Introducing Performance Bibs (and happy 16th Birthday Claudia)

Here’s Claudia, at her Sweet Sixteen party this past Saturday. It was a flawless success, because my kids both have lovely friends and are beautiful people.

It was a karaoke party with hints of an “American Psycho” theme (just the cake and her thank-you cards, really). We had tacos and pizzas and mocktails named after Claudia’s interests. It was pretty rad.

The party was an important night for me too — I crossed something off by bucket list (not just keeping a baby alive until it was sixteen).

I. Sang. Karaoke.

“Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg, in fact.

But, let us get back to the Making part of this post, and let us begin where the inspiration began…

I’m still acclimating to giving up thirty-five years of all-black clothing. I’ve made good purchases and bad purchases, but I don’t want to make a LOT of purchases, because I gained a lot of weight over lockdown, and when everyone else was getting out and exercising again, I was having gait issues due to my Chiari malformation. And my optimistic sense is that I will have to size down a bit soon.

I knew I was far from the only person who, because of disability, age, or comfort, had considered turning down social experiences where “costumes” and “dressing up” were required.

My daughter only got one sweet sixteen party. I couldn’t wait around till I felt “attractive” to get out there.

I started to think about the most minimal, smallest, closest to one size fits all garment I could make, that could still carry the saturation of drama, humor, folk history, as well as any full costume could.

But I knew the answer already, thanks to Broad City (which we have binged at least ten times in the past five years).

The Performance Bib.

I’m happier than I look here.

I love this tinsel edging.

(This last picture is some public art in Liverpool, but it has a lot of the same elements of my performance bib.)

Make no mistake, I realize I’m reinventing the wheel here. Fancy ruffs and collars are no new thing.  But they give you a LOT of bang for your buck and they adorn a very vulnerable part of you (your throat). This is, structurally, a very simple collar. But I’m concentrating on items like this to make public dancing, singing, and processions easier for people who would otherwise say they “just couldn’t” (but really wish they could.)

Although my rule is often to write about only what I’ve done, and not about what I’m going to do, I’m going to be breaking that rule as we prepare to… change virtually everything about our lives. There will be more posting, and it will be about smaller projects (mostly. There are two Big Builds in the works.) AND, look soon — perhaps in the next month? For Tucker and me doing our first audio-only podcast. This idea has been a long time coming and we are finally ready.

Ready Steady Go!