Alien Warrior: Grace Jones - Scary and Gorgeous
In British cinemas already show "Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami" (these Jamaican words mean "red studio light" and "bread") is a documentary about the life of an androgynous model, singer and actress Grace Jones. Now the actress is 69 - and, unlike many big performers of the 1970s and 1980s, she remains at the forefront, not one iota without changing her principles, and you can write a dissertation about her influence on fashion and pop culture. Waiting for the “Bloodlight and Bami” show at the Beat Film Festival on May 31, we’re telling you how Jones earned her undisputed legendary status.
Abandoned gender framework
Journalists and fans often compare Jones with an alien - not only in the unusual appearance of the artist, but also in the image that she herself invented and brought to the absolute: magnetic detachment, geometric haircut with a flat crown, futuristic outfits and incredible hats, men's jackets with huge shoulders, as in the famous picture from the cover of the album "Nightclubbing", or a metal corset, imitating a living body, - Jones always followed her own ideas about beauty and, by mood, emphasized the masculine, o feminine traits. Even on the cover of Playboy, Grace Jones looks like a guest from Jupiter - and is very far from the conventional femininity that men's magazines glorify. Like the other bearer of the “alien beauty” David Bowie, Jones has always considered the gender framework meaningless, and the talk about “real men” and “real women” is empty. “I can’t call myself masculine, it's all a matter of attitude,” the singer once replied to a persistent interviewer. “What is masculinity in general? I just act the way I want.” It also applies to the orientation: "Trying to categorize the feelings of other people is just ridiculous."
Perceived the body as a work of art.
Androgynous appearance Jones scared off American modeling agencies - but she made a splash in more progressive Paris: a stately African-American woman with a shaved head and a stern look moved to France at 22, became the muse of Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld and appeared on the cover of all respected fashionable magazines. At the same time, Jones worked on her own style, not devoid of theatricality and Jamaican roots, and knew for sure that her talents were not limited to the catwalk - in 1977 she released her first disco album, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s they together with the photographer and then-partner Jean-Paul Good, they made iconic images glorifying the "wild" androgynous beauty of Jones. In her memoirs, entitled "I would never write memoirs for anything," Jones stressed that she and Hood invented all the projects together: "I have never been just a model, it was a full-fledged collaboration." At the same time, objectification irritated Jones: in the same anti-memoirs, she writes that Good was in love with the stage image and body, for which he did not see her real, which is why they broke up.
In the 1980s, Grace became the muse of Andy Warhol and a regular visitor to his Factory, and there she became friends with Keith Haring - on the famous photograph of Robert Mapplethorpe, the singer, whose body is painted from head to foot with characteristic Haring patterns, represents either a sacred statuette, either an African shaman. Jones was never ashamed of her passion for outfits, turning each appearance into a theatrical performance - and at concerts she changed her headgear after each song, forcing Philip Tracy to watch behind the scenes with a new hat at the ready. Now Jones does not participate in fashion shows, preferring to spend time with his family in Jamaica, and rarely appears at secular parties - but at concerts he does it not less than forty years ago. At the Afropunk festival, the 67-year-old actress’s costume consisted of a white mohawk, a corset and white patterns painted all over her body, and more recently her hoops have become her business card, which Jones twists on stage for twenty minutes in a row, simultaneously performing her hits.
Talked openly about sex and sexuality
Long before the #FreeTheNipple movement, Grace Jones was in favor of nudity: she was naked both at photo shoots, at her concerts, and during parties at the Andy Warhol Factory, and in fifty years she was awarded a lifelong ban on visiting Disney World amusement park because that showed her breasts to the public from the stage. It seems that Jones cannot be embarrassed at all: once she came to a social event with French diplomats, wearing nothing but a necklace of teeth. Jones speaks about sex frankly and with pleasure, without hiding that he considers this aspect of life to be very important. The singer is famous for saying: “One night of good sex can solve all your problems,” and in her memoirs with humor and biting comparisons describes her diverse sexual experiences. "Shaving my head led me to the first orgasm," the singer said and immediately explained what he meant by the hairdresser Andre, who worked in the famous salon on the corner of 57th Street and Madison Avenue in New York. Sexual energy, coupled with performing talents, not only helped Jones's career, provided memorable roles in Konan the Destroyer and James Bond, but also made her an icon of feminism - as well as a symbol of the LGBT rights movement.
Became a gay icon in difficult times for the community
Jones says that in her life there have always been a lot of homosexual men - starting with a sibling, whom a strict religious family rejected for "mannered walk" and "gay behavior." Jones began her musical career in the late 1970s in gay bars: only in these institutions did LGBT people express their feelings openly and it was there that the hit “I Need A Man” sounded exactly like Jones herself was thinking. They were "weird" and felt vulnerable - Grace also stood out from the crowd, but carried her "weirdness" with the confidence and dignity of an alien goddess, which inspired her listeners.
In the bohemian get-together that formed around the Warhol Factory, there were a lot of homosexuals, drag queens and gender non-conforming characters like Grace herself. She felt at ease with them, but the years of tumultuous parties ended badly for many. Several friends of Jones, including artist Keith Haring and designer Tina Chow, died because of AIDS, and she herself had long feared for her health - however, despite an active sex life and drugs, most of her colleagues and friends of that era survived. Now Jones is supporting several organizations that fight the disease, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Like Jones, the British singer believes that he did not become infected with the virus in the 1980s and is still alive because of sheer luck.
Never afraid to "scare men" and seem "difficult"
The most terrible childhood memories of Jones were associated with her grandfather, a religious fanatic and supporter of corporal punishment. Nevertheless, the harsh conditions helped Grace to grow armor and gain bulletproof self-confidence: according to the singer, in difficult situations she recalled her grandfather and turned into a "frightening, dominant man", which was not always good for her career, but always allowed to remain honest with yourself and assert your rights.
One of the most famous scandals involving Jones broke out in a live British talk show: the singer threw her fists at the presenter Russell Harty, because she was unhappy with his condescending tone. The founder of the Elite Model Management agency, Jones, said that he did not want to send her to the castings, as “to offer a black model in Paris is like trying to sell a used car that no one will buy.” In response, the singer literally cursed him, shouting that the man "will die of cirrhosis of the liver" (which happened a couple of years later, though it was not cirrhosis, but cancer). In the early 1970s, she was offered a role in the film "Gordon's War" in exchange for sex - the singer refused in a rude manner, demanded an apology, and in the end all the same was casting and starred in the film. Jones has never tried to adapt to someone and be "obedient", which was demanded from women in show business - this is how the image of an alien warrior was formed, in which the singer feels fine until now.
Jones says that she herself is sometimes afraid of herself - but with age she becomes more restrained in everything that does not concern creativity, and in spite of everything she considers herself a soft person. This, however, is not news - Jones sang about her “unlimited ability to love” as early as 1982, and her fans had guessed it themselves before.
Photo: Getty Images (3)
