With savvy synchronized moves, perfect dance-punk neo-soul beats, futuristic art, and a surreal sense of style, Janelle Monáe might as well be an ArchAndroid (the title of her newest release, out this week). My husband and I first heard about her through his friend at work. He was intrigued by the way her song “Make the Bus” sounded a lot like Of Montreal’s last three albums and soon found that they had actually collaborated. It was a smooth introduction to Janelle through a band we already loved!
Ms. Monáe was featured in the November 2009 issue of Vogue and the Summer 2009 issue of Paper. Read an excerpt from Paper’s article:
For Monáe, who is no joke about what she wears (currently only black and white—usually a white shirt, black tie, black pants and saddle shoes), uniforms have come to represent her rejection of chaos; they are the anti-chaos—the walls against which her anomalistic mind can push while she goes about creating and maintaining the persona that is Janelle Monáe.
“I have always taken to uniforms,” she explains. “I loved watching the guys and the girls in their post office uniforms. And I was obsessed with Colonel Sanders.”
“I just idolized his outfit, and it was the weirdest thing to people around me, because they didn’t understand. We would go get KFC and I’d be like, ‘Oh, my God, I love his outfit!’” So much that she tried to re-create it as a kid — mostly in her mind, though, because, “when you’re a kid, you don’t really want to go there. I was a little afraid that people would be like, ‘Why is she wearing this all the time?’” Clearly, she got over that. Later on in grade school, she wore a cape for three straight months, and dressed as a pirate for two.
Not too long ago, I was talking about a different kind of uniform, one that I had put on immodestly as a response to too much structure. I was clearly disillusioned by what I thought was setting me free. I killed creativity by flaunting my flesh as a way to get attention through my body and not my clothes. Uniforms can be so much fun after all. Just look at the way Janelle embodies this clean and prim style. She hardly ever looks like she’s wearing something from an adult costume store or a mini-uniform as a sad excuse for a Halloween costume. Janelle is displaying her choice of clothes as the avant-garde expression of her response to chaos. She successfully pulls off the look well, contrasting the rigidness of uniforms with the fluidity of her music.
My birthday is coming up next weekend, and you know what I would really like to add to my closet? A military or band-style blazer. It’s been pounding on my heart like a drum roll.
May 19th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
I LOVE her, she makes real music!
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May 24th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Agreed her music is awesome!! AND She is GORGEOUS!!
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May 26th, 2010 at 4:14 am
Oh,isn’t this the girl from the Coca Cola commercial`?She looks awfully nice and I have a sympathy for dark-skinned people,reminds me of Black-Power movement and their great music.
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Rachel @ a la Modest Reply:
May 26th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I didn’t find any Coke commercials with her, but there is a GAP commercial featuring Janelle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_F51Lcf2Fg
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May 26th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
ohh,here,I found it after a LONG search(oh my!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw7u90WBY8M .She appears at the end and I love her jumping.
I thank you for your very kind words and advices,I would very much like to chat with you and hear your story.
How can we get in contact?
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Rachel @ a la Modest Reply:
May 26th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Awesome! Thanks for searching!! That’s what’s cool about having people like you from Germany on my blog
Feel free to “Like” a la Modest on Facebook found on the right side of my blog. We can chat there!
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May 26th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
righty-right,I added you on Facebook.
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June 17th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Love her style!
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June 17th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
I am LOV-ING her style! Definitely need to check out her music, too, as I dig Of Montreal, and can’t imagine a collaboration with this darling woman could be bad.
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June 17th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
[...] A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe [...]
June 18th, 2010 at 12:18 am
[...] A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe [...]
June 18th, 2010 at 1:54 am
[...] A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe [...]
June 18th, 2010 at 11:48 am
[...] A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe [...]
June 18th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
nice bolg .nice content ,i found your blog on Metin2 yang,.i think i wll back soon
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June 21st, 2010 at 7:40 am
[...] A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe [...]
June 21st, 2010 at 10:12 am
[...] A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe [...]
June 23rd, 2010 at 3:21 pm
I really love fitted blazers! Good stuff!
you may like this giveaway
http://livingembellished.blogspot.com/2010/06/giveaway-in-new-york-minute.html
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July 2nd, 2010 at 4:41 pm
[...] A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe [...]
July 19th, 2010 at 3:23 am
[...] A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe [...]
July 31st, 2010 at 10:00 am
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August 2nd, 2010 at 10:07 am
does anybody know what kind of shoes shes wearing in the coca cola commerial?? i need them!!!
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