IAN's - Not Your Mother's Store

Remember my 8th grade graduation photo from a few posts ago (see Betsey Johnson)? Well, I continued to out-do myself year after year -- my mother was so pleased (secretly she really was, though).

So for my Senior Prom I thought I'd raise the bar - about seven feet - and get a dress at Ian's on 2nd Ave. near 60th St., not to be outdone by its St. Mark's locale. For those of you not versed in the ways of Ian's...well, it hasn't changed much over the years, it's still catering to the punk-rock-metal-dominatrix-fetish set. And I swear, as a naive 18 year old from the 'burbs, I didn't really get the implications of this stuff, I just thought it would look cool in a motorcycle chick/"Wendy & Lisa" kind of way. So I topped off the black cotton spandex mini-dress with a leather motorcycle cap that I found on Bleecker Street, back when Bleecker was chock full o' head shops. Ah...memories. Anyway, to make sure it was a suitable "outfit," my dear mother found gold piping matching the dress, and trimmed the hat with it. I am laughing out loud thinking about this now - I guess she figured, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Also, I am wearing black high-heeled Kenneth Cole shoes with a faint paisley imprint that I believe I picked up at Marty's. Does this place still exist? (The answer is yes, I found its website, but the inventory looks pitiful.)

So you might look at this photo and think - as others have - "Oh my. That poor, sweet, innocent boy must have been so overwhelmed." Yeah, well, hold your tears for someone else because Mr. Altar Boy is an international rock star/the front man of Dog Eat Dog, currently touring Europe. Lesson: Don't judge a rock star by its tuxedo.