i blame john hughes for everything. i mean, he created this unattainable angst filled fantasy world, a pinacle of post adolescent perfection. it was a world where the nameless sans-skivvy outcast gets to make out with jake ryan in a poofy pink dress on a glass dining table. a world where saturday school becomes a makeout session and comedic catastrophe. a world where dream men cinched bolo ties tight against upturned collars and pegged pants exposed thick soled pointy toe creepers. a world of MOLLY!
as much as i adored miss molly and aspired to be just like her, my reflection has exposed a cold truth - i know nothing of molly ringwald. i know only of the crimson tressed vintage clad 80s flapper IT girl she portrayed on the screen. and you know what? i'm ok with that. really. to be totally ho
nest, i loved her for her look. shallow? perhaps. inspiring? HELL YES, even to this day.good golly, miss molly. how you disappointed me when you decided to pursue more "mature" film roles. i cried during "for keeps?" because i realized andie walsh was dead. samantha baker had crashed and burned. claire standish was MIA. oh my love, why why why? you gave us three (yup, that's all she wrote) iconic style legends and decided to grow out of your hats and brooches long before your teen queen cur
tain call was due.(sidebar: wasn't iona the dreamiest? she lived in a checkerboard-tiled apartment over a chinese food restaurant, owned an indie music store with VINYL and literally became a different person every day with her endless wardrobe and kick-ass versatile hair. if i was her, i would've NEVER dated that khaki clad putz she ended up with. hey mister - sonny crockett called and he wants his pastel blazer back! yikes!)
how lucky we are that the molly we know and love is forever preserved on celluloid, available to refuel our teen dreams and to ignite the flame of fashion flagrancy for eternity. revel in all that is 80s molly and dedicate a day to the molly look. go ahead and bite your pink painted lip, pout beneath a lightly feathered lock of hair, twist your vintage pearls in confuddled consternation and THINK PINK!!! you may not end up with annie potts as your bff or a makeout session with jon "duckie dale" cryer, but at least you'll feel like you could, if you really wanted to!
i was paid the highest compliment recently whilst sipping a frosty beverage with a contemporary. i sighed wistfully and shared my deepest, longest held desire.
"when i was young, i desperately wanted to be molly ringwald."
heather laughed briefly. "you are," she quipped. "you are."
*sigh*
2 comments:
Thank you thank you thank you thank you, 1,000,000 times thank you! Everything you wrote here is just about exactly the way I feel about Molly. I am a huge Hughes-head, mostly because I loved the endearing Molly and her righteous-fantastic-stick it where the sun don't shine LIMITED CORPORATION! Of course, the love affair started b/c she (and I incidentally) are both red heads. And in the 80's, other kids HATED me, my freckles, and my hair. But there SHE was emblazoned on the movie screen and was a total teenage heartthrob and stylista! Dayum! She's living now in France and has done some foreign films and stage but doesn't get over here much anymore. She still looks like the old Molly too, last pic I saw of her. Not as much of a style rebel as just being timeless and stylish.
Good God Almighty girl! I had no IDEA!
Oh Susie, you've said it so well- about Winona AND about Molly. I feel so sentimental.... (: Sasha
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