#oleh witer

[rainingmusic]

Big Pig | Breakaway 

[fashionsfromhistory]

"I was sent to Vivienne Westwood's famous shop World's End in the Kings Road in London by a friend of mine when I was 19 and living there for a while. It was 1987. He wanted one of those belts that were very popular in the late 80s that had metallic buckles that had letters in them. While you could buy "Boy" ones from the shop BOY London, at World's End they custom made them. It was then I was seduced by the clothes that seemed to have no comparison anywhere and the shop that was like something out of an Enid Blyton story with its clock that ran backwards, its tiny size and sloping floors, with walls adorned with bustiers and crinnies and rocking horse shoes. I was quite intimidated but I really was hooked from that first visit and I don't recall having even tried on any clothes. I obviously did get back and the crinnies and Statue of Liberty tops and rocking horse shoes made me feel incredible and did the most dramatic things to my body. I felt and looked different than I ever had. I came back to Melbourne and moved to St Kilda with a new friend that I had made while working at Galaxy, a clothing shop in Chapel St, South Yarra, run by Sara Thorn and Bruce Slorach who were fashion designers. I went out to night clubs, studied at uni and worked part time. I met my partner at the time, Oleh Witer, at a party on a boat. We were both wearing Westwood, so had at least one thing in common. At the time he was in a band that he started called Big Pig. They had a few hits in the 80s - Hungry Town, Big Hotel and Breakaway that made it as title track of the hit movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Oleh had been wearing Westwood for years, and had some fabulous pieces including some original shoes that Patrick Cox had made for Westwood, an original rope t-shirt and bondage trousers, amongst other things. He and his ex-partner, Jane Francis ("Minnie") had spent a lot of time in London and had had market stalls near Ben Westwood's (Vivenne's son). Oleh had also modelled for Vivienne in the 80s in one of her fashion parades. Minnie ended up working for Vivienne for many years, mainly in accessories and particularly jewellery. She apparently had one of the most incredible collections of pristine Westwood too, that had never been worn. Over the late 80s and early 90s when I was 19 years old to probably around 22-23 years old, I didn't wear anything else, I just couldn't, nothing was quite as avant-garde, attention-grabbing or fun and beautiful to wear. It suited the things I did, and the crowd I hung out with who worked in fashion, music, film and television. Over this period, I travelled to London a number of times and bought more clothes whilst there, or had clothes sent over. Also, during this time, Vivienne had a major exhibition in Canberra and Oleh and I drove up from Melbourne to see the show and hang out with Ben, his girlfriend, Yasmine, and Minnie who were traveling with Vivienne and Andreas, her husband. We spent a few days with them swimming in their hotel pool, eating bags of cherries from Oleh's parents' tree (they lived in Canberra) and sampling oysters from the NSW south coast which we visited with them. The night before the opening we spent time trying on clothes that they had bought from London, Vivienne choosing outfits for all of us. It was at this time that she gave me the blue rose print swimming costume. The night of the opening I wore a draping toga type dress that was gorgeous, and I didn't get to keep. I was photographed in it and my pic was in Vogue's coverage of the event with a close friend of mine, Matthew Flinn who also wore a lot of Westwood and recently passed away. During this time, there was a tribe of us that all wore Westwood with healthy competition. We were all obsessed and usually wore nothing else. I can't tell you why exactly, but for me, her clothes made me feel special and different from other people, and of course, fashionable but in a way that didn't really follow fashion, that is her clothes felt fashion-forward. I believe Vivienne Westwood is fashion-forward, she is doing her own thing and that most other designers are influenced by her work some time later. Her clothes were sexy and bold, and you had to be brave to wear most of them. They were certainly not for wall flowers, certainly not the ones I generally chose. My collection of clothes is the best representation of my life at the time I wore them, think the infamous Razor club of Melbourne, the crazy Daisy Chain club in London that Leigh Bowery used to frequent, most commonly in his naked woman outfit or the one with lit lightbulbs on his head, the Kings Road of London with Westwood and Katherine Hamnett, dance music - house and acid, making lavish music videos directed by Richard Lowenstein (Dogs in Space) and Paul Goldman (Australian Rules)."

Natalie Elliot to a Powerhouse Museum curator on her Vivienne Westwood pieces, donated 2006

[taceporusmp]

#2 Asyiknya Nulis di Idntimes Itu Gimana, Sih?

Katanya bisa dapetin duit banyak?

Lewat tulisan ini aku mau bagiin pengalaman gimana sih rasanya nulis di idntimes? Beneran dapet duit? Apa cuma gimnick biar banyak writer yang daftar di idntimes?

Yang pasti nulis di kanal tersebut menurutku asyik-asyik aja. Ada beberapa alesan kenapa aku bisa bilang kalo idntimes itu asyik. Terus asyiknya karena apa? Inilah alesannya.

1. Buat yang doyan nulis, idntimes itu kasih banyak tantangan

Buat kamu yang biasa nulis di blog pribadi kamu bakalan ngerasain sesuatu yang beda waktu kamu mulai ngirim tulisanmu ke idntimes. Layaknya kanal informasi, berita, dan opini lainnya yang membuka kesempatan pengiriman karya tulisan, idntimes pastinya juga punya banyak pedoman pengguna yang wajib kamu ikuti. Tapi, itu ga bakal aku bahas di sini. Buat kamu yang kepo kamu bisa langsung register sendiri dan ikuti alurnya. Ok? Next!

Di idntimes pastinya karyamu bakalan di moderasi oleh editor idntimes-nya langsung. Jadi, trik nulis judul yang menarik dan efektif bakalan jadi tantangan pertamamu. Tujuannya supaya editor tertarik sama artikelmu dan biar artikelmu bisa cepetan tayang di idntimes.

Selain itu, isi artikel juga wajib kamu pikirin mateng-mateng. Di idntimes kamu dituntut buat nulis isi artikel yang padat dengan memakai bahasa yang simple dan gampang dipahami oleh generasi milenial. Oiya, waktu kamu nulis di idntimes, baik itu kamu mau nulis opini atau artikel biasa, kamu wajib ngikutin format penulisan 'listicle' yang dipakai idntimes. Listicle tu kaya apa sih? Listicle tu ya ibaratnya kita nulis sebuah artikel dalam beberapa paragraf, tapi di setiap paragraf kamu kasih subjudul dan foto buat menandai perpindahan dari satu paragraf ke paragraf lainnya (kalau kamu belum jelas, format penulisan listicle aku pake di artikel #2 ku ini)

Selain harus nulis judul dan isi yang menarik, idntimes juga kasih banyak kamu tantangan. Misalnya nih, kalo kamu bisa nulis 1 artikel soal kesehatan, 1 artikel soal olahraga, dan 1 artikel soal teknologi dan semua artikel yang kamu submit ke editor berhasil tayang di idntimes, maka kamu bisa dapetin bonus poin sebanyak 500. Oiya 500 poin di idntimes tu kalau ditukar ke uang tunai senilai Rp 50 ribu. Lumayan bukan? Nulis 3 artikel bisa dapet 50 ribu.

Selain tantangan nulis artikel di beberapa topik tertentu, idntimes juga bisa kasih kamu 'assignment.' Assignment yang bakalan kamu dapet dari idntimes itu ada syaratnya dan ditentuin langsung sama editor idntimes berdasar keaktifan kamu nulis dan kualitas artikelmu. Contohnya, tahun lalu aku pernah dapet assignment live report Pileg dan Pilpres dari idntimes.

2. Serunya kompetisi antarwriter idntimes

Semua writer di idntimes pasti mau tulisannya tayang, viral, dan dapet duit. Jadi, kamu harus cepet-cepetan nulis isu yang lagi nge-hype sebelum ditulis sama writer lain.

Sering juga yang aku rasain di idtimes adalah mereka selalu ngembangin tulisan dari writer lain buat dijadiin artikel baru. Dengan adanya kekreatifan antarwriter buat ngembangin topik otomatis kalau kamu enggak 'gercep' ya udah kamu bakalan ketinggalan dari writer lainnya.

Idntimes juga berlakuin sistem klasemen. Buat writer idntimes yang bisa masuk 20 besar, nama akunnya otomatis bakalan dicantumin juga di kanal idntimes. Kalo kamu bisa jadi satu diantaranya, pasti kamu bisa langsung famous tuh, hehe. Kalau aku sih terakhir masih di peringkat 800-an lah ya. Tapi, setidaknya itu udah cukup bagiku karena total witers idntimes lebih dari 60 ribu orang.

Engga cuma itu, setiap bulannya idntimes selalu memposting 'Writers of the Month' jadi kalau artikelmu bagus dan aktif nulis kesempatanmu buat 'mejeng' di Instagaram @idntimes bakalan semakin besar. Ga cuma bangga tapi itu juga bisa jadi suatu achievement buat diri kamu sendiri.

Terus serunya nulis di idntimes itu apa lagi sih? Sabar dulu ya? Tungguin artikel #3 ku selanjutnya!

(10/5)