Julie Lamb takes the Dolly Parton Challenge!
I was away for the weekend, and like every morning wherever I am (or in the middle of the night when I can't sleep) I check Instagram, and what do I see but this fun thing flooding my feed.
I'm like what is this???! I want to play!!! Dolly, who had just turned 74 years young added the caption: 'Get you a woman who can do it all 😉'
Here's some Wiki for ya: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton_challenge
It didn't take me long to come up with the idea to not use my own image. People always liken me to whatever celeb redhead is trending at the moment. So, I thought of some famous ginger characters and went to work! The only one who isn't a strawberry shade is Bettie Page... I'll get to that.
Had to go with sex bomb Joan from Mad Men for my LinkedIn look. She knew how to handle that den of men! With a knowing glance, drag of a cigarette, and a swish of a flawlessly tailored pencil skirt Joan could get whatever she wanted. Mind you I DO NOT wish to be back in that era, but if I had to I'd like to be a Peggy dressed as Joan. That's a lie- I would definitely be Don Draper 😂
The Facebook is my least favorite social media platform. I still honored it with my friendly, funny comedienne persona- none other than 'I Love Lucy!' Lucille Ball. I do like to cook, other than that I may be considered 'domestically disabled' so I thought this shot of her stirring the pot would work just fine.
Lindsay! Gotta love this wild child! All my Instagram pix at events are posed with a #girlgang We aren't Mean Girls but I just love this leader of the pack stance for my Insta party persona 🥳🎉 Also, I definitely have this outfit.
Here we go... the final reveal, a blast from the past! Once upon a time in Brooklyn, home on break from Syracuse University, I was up late watching music videos and 'Linger' by the Cranberries came on. I was struck by the dramatic black and white moody old movie quality images. This model's fringe haircut caught my eye and I thought - I can do that! So around 1:00am I cut my own bangs (OMG!)
Back in NYC I'd walk around the village meeting up with friends and shopping for stuff upstate definitely did not have 😂. The next few times I went downtown I had people say 'Hey Bettie Page', 'Hi Bettie'... who? I didn't know who that was. It's not like we all carried smart phones around back in the day. At some point I looked her up AND I WAS FLOORED by the resemblance.
The more I read about her the more I admired her fearless, boundary pushing, open to anything, girl next door/with potential for more... iconic imagery. I went along with it, wore leopard print & lipstick, played it up. Back in the day the bar CBGB's on the Bowery- 'The Undisputed Birthplace of Punk' was a NYC staple. I heard they were doing a Bettie Page Look Alike contest and...
https://www.cbgb.com/about
...the rest is herstory (my story). Ladies and gents Bettie Realness winner circa 1999:
I believe the undies were from Express 😬
I'd go back to the contest and be announced on stage over the following couple of years. Nice to be amongst the fans (in public, in my underwear 😂 Hi Mom!) I stopped after awhile, grew in the bangs, etc. Then one day years later when I least expected it New York Magazine ran this ad for the Bettie contest:
That's where I got this pic. It's like 2006ish now. I'm a new designer at Avon- which is VERY CORPORATE. I'm in my cubicle and I get a call, 'You have to see page 74 of NY Mag- go get one now!' What?! The next morning my new-ish boss comes by and tells me I'm on her coffee table and that her husband can't wait to meet me 😳🤭🤯 I was mortified (at first) but she was so cool about it and didn't make me feel embarrassed at all. To this day Susan Chandler is one of my very best friends; a mentor as well who has supported me in all kinds of ways since I first showed up on her team at Avon. Moral of the story: Own it ✨
So glad I took the #dollypartonchallenge it was fun and insightful for me to think about how our multi faceted personalities are displayed online and in social media. You'd swipe right for me though wouldn't you? 😉🤣😘 In all seriousness, I am relieved that when you Google me now that articles and press about my work show up- and not my Bettie best... 😅
xoxox
