The One And Only MJ
So I tend to speak mostly about fashion and beauty here on the blog and I felt I should really share some of the other sides of myself with you guys more often. It’s no secret that music is my first and biggest love and passion. Some of you may or may not know but I used to sing professionally and have been writing and recording music since I was a child. Every musician out there has that one artist or performing act that just tipped things over the edge for them. That one performer no one else could come close to or even equal in stature and, more often than not the musician in question is their biggest inspiration when it comes to the work they create themselves. For me that artist has always been and will always be the King Of Pop, Michael Jackson.
Those who know me personally will know that I am a super fan of Michael, one that the fan community would dub a die hard. I have been a fan of Michael’s music since infancy and my love of the man and artist has never died out. In fact my fanship has expanded and grown in more ways than I can explain in one post and for a number of reasons. If I showed you guys some pictures from my adventures with the fans during Michael’s trips here to London, events, parties, going to the theatre with the King Of Pop himself and trips around the world you would see a whole other side of me (I may well share some of those with you one of these days!). Having said all of that I am still going to include fashion in this post, how could I not lol? There isn’t a fan of any major artist or music genre out there who doesn’t want to own a cool hoodie, t-shirt, cap or jacket of their favourite star. For me doing this as an MJ fan has been a struggle for many years…
Myself Pez and Seb at the Bad25 Premiere 2012
Of course we always wear an MJ T-shirt when we can!
Being that I’m 28 years old I missed a lot of the glory days when it came to Michael. Bad, Dangerous and HIStory had all come and gone during the course of my childhood and of course Off The Wall and Thriller before I was even born! I was only able to enjoy the music and merchandise that was available back in the day and I unfortunately had to pick up a lot of my vinyls and things many years after these incredible albums were in the charts. By the time I was old enough to do the “fan” thing and travel around to try and meet Michael I was 18 years old and he hadn’t released an album for several years at the time. As you can imagine trying to buy an MJ T-shirt could not have been harder! At this time back in 2005 the online shopping bomb hadn’t quite taken off, eBay was pretty new and places to buy official collectors t-shirts were pretty slim. Of course bootleg options were around but even those were few and far between, usually one size only and not exactly female friendly lol. It’s no secret that I’m a larger woman and I have a pretty large bust. Because of this if I wore a tee with a photo or illustration of Michael his face would usually distort across my bust. Of course I proudly wore what I could get but I was never really able to have fun in an MJ T-shirt until 2009 when Michael sadly passed away. Previously fans had to pick up whatever second hand goods they could get at car boot sales, events and hand me downs from older friends.
In 2006 My best friends and I started an MJ fanclub and after some time were running websites, events and a magazine publication. We were given an amazing opportunity to handle some of Michael’s famous costumes working with Julien’s Auctions, at the Bush And Tompkins exhibition which was held at the Getty Images gallery. You can only imagine how incredible the experience was for us as fans and I definitely appreciate it as a fashion lover too! MJVibe and Iconic has since gone from strength to strength over the years. After a few years since launching our first website we were able to take things to another level with a fresh online presence and expansion. We were able to broker an incredible deal with Bravado, they were the official company who have been behind all of the amazing items that we have had since Michael’s passing. The official exhibition to commemorate Michael at The 02 had finished and they offered us the chance to buy all of the remaining merchandise and apparel that had initially been made for Michael’s ‘This Is It’ residency. The memorabilia was sold in the exhibition’s gift shop as the concert series was of course unable to take place. Of course we jumped at the chance to bring these products direct to the fans. This was major for us as we were able to bring official merchandise to the fans at a rate cheaper than nearly every online and in store retailer! I’m so thrilled about everything we have achieved over the years. King-Of-Shop is where it’s all happening and we have tons of t-shirts and collectables for fans all over to enjoy!
Handling the legendary Silver Suit, worn on Michael’s Bad World Tour with the 2 most iconic jackets from the Dangerous era at the Bush And Tompkins Exhibition 2012
2 of my best friends Pez and Seb went over to Las Vegas to see the Cirque Du Soleil production of MJ One last year. The show is going from strength to strength and has been a big hit with the fans. The sad thing about it though is that since it’s opening the availability of official merchandise both wholesale and retail has dwindled and the options to source new things is pretty slim. Fans are having to rely on stores who still have old stock and what some have been able to source from what’s left out there in various warehouses and record stores. Of course this has meant that there has been a slight rise in bootleg merchandise. The boys however were able to source some great new items direct from the gift shop at MJ One and we are one of the only European and worldwide outlets to have some of the official and new items out there. Unfortunately the only new and official merchandise on the market are the products sold in the gift shop and there is no official online store to buy any of the memorabilia. There are sadly fans all over the world who are unable to get to Las Vegas who have been left without an outlet to buy new and official merchandise for quite some time now. Lucky for me the guys found a t-shirt that is specifically cut for ladies and available in all sizes!
I absolutely love this t-shirt and it has become one of my favourite MJ tees. I have so many I’ve lost count so this is saying a lot! I love the scoop neckline and loose fit feel. The fabric is really light weight and super soft and I love that the image of Michael used is from one of my favourite short films, the ending scene of Black Or White where we see Michael tap dancing in the street and morphing into a panther! The illustration was done by artist Nate Georgio for the cover art of MJ One. There is one short angel sleeve and a twisted sleeveless effect on the other arm, a really fun and funky little detail. The production title for the show is in a shinny gold of course complete with Michael’s autograph.
Still image used to create the t-shirt illustration, from the incredible Panther Scene of Michael’s Black Or White
Courtesy of MJJ Productions
I decided that I would take on my own twist of a classic MJ look. In the short films to Bad, Speed Demon and Dirty Diana we see Michael adopt a tough biker look complete with skinny jeans, biker jacket and white tee! I thought my skinny ripped jeans from Evans would be a perfect fit and my old biker jacket from Simply Be. As MJ himself loved some sequins and a little sparkle so of course my glitter brogues were a must! Sometimes you just have to embrace your inner rock chic, in my case my inner MJ with a twist!
I’ve had a lot of fun over the years at MJ events, ALWAYS wearing an MJ T-shirt and I will continue to do so! I just hope that the options we get for apparel begin to improve soon because there isn’t a fan out there who is tired of wearing MJ, sticking their favourite hits on and dancing it up! As you guys know this isn’t the first time I’ve spoken about MJ on this blog but it is the first time I have shared this much of my history as a fan with you, I can assure you it won’t be the last lol!
Remember whatever you wear, feel fabulous in it and wear it with a smile!
I still have to get out to the states to see MJ One as the former MJ production by Cirque, Immortal was incredible! The good news though is that the boys and I will be throwing a huge bash on September 10th in London to celebrate an incredible album and era of music, Michael’s Dangerous! We will be having some incredible guests joining us including Grammy Award winning technical director and engineer Thom Russo, dancer and choreographer Yuko Sumida Jackson and Former SVP Marketing & Sales Manager at EPIC/SONY (Dangerous & HIStory) Era Dan Beck. We’d love to see you there! For ticket info, event schedule and more check out our website www.kingvention.com
