Well hello! Vivienne and Zelda welcome you to their most fashionable Q&A of Fashion. This is for those of you who have written to us and asked questions such as How did the most fashionable Vivienne and the fashionable Zelda of fashion meet? and How long have the fashionable Hyacinth Girls known one another? and What is the meaning of The Hyacinth Girls, that most fashionable moniker of fashion? and How did The Hyacinth Girls come to be? and — the most popular question by far — What the hell are The Secret Griefs?
Dearest, Most Fashionable Reader: Vivienne and Zelda will admit that they were under the mistaken impression that their manifesta, the Most Fashionable Secret Griefs (click here to read), offered unparalleled crispness and precision, the likes of which the writing world has never seen before. This, however, was not the case:
Ladies. The Secret Griefs. I know something important’s being said. But I just don’t know what it means, or even what it says. – a Reader of Fashion
So I’m sure you know I’m referencing The Secret Griefs when I write WTF? — a Fashionable Reader
You two are so beautiful. So brilliant. So brilliant that there is no way that I’m ever going to understand The Secret Griefs. So what gives? Could you give us a hint? Please? — a Fashionable Reader of Fashion
Dearest, dearest Readers of Fashion: Vivienne and Zelda do apologize for the lack of clarity in The Secret Griefs. The Secret Griefs evolve as we do (we owe much to Father Walt, who gives us the courage to revise and post, revise and post again and again); they’re caked in a somewhat plasmatic liquid. In fact, we’re thinking of shaking them up a bit quite soon. Instead of interpreting The Secret Griefs literally, we urge our Readers of Fashion to approach The Secret Griefs as one would approach the Book of Revelation, or the writings of Nostradamus.
Onward!
Vivienne and Zelda have known one another since 2002.
The Hyacinth Girls kept “The Waste Land” and the Vivian Girls in mind when they chose their name, the Vivian Girls being the main subject of Henry Darger’s 15,145-page, single-spaced manuscript entitled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.
The Hyacinth Girls owe much of their fashion sense to the First Lady of Fashion, Brenda Dickson. They owe much of their attitude to Courtney Love, the First Lady of Rock. And, in a work of art that absolutely screams collective unconscious, one that almost makes us reach out to give Carl Jung a high five (unacceptable views on gender be damned!), The Hyacinth Girls offer you the video below, Dearest Reader. Ostrich feathers, anyone?
April 2008: Vivienne extended a Most Fashionable Invitation to Zelda to participate with her in National Poetry Writing Month [or NaPoWriMo, as it is known as in the Fashionable Poetry World, or NaPoWriMoFa (National Poetry Writing Month of Fashion) or FaNaPoWriMoFa (Fashionable National Poetry Writing Month of Fashion), as it is known as in the Highly Fashionable World of Fashion of The Hyacinth Girls]. The Hyacinth Girls blog began as a way for Vivienne and Zelda to chronicle their participation in NaPoWriMoFa 2008.
June 2008: Vivienne and Zelda decided to challenge themselves with another poem-a-day project — this time, one that they constructed themselves. This project, officially named Fashionable OuLiPo Writing Month of Fashion [or FaOuLiPoWriMoFa], consisted of Vivienne and Zelda writing poems using a variety of OuLiPo constraints.
September 2008: The Hyacinth Girls embark upon a long and perilous journey, with only one copy of Ulysses each. Vivienne and Zelda also delve deep into the psyches of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, respectively.
Whew! That was exhausting!
