Kinderwhore | Justice for Twiggy

KINDERWHORE ETC. FASHION

This page is simply about the fashion in the alternative scene in the early 90's. A lot of interesting points to consider when looking at the claim Jessicka made of Jeordie stealing her stage persona. Because if we look at what was going on in the outfits of the time in general, we'll find out that Jessicka did not originate the look.

You see, the look that both Jessicka and Jeordie wore in the 90's was called Kinderwhore. Kinderwhore was a style that was popular among grunge and Riot Grrrl bands in the early 90's. It was popularized by bands like Divinyls, Hole, Babes in Toyland, Daisy Chainsaw, etc.

Kinderwhore consisted of messy eyeliner and tangled hair, thrift store dresses (babydoll, peter pan collared), ripped tights, boots... It's pretty much what was going on in the looks of Jessicka and the rest of Jack Off Jill, and also Jeordie's Twiggy Ramirez look.

Babes in Toyland:

Divinyls:

The Muffs:

Hole:

Switchblade Symphony had a kind of gothier take to it, and the makeup and hair is very similiar to Jessicka's:

And then, Jack Off Jill. The clothes were very much with the kinderwhore style, though they wore more makeup because they were a goth band. Other than that, thrift store dresses, the makeup, the fur jackets and the rest of the stuff they wore was very typically 90's stuff.

And while not necessarily a part of the Kinderwhore thing, we could also mention The Cure. There was Robert Smith in a dress years before anyone in Marilyn Manson, and maybe this appearance could have been part of Jessicka's inspiration for her look, as she has said many times that The Cure is her favorite band ever, and Jack Off Jill even recorded a cover of Lovesong. The Cure was a huge influence to many 90's bands both musically and visually.

So, Jessicka didn't exactly originate the look at all. Jessicka and Jeordie's looks were a result of the influences from what was going on in the alternative scene at the time. It's simply a bit dumb to claim that for some reason Jeordie can't wear thrift store dresses because Jessicka did it, when there were multiple other people doing the same thing at the time.

And as it seems that a part of the problem is specifically that Jeordie combined black dreadlocks with the kinderwhore style looks, let me show you something; Jeordie had the dreadlocks before Jessicka did. It's interesting that this has not been more widely noted, since there are not many pictures of them together at the time, yet a closer look to these pictures already proves this.

So no, Jessicka was not the mastermind behind the "thrift store dresses, eyeliner and ripped tights" look, and she was not the first one out of her and Jeordie to get the dreadlocks.

But what does it say about Jessicka that she wants to claim credit for a look that was created together by her colleagues in the music scene? Kinderwhore should be seen as what it is, a feminist statement and a memorable way that women influenced the 90's music. But she seems to want the credit for it, disregarding the work of other women in the music scene while talking about how "male dominated" it all is. That's kind of not how it works.

Aside from Kinderwhore, it's also kind of important to note that the 90's alternative bands were a generation of people who had grown up listening to 80's glam rock, gothic rock and synth pop. The androgyny influence was already there. Androgynous guys were a very 90's thing, and there were guys in dresses in other bands too.

Kurt Cobain appeared in a dress several times, there was Brian Molko wearing skirts and dresses, looking very androgynous, in even early Slipknot, before the boiler suits, Joey Jordison would occasionally wear a dress.

So, considering how the heavy makeup, androgyny and wearing skirts and dresses was already a thing at the time, Kinderwhore was already a thing at the time, people in Marilyn Manson and the scene around it wore dresses already and Jeordie already had the Twiggy influence (discussed on the Twiggy&Jessicka page), it's actually very possible that the whole Twiggy Ramirez stage persona would have existed as it was, completely without any influence from Jessicka at all.

Really looking forward to the "who brought the camo pants into death metal" debate, that's how this whole thing feels like to me.

Besides; the early Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids stage looks were inspired by bands like Alice Cooper, Celebrity Skin, Jellyfish, Jane's Addiction. The "Gidget Gein" look that Jeordie allegedly "stole" was already a thing that was "copied" from somewhere else.

So see all that and then look at the early Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids looks: