lady, with only the holes God gave her.” We even helped him stage a performance piece at an art fair. I passed out bags of popcorn while my sister, dressed with a straw hat and red arm garters, barked to passersby.
I’m grateful that, at a young age, my dad instilled in us a real love freaks and outsiders. When I think of those who push boundaries in fashion, breaking longstanding rules and forging new modes of dress, it really is always the freaks at the forefront.
Coney Island Side Show art by Marie Roberts
A Letter From the Editor
Hi there, angels. This past week marks our first-ever editorial package, AKA #FreakWeek — a tribute to our favorite weirdos&oddballs&maniacs&freaks pushing fashion forward. I am so endlessly proud of our team for their brilliant work, and, too, all of you for reading these new stories with such thought and care. This’ll be the first of many packages and projects to come, and I can’t wait to share them with you in the coming year.
Anyway — you’ve heard a lot from us this week, but I want to hear from you. Whether you have thoughts about Freak Week, want to get involved with future HALOSCOPE projects, or just want to say hey, feel free to email me at [email protected].
Now, in the immortal words of Chris Fleming:
Love,
Savannah Eden Bradley
Editor-in-Chief
SURPRISE! It's #FreakWeek — a week-long exploration of the strange, slippery, sexy, and macabre in fashion, from the designers with a penchant for shock to the freaks who push fashion forward.
Zoom in for some hints on what's coming this week.
— HALOSCOPE (@haloscopemag)
2:00 PM • Oct 27, 2024
The mad scientist trope is “mad” in their morality — an unethical character that takes things too far, who jettisons the ethical and moral values society prioritizes over their own clashing desires: progress or perfection. The female celebrity who sacrifices her “natural” beauty in an attempt to achieve a better kind of beauty is regarded in the same sense. But this character, when female, is seen less as evil or dedicated, and more like a fool. Hoisted by her own petard. So, where is the line between aesthetic enhancement and extreme transmogrification drawn?
Desperate Living (1977)
Waters once said of his leading lady: “... beauty is looks that you can never forget, and I’ve walked down the street with Divine and seen car accidents happen.” Not exactly a kitschy tale of a perfect 1980s housewife, but perhaps a fable on the fruitless pursuit of perfection; floral pantsuits, roller updos, and high-waisted latex are the mark of a dysfunctional woman in a John Waters film.
McQueen’s clothes were never about covering up or disgracing women, rather, they were about enhancing and emphasizing them by perverting the customs of beauty. Whether it was women's trauma, physicality, emotions, or her natural desires, McQueen always found the dark side and pushed it into the light. He knew that savagery was just as much a part of feminine beauty as anything else. To McQueen, there was very little he found ugly.
Newsletter Editor Ella Gray asked a ton of fashion insiders one pressing question:
What is the freakiest thing in your closet?
Leah Abrams: A fake Louis Vuitton briefcase that my friends and I found next to a trashcan on Metropolitan and Humboldt. We thought maybe there would be treasure inside but it was empty except for a pocket knife. Can't bring myself to get rid of it for some reason?
Molly Elizabeth Agnew: Late 19th century bodice. Can't help but wonder what stories good, bad, and potentially haunted, it carries.
Daisy Alioto: Probably a DIRT hat because anyone who owns one is a pervert.
Rachel Bartz: The freakiest thing in my closet is a vintage nylon jacket with a vulture, skull, and knife embroidered on the back from the Vietnam War. Thrifted her and found blood in the lining.
Ken Downes: The freakiest thing in my closet would have to be this tweed blazer that has the personality of an unsavory mullet. In the front it’s cute with some clasps and fastens and then there’s a single adidas pant leg sewn on the back. It’s a funny freak of fashion nature for sure.
Walden Green: Bit of a body horror story here, so be forewarned. Back in my college days, I used to do most of my shopping for going out clothes in the women's blouse section of my local Buffalo Exchange. One day, I found this gorgeous vintage tank top covered in gold square sequins that, when I put it on, read very "slutty gladiator," which I loved. Wore it to a party that night, but when I woke up the next morning, the entire undersides of my arms — anywhere they'd been in contact with the sequins — were covered in little scratches. Suddenly it made a lot more sense why such a well-preserved piece had ended up there in the first place. Now when I (rarely) wear it out, I have to bandage up my arms, which does raise some questions of its own. Still stuns though.
Annika Larson: The freakiest thing in my closet is a full-body fishnet stocking that I got from a sex shop the night before Valentine’s Day last year. I thought it could spice up Valentine’s Day night but I didn’t even end up wearing it and I later broke up with my boyfriend anyways. Maybe I’ll wear it for Halloween or something.
Kaitlin Owens: The freakiest thing in my closet is a pair of rhinestoned chicken shoes.
Ana Beatriz Reitz: A long pale pink tutu skirt à la Carrie Bradshaw. I bought it when I visited the U.S. last year and was totally smitten with it because it reminded me of Carrie’s iconic intro look. The skirt is very cute, but at the same time whimsically eccentric — so eccentric that I haven't had the courage to wear it yet. On the bright side, I could dress up like her for Halloween, or maybe as a ballerina. At the same time, whenever I want to channel my inner Carrie in my daily life, I might pull it on. Nothing but perks.
Andrea Rose: Blood-stained ballet flats. They give me terrible ankle blisters but I can’t quit them.
Charlie Squire: I have this insane hand-made button down that I drained my bank account to buy off Etsy when I was a teenager that features sexy shirtless men and trucks. I often wear it to the gay bar, but also to the bagel shop / bank / graduate school philosophy seminar. I would describe it as a… conversation stater?
I also have this vintage square-dancing dress that I think might actually be cursed. It often brings bad and strange things!!! The last time I wore it, I got beaten up by a total stranger outside of the library because he “thought I had a gun” (?). I can only assume it causes some sort of mirage that makes me appear villainous or spectral to the general public. Equally freaky: the insane sweat-stains I managed to put on the armpits after just three wears… it is very cute but I will never wear it again!
Kelsey Weekman: The freakiest thing in my closet is a bonkers pink top that I accidentally kept too long from Nuuly, so it's mine now. It looks like a shower loofah for the most fabulous 75-year-old woman you know. I have been waiting for the perfect time to wear it, which in my mind is vaguely "brunch," but the perfect time hasn't struck yet.
A fun look back at the freakiest place to be in 1982 London:
Mandy Lee’s perfect Fashion Freak Halloween costume:
@oldloserinbrooklyn Happy halloween from lynn yaeger 😘 #lynnyaeger #halloweencostume #nychalloween
Some freaky mouth staples from the Givenchy Menswear FW 2015 show:
And, finally, an oral history of CHIC’s Le Freak:
