I like to make my own clothes, it's fun and a good way to get your own look when you don't have much money. It's also good to recycle things and to not give money to big clothes retailers who exploit people in the third world and then spend millions convincing us we need to look a certain way. If you're not too vain then you can customise things you already have or charity shop finds pretty easily. The part I like best is looking all time at different materials and thinking what they could become. If you think, 'no one in their right mind would wear that!' then you know that no-one at the party will have the same outfit as you ;-)
OK this was the dress which started it all, gaining far more attention than I could have anticipated. Made from some fabric they still sell in Basildon. It's kind of thin floaty silky stuff, not PVC as suggested by Ken from Trash Monroe when he saw the pic! It was supposed to be quite loose and hippyish but instead of sewing the front to the back I sewed it to an offcut, which meant that the back and front were different lengths, it didn't cover my boobs and there was a long extra bit. With some careful needlework once it was on I managed to make it decent but word short dungarees underneath in case, my key tip to ladies who play on stage is to remember not to force yourself to be elegant. There's way too much to worry about up there without thinking people can see up your skirt. Anyway I tied the loose dangley bit around my neck and it all ended up looking a bit goth-lite, which wasn't the intention, but sometimes fabric just decides what it wants to be and leaves you no choice. The dress is no longer wearble as I had to bite my way out of it later that evening in order to visit the loo.
For Brighton I had a shop bought dress but got people to write on it. There was a game on hangman on my back and Manda drew some rock. Best of all Lydia Lunch autographed the bottom! Here is a photo of her doing just that, also in evidence my tiger coat from the Sue Ryder shop. I love that coat.
On my feet I wore white stilettos because it was an 'Essex' promoting gig, but I put safety pins in them and scrawled the names of all the bands on them in marker pen. They were very uncomfortable.
Paul proudly displays his T-shirt from Tigerrific.com, go there to buy your own and help fund tiger conservation!