What Wendy Wore: Art by These Pink Lips, Part 2

In September, which was either last month or a thousand years ago, I introduced you to Iris Barbee Bonner, who creates wearable art — the best kind of art! — under the name These Pink Lips. You’ve seen Iris’s custom work on Cardi B … and me.

If you’re a longtime reader of mine, you know that custom work of any kind takes time; it’s not an instant gratification thing. But you can get a piece from Iris that’s ready-to-go, practical, and budget-friendly: The fabulous “Vote Betches” face mask I’m wearing below with a customized These Pink Lips denim jacket. Get yourself a mask before November 3 so you can look great while getting out the vote.

As for the jacket, it has an interesting slow-fashion story. I had stalked Iris’s Instagram account for years, wondering what clothing item I should ask her to customize and what it should say. Last year, it hit me that I wanted the words “Never Again Para Nadie” in yellow on something black and sleeveless to represent the activism of Never Again Action. I couldn’t find the perfect blank canvas in my closet, so I bought the black studded vest seen in the top photo here for the project. What I found already in my closet was, instead, a not-so-blank canvas: A 2013 Levi’s jacket with a design by graffiti artist Lady Pink on the back.

Here’s the Lady Pink jacket in 2013. Click for original outfit post.

As much as I love Lady Pink for being one of the only big female graffiti artists in NYC in the early 1980s, I never wore that jacket much because despite the big image on the back, it was awfully plain in the front and therefore didn’t succeed as a statement piece. It looked like something from a museum gift shop, which is exactly what it was.

See? So plain in 2013. (Not Lady Pink’s fault though! )

So here’s how my mind works. As I looked for material for Iris, I found the Lady Pink jacket and thought, “This obviously won’t work for the ‘Never Again’ message, let’s keep it moving.” A few minutes later, I took the jacket out again, wondering if I should ask Iris do something different with it, considering I didn’t wear the piece as is. I was instantly scandalized by my own audacity — how dare I ask one artist to alter another artist’s work?! That in turn triggered my “Never Is the Next New Thing™” attitude. I was like, “OMG, I will graffiti over the graffiti art. Lady Pink, meet These Pink Lips! Even better together, betches!” The only request I made of Iris was to paint “Pussy Grabs Back” somewhere on the jacket.

“Pussy Grabs Back” on the front of the new and improved jacket.

Other than that, I told her to do anything she wanted, which turned out to be everything. I’ve got a blonde gal on my back …

Pink skull face has a new hairdo.

… “BADASS” on one sleeve and, on the back of the other sleeve, Iris’s signature design of full lips with gap teeth.

Photo by George De Castro Day taken yesterday, outside Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn apartment building at a protest against Amy Coney Barrett.

The lips share a sleeve with DayGlo pink Venus symbols.

The Venus symbols are on my right sleeve while I keep my eye on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

I’m thrilled I didn’t try to micromanage the art here — this is much more spectacular than anything I could have come up with.

Feeling so proud of my These Pink Lips jacket and mask in DC on Monday.

The Naturalizer VOTE boots I got this weekend complement Iris’s work nicely, don’t you think?

Click to shop. Proceeds benefit She Should Run, an organization that helps women run for office.

And it turns out I didn’t have to worry about taking anything away from Lady Pink’s original jacket art because the head-to-toe lewk that I wore to a protest yesterday — the message mask, message jacket, message boots, and mullet haircut — can best be described as “1982 NYC subway car meets Joan Jett.” Somehow I’m living my high-school fashion dream while fighting the nightmare that is fascism. Life is fucking strange!