Woman Crush: Janelle Monáe

I love that ‘girl crush’ has become an accepted phrase in fashion writing!  The best thing for feminism now is if women show a little love and appreciation for other women, so I thought I’d write about some of my own ‘WOMAN crushes’.

I was late to discover next-big-thing Janelle Monáe, but I’m now completely enthralled.  If her video for ‘Tightrope’ doesn’t make you smile, you must be made of stainless steel.

That girl can move!  And she looks amazing in the tuxedo she calls a ‘uniform’, in homage to those worn by her working class parents.  Her look is also, of course, decisively gender-bending; Janelle has said, ‘I feel like I have a responsibility to my community and other young girls to help redefine what it looks like to be a woman.’

Janelle’s style, visually and musically, celebrates the subversive and boundary-defying, an explosion of ‘the new black imagination’.

Oh, and if you just want to gawp at her lovely face for a few minutes, she has seen to your needs, too.

(images: ill-literacy.com and clutchmagonline.com)