Author: Jessica Holmes

“EXPOSED: I Did What?” outfit

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“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago This outfit was for Storyfort‘s launch party to introduce the Treefort exclusive theme and show by Story Story Night, EXPOSED: I Did What? Stories. Somehow, no matter how blindly, I always live out the theme, with every beat of my raw and real heart. True to form, and theme, this event made a live segment of channel 6 news tonight, exposing my mug during the one story I really just wanted to release to the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll ether of Treefort, for just the launch of Storyfort. But there’s no such thing as my own private Idaho. Because there are more than 2 sides to every story. Stories are a prism, reflected back. Pamela McCoy rock-and-roll black leather …

“Um…like…totally CLUELESS” outfit

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With themes based on 90’s movies, it’s been a blast from the recent past at Story Story Night this season. Like tonight was CLUELESS: Airhead & As If Stories. I usually exploit my outfit as my first joke/theme intro, and I really wanted to call this one “Cher from Clueless Becomes Hillary Clinton’s Stylist,” because no one rocks a matching, totes profesh two piece (slash pantsuit) like those two ladies. Unfortunately, though I searched most of the thrift stores in Boise at the last minute looking for a yellow plaid pantsuit (because, like, duh, perfect Cher/Clinton synergy), I only had a red plaid combo that Hillary would likely never be caught dead in (because Republican red state fashion bias) that I had to make into a Cher-style mini-skirt with safety pins and duct tape. Also my only knee highs are super weird and look like a wild animal clawed them up on the sides. My red Gucci bag is a definite knock-off. And since I don’t quite have Cher’s thigh gap, I had to sit down very carefully …

“Joy Division” outfit

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Inside my head, everything is changing. Like spring for a brain stuck in a perpetual winter. My depression came back this winter (because it thinks it’s my best friend from way back, but it’s really just an intrusive asshole forever creeping at my psyche’s door like the Dementor in Harry Potter or maybe that death spirit who looked for the blood of the lamb on Israeli doorposts before smiting most of the first born sons of ancient Egypt. What a stalkery, judgmental, passive aggressive prick of an angel, am I right? (And also, there’s a freaky amount of baby-killing in the Bible.) But all this only makes sense if you’re into Exodus, and mental illness, and off-beat metaphors). Anyway, I finally cried the celestial “uncle.” I am finally taking Wellbutrin, and for the first time, treating this like a boss. Taking fucking care of business, is what I mean, brain-chemistry-wise. It’s been pretty intense. I feel so much. And I forgot how to feel so much, except for 50 distinct levels of sad, like the Eskimo word for snow. Now I feel the full spectrum of …

“Man Repeller no. 451” outfit

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Dedicated to the real Man Repeller. Or “How to lose a guy(‘s boner) in one dress,” if this were a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson and a flaccid Matthew McConaughey. I wore this tonight to Story Story Night‘s REALiTY BiTES: Stories of Eating It. Opening the show, I mentioned that guys can’t quite put a finger on it. And while they might play around with the idea that this dress resembles something a schizophrenic grandma would sew for her antique prairie doll collection, they know one thing for certain: They do not want to have sex with it. And to that I say, touché. But I shall wear it anyway. vintage Diane Fre’s purple print ruffle dress, $14.99 – Idaho Youth Ranch | Steve Madden black leather mules, $39 – Nordstrom’s Rack | White tassel earrings, birthday present This is my kiss off face. Quoth Amy Poehler, “I don’t care if you like it.” (I also included a cat and a doll collection in this post to up my man repellant street cred.) PS: So …

“Hell’s Secretaries”outfit

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Because even outlaw biker gangs should take good notes. Anna Kriste vintage cream blouse, $3.88 at ReStyle | Carlisle black leather vest, $3.88 at ReStyle | Blazing pink skirt (no tag), $5 at ReStyle | Frye “Paige” riding boots, $120 at LUX Fashion Lounge (MSRP: $388) | Terrarium glass necklace (with jasper, moss and lavender), $40 at Wintry Market. Inspired by the Hell’s Angels in the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. What I would’ve done to be Ken Kesey’s secretary.

“Wildaho” outfit

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This Wildaho t-shirt was designed by Toby Robin, the amazing graphic illustration rockstar I met while copywriting at Oliver Russell, who designed Story Story Night‘s logo and first 2 years of jaw-dropping posters, who now mans Neighborhood All-Stars. I bought this t-shirt over the holidays at the El Korah Shrine—the electric, electric venue where we hold our storytelling shows in the winter and spring—at the Wintry Market run by Amy Pence-Brown. She told at a story at our past Starry Story Night, but first stripped down that summer in a black bikini at our local farmer’s market in a radical act of self love now viewed by 147 million people. Because Idaho is wild. And, if you dig it, there’s only 1 degree of separation between all things in the state we’re in. Maggie Sweet red and gold glitter pull-over, $4, ReStyle thrift store | Toby Robin “Wildaho” t-shirt, $25, Wintry Market | Free People black and gray flecked stretch skirt, $30, Nordstrom’s Rack in NYC |  Frye “Paige” riding boots, $120 at LUX Fashion Lounge (MSRP: $388) (PS: I …

“Layer Cake NY” outfit

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I’ve had a bit of a hard time with the winter, in the fashion/spirt sense. But it’s New Year’s. Time for a radical shift. Time to sweat the details. Time for resoluteness even in the aftermath of all those abandoned resolutions. 2015 was a layer cake. Not always sweet. Not often savored. But something to bite into. Now in the midst of the ice and the gray, I deck myself in color and texture and prints. Layered with patagucci and a fur. Ready to face an icy NYE. Ready for anything. Sakowitz fur coat, gift from Anna Demetriades (and her step-grandmother, who had this custom made, probably in the 30s or 40s if I was a tag psychic)  |  Frye “Paige” riding boots, $120 at LUX Fashion Lounge (MSRP: $388) KE II by Gianna flower print skirt, $4, Idaho Youth Ranch | Red leather with brass cross-section belt, $2, Idaho Youth Ranch | Jones New York print jacket, $3, Idaho Youth Ranch Patagonia black-and-white striped capilene thermal leggings, $20 (sale!), Idaho Mountain Touring | Sami New York purple silk camisole, $3, ReStyle | Lily White black lace …

“90’s Red State Sacajewa” outfit

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For the first Story Story Night of our flagship season, MY OWN PRiVATE iDAHO: Stories of Wild States, I wanted to find the equivalent of the dress Adele wore on Saturday Night Live, which summed up a haute-couture, native-style Thanksgiving, in my leather-fringed mind. Turns out, I was no Adele. Though I did find myself screaming, Hello, can you hear me? at the Shriners, who, to my nail-biting terror, could not get their sound system to work until five minutes before our show was slated to start. Both my head and my heart nearly exploded. Which seems at least Adele adjacent. When we were younger and free. In my own private Idaho, I am in kindergarten, peeing on a tree made of masking tape in the middle of the classroom. I’d forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet. In my own private Idaho, I am at the summit of Thompson Peak in the Sawtooths under a raincloud clad sky. My hair ominously rises up to meet the atmosphere. As I run my hand through the thick, electric-charged air, sparks go …

“Portal to Another Dimension” outfit

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“I would go as far as I could and hit a wall, my own imagined limitations. And then I met a fellow who gave me his secret, and it was pretty simple. When you hit a wall, just kick it in.” —Patti Smith I read Just Kids on the plane back home. The book is a wardrobe-esque passageway into the Chelsea Hotel and New York City of the ’60s and ’70s. As seen through the looking glass/lens of Patti Smith—and the snapshots of Robert Mapplethorpe—from the perspective of when they were both nobodies. Just some hungry, curious, passion-struck bodies—risking poverty and vertigo to plumb the depths of art, their voices, their setting, their souls. At the end of Rauschenberg’s reflecting pool, in front of his giant Studio, stands an off-kilter stone sculpture. “Hey, hey,” I would whisper conspiratorially to anyone around, those just dipping their toes in, “This is a portal to another dimension.” They blinked back at me, lizard-like, unsaying, “OK, weirdo.” But I went through it. This is what I found: Fear is a thin membrane. And …

“The future is unwritten” outfit

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During our tour of Rauschenberg’s Captiva compound, I took a lopsided picture of this print on the wall of one of the Studios. “The future is unwritten,” it said. To say everything unsaid. This is the white hut where the writers go to write. This is the white path made of tiny white shells that leads to the hut where the writers go to write. It is all light. And all white. Except the inside. That is dark rich wood. That smells of cedar. Inside, there is a desk for you to write. A green chair to sit. To sweat it out into the white. Lauren Conrad flower print top $3.75 Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store  (I accidentally broke this top because I used it as an impromptu swim suit, then skinny dipped in a bioluminescent plankton glow high, and put it on rather hastily. Salty tears.)  | Bill Blass Sport hot pink button up top $7 – Bend, OR Goodwill | Official Boy Scout green cargo shorts with gold snaps and gold studs lining the pockets, $12, LUX Fashion Lounge) …