I turn 44 tomorrow and this morning I woke up at 5am and once my mind had started whirring it decided that a fun thing to do would be to publish a decade by decade retrospective!! Unfortunately all the pictures of me at 4 are at my Mum’s and I wish I’d had this idea yesterday when I was at her house, but then again when you’re 4 you pretty much get dressed by your Mum anyhow so I’m starting at age 14.
Basically I look like a boy…a soulboy at that. I actually thought I was the bees knees in my Hawaiian shirt and cotton trousers with I-don’t-know-how-many pleats at the front! I believe this look would be brought together by a boob tube underneath the shirt and a pump from Ravel. At 12 and 13 I would not be seen without my Rattus Norvegicus t shirt, drainpipes and pink flourescent socks but evidently at 14 something changed and I wanted to look like a boy who could dance.
At 24 I had the good fortune to meet Haydn Wood (Woody) out clubbing and he took this picture of me on the roof of the building where he worked. We became firm club buddies and I think this look is saying that I’m part of the World Clique since I was majorly into Deee-Lite and I think this Pucci dress was one of the first designer items I ever bought. Basically, everything was worn with these platform boots that I bought in Camden Market and probably never took off for the next few years!
When I was 34 I appeared in Playboy magazine (parental guidance for this photo since it contains a little bit of side-minge) which is a story I’ll tell properly another time, but the interesting parts of this story are that Pamela Anderson’s make-up artist did my make-up and the bunny head you see underneath me they gave me as a gift and I shipped back to London and it became my ‘couch’ for the next couple of years!!! When I became pregnant with the boys it seemed a little impractical, not least because the glitter got EVERYWHERE.
Sarah took the last photo the other day so it’s my most recent and favourite photo and I was a week off 44 so it’s as good as dead-on. Outside our bijoux emporium in a bit of army surplus pondering the future perhaps…not trying to hold in a fart as Superduck suggested!
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Comments ( 17 )
michael added these words on Dec 11 09 at 2:07 pmPicture one- Sheena Easton pre “The Big Time”
Picture two- i can vouch that those boots NEVER came off, i remember when you got rid of them, I was distraught!!! Weren’t they Biba?
Picture three- I’ve not seen that one from that session, what a treat to have that to look back on (for all of us…grrrrowl).
Picture four is great, I think it’s a little bit Jenny Runacre, never a bad thing!
Generations of Brooks!
Shaun added these words on Dec 11 09 at 2:26 pmYes I remember the black platforms ,wolford tights and wigs. You in Freds and all the boys wanting to BE you. LOl xx
Madame added these words on Dec 11 09 at 4:16 pmHahaha, Sean, not wanting to “get with me”, BE me!!! Ricardo informed me that he got mistaken for me ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!! (!).
Michael, I still actually have the Biba boots which are purple over-the-knee suede, these were generic pleather 70s platforms and I LOVED them until they died!!! I LIKE the Jenny Runacre comparison very much THANKyou!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA I can see exactly what you mean about Sheena Easton!!!!!!!!!!!!!
michael added these words on Dec 11 09 at 5:16 pmYou look so cute in that first picture…not unlike me around that time ! Similar wardrobe!!
Joe Pop added these words on Dec 11 09 at 6:56 pmSo nice to have a rummage through your back pages. Always a style icon, but may I say you are looking particuly gorge at the mo. Thanks for flying the flag for the over 40’s yet ‘funky’. x
Beniah Brawn added these words on Dec 12 09 at 1:18 amChrist, you at fourteen looked like me at sixteen! Weird!! But the most beautiful incarnation is the most recent one!
Madame added these words on Dec 12 09 at 10:30 amThanks all of you for your comments!!! Not surprising Michael that I look like you in that first pic – I am literally a boy!!! (not to confuse anyone….not LITERALLY!)
Haha, oh yes, I aspire to “funkiness” very much Joe!!!!! So glad you noticed!!!!
Paul, but you had a proper Vidal Sasoon asymetric cut whereas I had provincial approximation thereof….
That's Not My Age added these words on Dec 13 09 at 10:55 amYou’re not alone (I mean looking like a teenage boy, not the Playboy appearance) – I can remember being out shopping with my mum one day and someone asked if I was her oldest son!
Madame added these words on Dec 13 09 at 3:33 pmThanks Iris! I have a Christmas card for you, hope to see you in the next couple of weeks?
Hahaha TNMA, I was flat-chested pudding-bowled and just about to discover copper shades of make-up which helped to distinguish me in the correct gender group.
Nahid added these words on Dec 13 09 at 9:07 pmgreat looks – do you have a painting in your attic Ms Brooks? You’ve hardly aged – happy birthday we shall luncheon tomorrow – I’ll be eating mash… Nx
susie_bubble added these words on Dec 16 09 at 11:00 amWhat a great ’style through the decades’… for want of a better term…
Happy Belated Birthday!
Stella Mayfair added these words on Dec 21 09 at 6:40 pmoh wow, pippa, you really resemble la grande marlene dietrich quite a little bit. i think you look simply fantastic madame, and i wish you all the very best for your personal new year :-)
Madame added these words on Dec 22 09 at 5:30 pmCrikey Stella Mayfair – I thank you very much for the compliment!!!! Hope your new year is everything you desire too!!! x
BC2DR Brand added these words on Feb 02 10 at 5:32 pmNice decade by decade idea. Happy late 44th bday! My reactions to the image timeline went “Hawaiian, Retro, Whoa buddy, Classy”
