Who are you 5x5: Shi Shi - I'm a Rocker

5x5Clothing
Shi Shi


"I'm a rocker, and I'm a roller too honey…" and when I was 8 years old I was Miss Sportswear Canada. Not a word of a lie! I remember that competition well.  My mom had set me up with a little rain cape and black shiny rain boots, an ensemble she had put together from the "Sally Anne." I did my little turn about the floor to that old classic "Cruella DeVil" from
101 Dalmatians. 

Cruella DeVill

I hadn't rehearsed my routine like the other girls; It didn't matter though because once I got up there something just came over me. I spun around, whirling with the cape up to my eyes like some 8 year old Bella Lugosi. A cape can be quite the accessory.


I also remember I  had a little costume for baton competitions that was inspired by 1930s' flappers, complete with garters and a head piece.  My mom made it herself.  I remember the pins sticking into me as she fitted it to my body. The costume had a little slit in the back, and by the second year of wearing it, the slit clearly revealed the crack of my fresh little bottom!

Flapper inspired costume - bum slit not shown

I was reminded of these fashion excitements the other day when I was getting ready for a video shoot.  You see my band Hotkid was very lucky to get a video grant.  The concept for the video involved different psyched out vignettes and so I suggested I make my own outrageous costume for one of the scenes; a "Labyrinth Bowie" inspired jacket, a victorian inspired bustle dress and a traditional native/cowboy loin cloth thingy.  I was thinking to myself "where the hell did I come up with this." 

Vid Costume

Anywho, that's pretty much what 5x5 is for me.  A collective of chicks pulling on their fashion past and present to create clothes for babes who don't want to wear the same thing everyone else grabbed off the sales rack.  5x5 maintains that  DIY ethos by supporting independent seamstresses, making beautiful and unique clothes.  I have a feeling that the 5x5 styles are just going to get wilder and more outrageous, and I can't wait to see what happens.