Let's Talk Clothes by Dino Orlando
Interview with Frank Zappa, 1972
Page Four
DINO: Do you have any opinions about musicians who dress up a lot?FRANK: I think they are having quite a lot of fun. I think whatever you want to wear is fine.
Not always, because I asked one of them recently why he wore such beautiful clothes. He answered, 'They give me self-assurance on stage." That makes me feel good, as a designer. But you obviously don't need that self-assurance.
Well, I think I would feel awfully strange running out in..
Is that just because of your image?
No, I'd just feel weird getting that dressed up expecting to function musically with that much on my body.
O.K. Do you like heels?
No. I may wear shoes to make me taller but...
In other words, you don't follow any fads. Could you tell me what your birth sign is?
Sagitarius, Capricorn.
Is there a particular look you like on women? Do you mean the kind of clothes they wear? I mean there's a revamp. We talk about 1950's, there's been 1940's- also very sexy, a lot of boobs, curves and the whole thing; or do you just like the plain look; like the young lady who just went by wearing a peasant dress (referring to Gail, Frank's wife).
I don't really pay that much attention to girl's clothes.
What turns you on about a woman?
The vibes.
They also come through the clothes, you know?
Yeah. Well, sometimes they come through the clothes, sometimes the clothes come through them.
It's like a pretty package, it somehow appeals to you and it's not only the inside.
Right, you see the whole thing and certain things will stick out, and if you wind up judging everybody by what they wear, you're going to be in trouble. With clothes, a lot has to do with how much time you devote to dressing up and how much money you have to spend on the project of adorning your body. People with more money certainly have the advantage of getting their clothes act together, and people with no time or money on their hands can't do much shopping for clothes.
In your dressing room last night, I noticed quite a few nicely dressed people, the girls especially. That's the reason I'm asking you these questions.
Well, I have nothing to do with that. As far as the people in the group, what they wear on stage is their business. I don't tell them what they have to wear.
You don't really think it's pertinent to their music?
Well, obviously, if you were to have the whole hand decked in some flamboyant costume, uniquely detailed in every respect, the lights carefully aimed at each one of them so that every sequin would glitter into the audience, the visual impact would be ten times greater, hut nobody would bother to listen to the music. It would be a fantastic spectacle and the audience might like it, but do you know what it would cost to do that?
Yes. But it's not only a matter of cost with you. You don't think that this is your message. You think they want to hear the music.
Well, I don't know if they want to hear the music. I'm just not into dressing the band up like that.
When I went to the Academy of Music last week to see T. Rex, the people were wearing sprinkles on their faces and top hats and they all looked like little Marc Bolans.
They were dressing up like that in Los Angeles in 1967, so it's about time it got to New York. In Los Angeles, between 1964 and 1967, it was pretty much the height of the freak period, and there were people wearing the most grotesque clothes you ever saw. Kids were making their own clothes because nobody was selling unusual clothes. They would sit for hours putting things together aud would change their clothes five or six times a day. It would seem that the only reason they had for being alive was to dress up and go some place where people could look at them.
To find somebody they could identify with.
Well, no it was more than that. The whole idea of outraging people who were wearing normal clothes was more prominent in their minds.
It was another rebellion.
Yes. At that time it was just a minority wearing those unusual clothes. So, I would say in a town the size of Hollywood, I don't know how many millions of people are there, you would have a couple of thousand kids who were wearing weird clothes. They would go out in the street at night and you would see raised eyebrows and people panicking at the sight of them. It was some trip.