Eccentricity Quiz

August 26, 2022

Leigh Bowery wearing multiple glasses

How Eccentric Are You?

Do you need to be eccentric to be a true artist?

What kind of glasses do you wear?

Just wondering. This isn't literally a quiz but something I've been thinking about.

I've noticed that some artists have been successful, partly because they have cultivated an eccentric look. They've been memorable and they have stood out from the crowd. If eccentric means 'outside of the circle' - or non-conformist - then wearing a lot of different colours, textures and patterns can fit the label. Most people don't wear a lot of clutter - if only for practical reasons. It's harder to go about your daily life if you are wearing an armful of chunky bangles. And black and grey clothes are easier to match together.

Iggy Pop talks openly about how his eccentric stage antics were performed to create a persona or image that would get the right kind of attention.

On the flipside, being playful is a big part of being creative and maybe these artists were dressing up and flouting it way before they were working. Way, way back in their childhood years. Or maybe that's just something a lot of kids do and creatives are like children that never grew out of it?

I'm not sure. I just know I love colour and I want to fight the grey.

In my shop I want to offer something a little bit eccentric. I'm offering designs as an artist and not as a desk bound, grey corridors conformist.

Dressing up

From the age of about 8 I spent a lot of time rummaging in old clothes piles. My aunt had a lot of used party dresses. Oh I wish I could see them again. They're all gone now. A black 1950s number with a hundred layers of net. And a stunning 1970s silk maxi dress with shocking pink diagonal stripes wound around it like a barber's shop pole.

Frankie aged about 10 wearing eccentric outfit with swimming cap

I wore outrageous clashing colour clothes and clownish outfits right up until my mid twenties. I remember one of my favourite outfits was made of lurex and trimmed with rhinestone braid. It was a thrill and something to hide behind.

These are some bits of Edwardian lace I found in a jumble sale in Cambridge.

Dressed up in Edwardian lace.