The Q-word is everywhere lately, popularized by the It-girls who champion its meaning. Zooey Deschanel. Leslie Feist. Beth Ditto.
I’ve always identified with quirky, although its current status as the coolest thing to be makes me resent that fact. Which is, in essence, quite quirky.
Boiled down to bare bones, ‘quirky’ seems to refer these days to the girl with an off-beat aesthetic and a penchant for something nerdy, be it Mac products or Dixieland jazz.
Personally, I think I’m quirky because of a cultivated set of cover-ups for all of my failings, real or imagined. I’ve created a veritable kaleidoscope of safety nets, from physical humor to the over-use of big words, like veritable kaleidoscope. This is the stuff of middle school — it takes hold of you and never really lets go. Two decades later, you’re spending Sundays trying on seventy-year-old clothing behind sheets hung on clothesline at a flea market, dreaming of the day you shine in the local Scrabble tournament. All in the name of christening your authentic self.
This said, I am glad to see vintage style, wrinkly brains, and bodies that look milk-fed gaining notoriety on the airwaves and the Interwebs. I even have a few favorites:
Kenley Collins
Project Runway’s resident broad, Kenley Collins designs the ultimate party dresses for the quirky girl. She’s a black-haired, loud-laughing, polka-dot loving character who hears ‘make it work’ and swaggers back with ‘it’s already workin‘. Shuffle off to Buffalo, bub.’
Parker Posey
The Original QG.
Lea Michele
With hints of Barbra in voice and style, Lea makes a cardigan look good but doesn’t mind trading it in for a leather bustier. There’s that whole talent thing, too.
Daria and Jane
I could never decide who I wanted to be more. I was already mostly Daria — brooding with journal in hand. But Jane was who I aspired to be – the funky artist with a rockin’ bob. Her older brother was also hot. So in that respect, Daria wins.
Ione Skye
Ione Skye isn’t just Diane Court. She’s one of the few classic, Chaucer-esque beauties who can pull off both long hair and a pixie cut. She’s still an indie-film darling. And, her list of romances reads like a Quirky Girl’s bucket list.
Weigh in, sailors. Who are your favorite Quirkettes?
Further reading: The Quirky Girl timeline at HuffPost
Great QG Blog! — A Quirky Girl. This blog gave me a huge lift on a day when I was feeling less Quirky and more Quappy. Namely today – hence the awful alliteration back there. Anyhoo, check out this blog, it’s visually awesome and prosely perfect.
