TBT - The Double Door, Chicago, 2006

The Story Section of her old website:

"Combine the violin mastery of Nigel Kennedy, the voice of an alien Siouxsie/Bowie hybrid, and the looks of a post-apocalyptic Marie Antoinette, and what do you get? Emilie Autumn. The pink-haired princess of "victoriandustrial" has already morphed her way from classically trained violin prodigy to extreme rock performer with the ability to shred on a fiddle à la Yngwie, and with a cult following to match.

After spending a summer in France recording with Courtney Love at Ms. Love's express command, Emilie was invited to join Love's touring band,"The Chelsea," and was appropriately dubbed the "anarchy violinist" by Love. Next thing you knew, she was performing live on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and on national television with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame, while appearing on the solo debut albums of both Corgan and Love. Emilie quickly gained attention as a solo performer in her own right, and was chosen as one of Interview Magazine's "14 To Be," a pictorial featuring 14 up-and-coming young female stars. Shot by famed fashion photographer Kelly Klein, and wearing a Helmut Lang gown while sprawled on a large wooden tea crate, Emilie was chosen as the magazine's centerfold posing with her signature electric violin. Now, EA is setting her sights on the rest of the world with the release of her new album, "Opheliac" on the Trisol Music Group label, released in Europe on the 1st of September 2006, and worldwide on the 22nd.

BACKGROUND:

Brought up as a concert violinist since age four, and trained in conservatoires around the world as a performer, composer, conductor, and music historian, EA's bizarre background is the element that makes her music so exceptional. The blending of authentic baroque strings, harpsichord, and factory-derived industrial beats with vocal techniques from soul-searing belts to snarling screams creates an positively dangerous feel, only compounded by EA's dark and uber-literate lyrics.

After walking away from her first major label contract at age 17, EA returned to her classical roots and released her solo violin debut album, "On a Day...," with the label she created and still controls, the aptly titled Traitor Records. Since the creation of her own production company, EA has branched out to create a number of side projects (The Jane Brooks Project, Ravensong, Convent), and is delighted to be collaborating with other artists including Detroit techno legend DJT1000, UK industrial giant, Attrition, fellow Chicagoans, Die Warzau, and many more creative entities ranging from industrial legends to television shows (EA frequently contributes her violin playing to the hit American TV series "Metalocalypse," a cartoon about a ficitional metal band airing weekly on Adult Swim).

With Enchant a proven success in the indie world, Emilie returned from two years of touring and recording with Love to begin production on her second full-length non-classical offering entitled, "Opheliac." Written in the style EA calls "victoriandustrial," her new heavily industrial sound takes "gothic" to a whole new level - sinister, witty, and combining her trademark violin pyrotechnics with growling vocals, virtuosic harpsichord, and electro-industrial beats. A concept album about "women, water, and madness," song titles include, "Gothic Lolita," "Dead Is The New Alive," "The Art Of Suicide," "I Want My Innocence Back", and "Misery Loves Company."

EA's previous releases include the solo violin debut album, "On a Day...," recorded at age 17 and showcasing her mastery of the baroque violin, "By The Sword," her charity single in response to the 9/11 attacks, "Chambermaid," her first goth-rock EP, and of course, "Enchant." Emilie also appears on Courtney Love's 2004 release, "America's Sweetheart" on Virgin Records, and is a featured guest on Billy Corgan's 2005 solo release, "The Future Embrace" on Warner Records.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

When EA is not recording or touring, she designs for "Mistress," her own fashion and fragrance line for her own indie-couture company, WillowTech House. Notorious for her own visionary "punktorian" stage costumes, EA's design skills were put to use when she was asked to design and create all of the costumes for the music video for "Walking Shade," Corgan's first single off his 2005 album, directed by P.R. Brown.

EA is also a prolific writer and illustator, releasing and quickly selling out of her first volume of poetry in 2001. 2005 saw the release of her second poetry edition complete with audio version entitled, "Your Sugar Sits Untouched," offered by WillowTech House Publishing. EA is currently putting the finishing touches on the illustrations for her gothic children's book for adults only, "The Alphabet Book of X-Boyfriends."

Originally from Malibu, California, EA is now a proud Chicagoan, and can most often be found at nightspots such as the Metro, Neo, and DoubleDoor as well as cavorting around the city's downtown in her Victorian bustle skirt, corset, and combat boots, attracting a ridiculous amount of attention.

The End.

For now..."

♥ Archived from Emilie Autumn's Website (via the wayback machine) ♥

concepts for a fashion doll-esque concept? I do not currently have the ability to make custom/OOAK dolls. I am not at the professional level to get these even potentially made. But these are like, Monster High-level depth, which is to say, the fashion comes first the personalities and lore come later

These are all based around goth fashion, sorta like BE Goth except I don’t know much about BE Goth

also i have no names yet its just that a big batch of inspiration struck and um it’s 3 am i don’t entirely wish to flesh them out fully right now. Pronouns + genders also not concrete

🦇: A trad-gothic protag. Main elements are the black leather (well.. pleather, for a fashion doll), fishnets, band tees (with in-universe band names to avoid copyright problems), and of course.... the bat’s nest hairstyle. Fave color is black and fave band is The Cure

💔: A romantic/vampire gothic character in the main cast. Main elements are corset (or corset-like) elements, velvet, and victorian/historical fashion inspiration. Fave color is deep red/burgundy and fave band is London After Midnight (or Bauhaus? Bauhaus is associated w/ that vibe but I see LAM as a better representation)

🖤: A babydoll gothic character in the main cast. Main elements are peter pan/Wednesday collars, striped stockings, and porcelain doll-like themes. Fave color is dark purple and fave band is Switchblade Symphony.

🕷️: A side-character inspired by Morticia and Elvira. Well, what can I say about her, I think that about sums up every bit of her design concept

Ophelia: A side-character inspired by a few different sources; Patience Worth by Faith and The Muse, Ophelia by Bella Lune, Opheliac by Emilie Autumn, Sea Swallow Me by the Cocteau Twins, etc... very ambient songs that evoke a sort of fairytale-esque design. Maybe a fairy goth?

💚: Cybergoth. Might be main cast or side cast but I don’t know enough about cybergoth to say anything more

❤️: Shamelessly just Emilie Autumn’s Opheliac era because I like the look. White and red with victorian-inspired elements, little red hearts all over the design and striped stockings and big hair, all very mismatched and chaotic. Maybe this could just be an alternate outfit for 💔 or 🖤? A two-pack, perhaps? Hm. Or maybe this is just Ophelia? Regardless, I could shove other dark cabaret influences in there, so it’s not just based off of One Artist (or, more accurately... One Album by One Artist) but I’m not too familiar w/ that genre yet!

💌: Well I don’t know if it’d make more sense to put them in the main cast (stands out too much) or the side cast (stands out too much) but they’re pastel goth. Cute :)

Ideas for other outfit lines:

Fairy tale line, likely featuring Ophelia (maybe her debut?), 🖤 as Alice, ????? etc?

Slumber party line: I just think slumber party lines are cute, probably just main cast

Big Party line: most doll lines I think interpret this as a prom because most of them have highschool aged characters but idk how old these characters are. But it’s some kind of excuse to give them formal attire

Halloween :) : well, of course. Do I know what they’d wear? No. But one of them is definitely a witch, that or it’s an entire separate line

Glide Magazine Interview

Original Link last accessed 1/3/2022

Emilie Autumn - Original Victoriandustrial by Deb Draisin

Malibu native Emilie Autumn was classically trained on violin from the tender age of four.   Admitted to the University of Music in Bloomington, Indiana at only fifteen, Autumn found herself unable to simply blend with classmates, and left after just two years.  She started her own label, Traitor Records in 2000, but halted work on her first full-length, Enchant to record a single benefiting 9/11 survivors.  Reworking the album to incorporate her new “fantasy rock” direction, she released the fourteen track CD in 2003.

She was snapped up later that year by Courtney Love as her own "anarchy violinist” for Love’s 2004 solo effort, America’s Sweetheart. Autumn has also sessioned on albums by Otep and Billy Corgan (she also worked on costume design for his video, “Walking Shade) and was asked to guest on Dethklok’s infinite “Dethalbum” and even appeared on Adult Swim’s “Metalocalypse.”  Autumn has also appeared on The Jay Leno and David Letterman shows and her songs were featured on the Saw III and Saw IV soundtracks. As musician she has introduced her own" Victoriandustrial" style, consisting of original pieces played on the electric violin, backed by the harpsichord, drum machines and synthesizers.

The U.S. debut of her album, Opheliac – The Deluxe Edition this past October 27, boasts five bonus tracks, live concert footage, video interviews, and recording outtakes.  This latest effort, completely self-produced, touches upon Autumn’s personal struggles with mental health, which she has detailed even more in her autobiographical novel, "The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls” (a must-read!)

Emilie’s shows are quite the spectacle:  a sexually charged mix of Victorian and Gothic, Burlesque and Vaudeville, Metal and Electronica, backed by all-female backup singers “The Bloody Crumpets.”  Autumn also runs her own clothing, accessory and perfume lines via the company that she co-owns with “Lee Queen of Tarts,” Lee Ann Helmer, WillowTech House.

The absolutely riveting Emilie was awesome enough to spare Glide a few moments backstage at her recent Williamsburg, Brooklyn Music Hall performance.  The show did not disappoint.  You’ve never seen anything like it, I promise, so make sure you do not miss her the next time she comes to your town (but don’t wear heeled boots, as I did, despite the fact that Emilie’s audience has a penchant for dressing up – they’re two and a half hours long!)

I got a sneak preview of your book.

You did?  Awesome, I’m so glad! Yes, I did, you have good publicity people – I’m excited!  Tell the readers a little bit about what they’re going to be seeing.

It is The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. It is my debut massive, large-scale novel, and in addition to being a novel, kind of a historical thriller, because it spans two hundred years (Victorian) it is also my autobiography.  It is true, that no matter how crazy it seems, it is.  It’s got so many arcs, like a story within a story within a story, but there’s an overall theme.  You learn about Victorian insane asylums for girls and our modern day psych wards, and that not much has changed between the two, and that’s a problem.  It’s a very extensive account of bi-polar disorder (for obvious reasons) and I think that it’s definitely rated R, but there’s something for everybody.

It’s also just a beautiful, almost coffee table type of book; we didn’t do black text on white paper.  Everything is fully illustrated to try and tell the story in as complete a way as possible.  Yes, it’s about me and my life, but more over, it’s about the world of the asylum, and that’s something that I’m only a miniscule part of – it’s so much bigger than me.

The main thing, I think, is that I need everybody to go out and buy like fifty to a hundred copies each.  That way, we can get it to be a New York Times best seller, which is necessary, because, obviously, we have to make a movie out of it.  

Is everybody listening?

Yeah, if you could just do that, it would be so great.  If you want to see a movie, that’s what it’s going to take, because this is not a small budget.  Thank you so much.

You know, I studied psychology twenty years ago and turned my back on the industry then due to the poor conditions in the asylums. I don’t know if I should be disheartened at this point, because nothing has changed still.

So you know this.  Basically, you’re experimented on, you’re sexually fucked with and you can’t do a goddamned thing about it, because you’re the crazy girl and he’s the head psychiatrist – who are you going to believe?  So, what is my ultimate revenge; lawsuits?  Not gonna happen, because how can I fight somebody with a million dollar education?   They’re not gonna go down without a fight, and everyone’s going to think I’m crazy anyway, because I’m bi-polar.  It’s so easy to blame everything on that when, in reality, it’s not even responsible for most parts of my life.  It’s definitely a part of everything that I do, but it doesn’t make me do anything.

What is my ultimate revenge?  A lawsuit would be over in a day, but a song or a book is eternal.  You can tell the truth in that and get everybody to sing along, and that’s revenge.  That is the ultimate rule of “Don’t fuck with the songwriter.”  Just don’t, it’s not going to end up well for you.

People take that risk sometimes – you just don’t know who anyone’s gonna turn out to be.  That’s the best revenge for all of us artists: consider yourselves exposed!

Absolutely, yeah.

You’ve always been your own person, even when you were little – a few words of encouragement, to maybe for some kids who are trying to make it as artists and are feeling squashed and discouraged?

You just have to want something so badly – as corny as that sounds – that you really can’t do anything else.  Just say “Fuck you” to anybody that tries to change you; I wish somebody had advised me of this at the time.  Just know that everybody – from the time you are born – is going to tell you that it’s too different and it’s not going to sell and you’re never going to make enough money to buy your mom a house and all of that.  They’re going to say that you need to change and that you need them.

You could have a perfect record, and some big-shot producer from somewhere will come in and say “You really need to change this, because I could make it so much better,” yet there’s nothing wrong with what you did; it’s the “You need me” game.  That especially happens to girls, because we’re so willing to be told what to do; it’s almost like genetically ingrained at this point, and we have to change that.

The last note is just work until you bleed.  Don’t take any short-cuts, don’t expect people to support you.  Don’t expect people to be nice or even like what you do, and don’t care if they don’t; believe that you know what’s right for you.  You can’t compromise anything – you might have twenty years of absolute misery, but if you want it that badly, it’s going to be worth it.  It was worth it to me, because I did.

You’ve certainly accomplished that!

Thank you very much.  I talk to a lot of musicians who like to complain “Why haven’t I made it yet?  Why aren’t I being recognized, why am I not signed?”  It’s that sense of entitlement that I think is so backwards.  I don’t feel entitled to anything!  I don’t know that anybody knows who I am or will like me – it’s a great symptom of getting to do what you want to do; it’s lovely, but it’s not the point.  

How many bands want to bitch about not getting what they want, and how many people are really honest-to-God fucking interesting?  Not many that I can think of; it’s like that’s the one thing that they didn’t think of.  

You can’t write a song and expect anybody to give a fuck, because there are too many songs in this world already.  Be interesting! Well, I think what happens is that (not to single anybody out) they look at someone like Josh Groban or Taylor Swift and think “Hey, that’s an ordinary person writing an ordinary song, why can’t I have that?”

Exactly, and that’s the thing:  those people might not be terribly interesting, but they’ve got a great marketing team.  They won’t be legends who last forever, and it doesn’t matter.  If you’re on a huge label with huge management that throws millions of dollars into you, realize that there is the lowest common denominator of humankind.   They’re always going to gravitate toward something simple and easy that feels good, but do you really want to be that?  If you do, then by all means don’t be interesting, because that’s gonna ruin your career.  I’m guessing that most of us would like something a little bit more dangerous, just because it’s so much more fun.

I like my art to challenge me.  If I’m going to watch a movie or a performance, or look at a painting, I want to think.

To learn something!  Yeah, I don’t want to go to feel better.  I want it to fuck me up a little bit – even if something is so beautiful that it makes you cry.  That’s perfect, that is the point.  You can’t be afraid to do that, and if you do, you’re going to be unpopular some of the time.  You just can’t care, and if you care, then you just don’t want it badly enough and you should be doing something else – and that’s great.

I don’t mean to sound like a complete ass, but I really believe that the world is divided into the people that should be onstage and the people that should be in the audience, and both are equally valuable.   We both need each other; we can’t have one without the other, and both are part of the show.  I think that so many people wouldn’t want the job that I or that people much bigger than me actually have – it’s not that glamorous. I don’t think they realize that.

Nobody does, and that’s okay, because part of it is to keep the illusion alive.  I most definitely don’t make six million dollars a year or live in an ivory tower.  I do have a nice tour bus, and that kicks ass, but that’s the extent of the glamorous part.  I did a photo shoot just a moment ago – with an awesome rock-n-roll famed photographer – literally in a dumpster, and I had the time of my life.  It was the best thing I’ve ever done; it was full of garbage, and I hope that I don’t smell like it. You’re being very nice, which means I don’t smell like trash. Well, we’re both wearing perfume – that could be it, too.

We’re fine, sexy, civilized ladies; we are so classy. And you know what?  We’re also dangerous.

Most fine, civilized ladies are.  We’re getting crazy up in this place – I like it!  Let’s keep going from here. “Opheliac” is pretty dangerous.  It’s also tracked in a very interesting way.  I thought that having the white noise on “Swallow” in the middle of the record was a ridiculous idea – I’ve never seen anyone do something like that before.  You don’t want to switch tracks, because you don’t know what’s going to happen.  I was actually on the train listening to it, and it was blending in with the train noise; I didn’t know if I was listening to the song or the train.  It was this really cathartic experience; it was crazy!  I was like “This is so original.”   You self-produced; do you miss having somebody else bounce ideas off of?

I don’t, mainly because I’ve never had that, and it’s a sad thing, but it’s not.  Maybe it’s my own bad luck, but any time I’ve had somebody with whom I could potentially be like “Help me on this” it’s always turned out to be somebody that just takes control of it, or wants to.  I’m so stupidly, violently independent that I can’t.  Obviously, I hate being told what to do.  I don’t have a marketing person, even, that advises me, because I’ve only gotten this far because I did it myself.  The thing about that is that it keeps the vision pure.  

It isn’t that I’m the best at everything – I’m not the best singer or whatever, but I work fucking hard to be very good at it, and I’m determined to learn anything I don’t already know, and I’ll never, ever stop.  It’s kind of ironic and funny – something that I laugh at a lot now – that people are starting to see this whole thing:  me, the show, everything, as pretty damned marketable.  I know that the only reason that it’s marketable is because I’ve never had a marketing person to get in the way and fuck it up and try to make it marketable.

That is a really interesting point, wow.

You brand automatically, without even trying, when you just keep it so raw and pure and don’t let anyone touch it. Something as weird and eccentric as this whole world, this alternate reality which I do (yet it’s completely real) it’s hard to categorize all of that.  The fact that we appeal to literally, like, four years old to like, sixty-five – that’s who comes to all ages shows.  The four year olds come and they sit on their dads shoulders and they know all the words to everything. Is that trippy?

It’s really trippy!  We’ve been in Europe for the last three years; this is our first North American tour – I didn’t know if anybody would even show up.  It’s working out, but I think the most trippy thing is when we do other countries and, without exception, they know every word to every song.  We just did Mexico, and it was the largest, most rabid crowd we’ve ever had.  I had heard that that happens, from other artists who’ve played Mexico City, but I didn’t think it’d happen for me.  I was like “How do you guys even know who I am?”  That is the power of the internet though!  That’s why I love it when the kids tape shows and post them on YouTube within ten minutes, because we need that.  We shouldn’t be fighting against that.

In your case, the bootlegging is more beneficial than harmful.

See, that’s the “be interesting” thing again.  If you produce unchallenging music, or if you yourself are not that magnetic, where people need to own it and hold it in their hands, then yeah, you’re going to get illegally downloaded.  I know I’ll get illegally downloaded, too – all of us will – but I don’t feel terribly hurt by that, because any real fan (which are really the only kind that that I care about anyway) will buy the record.  In fact, they buy two copies – one that they keep in shrink wrap and the other that they bring to shows to have signed.  I see this all the time, and it’s crazy, but how is that for “Yeah, record sales suck?”  Well, maybe they could be better; they suck for a lot of people, but I don’t see that, I see people buying doubles.  

It’s simply because I care about the packaging; all of it matters, and you do have to work for it.  You do have to give people more than just “Hey, here’s a CD.”  You do have to draw pictures or put yourself into it somehow, and make every single detail equally important, just as it is in the show.  As you know, it’s not just a rock show, it’s a Broadway musical, and we’ve got some new tricks.  It’s going to get crazy; it’s gonna look a little dangerous, but don’t worry, because I’m not gonna fall.

I would totally fall.

Really?  I’ve been working on my balance.  These aren’t the best shoes to be climbing things in (indicates six inch pink stiletto-heeled boots) but it looks good, so I’ll do it.

Yeah, I’m a little girl who can’t walk in heels at all.

I never wore heels really; I was always in combat boots with platforms and stuff – because I’m short and I like to be taller – but I just saw these and I thought they were so ridiculously sugary and gorgeous, that I learned to walk in heels just for these, and to actually like, dance in them onstage.  It’s worth it; I only fell twice.

You only broke your ankle fourteen times?

Yeah, and it’s like that thing, if you’re up there…say I’m in a photo shoot, and I’m trying to look cool, it’s going to be a disaster.  The safest thing is to just be an idiot from the very beginning, because then nobody can call you that; you’ve already called yourself that.  You can’t look uncool if you already started out that way.

You can’t take yourself too seriously.

That’s the whole thing; we don’t.  I take my music, obviously, intensely seriously, but as far as the live performance, or just how I present myself, whether it’s in photos or whatever, it’s always supposed to be slightly sarcastic or over the top dramatic, or just stupid and ridiculous – me looking like an idiot, or being awesomely pretentious to where you can’t even take it seriously.  My whole signature move, the “Ohh” (makes faint, high-pitched voice) it’s supposed to be ridiculous and over the top.  I mean, I’m a weirdo who draws a heart on their face every day; how can I take that seriously?  I know it’s crazy, but it makes me happy, and I love it, and old ladies smile at me on the street, as do four year olds, because they think I’m a Muppet.  

Which is perfect, because you know what?  My whole career goal was to be a guest star on The Muppet Show and it’s tragic that t that’s over.  I’m still hoping for “Sesame Street,” but we’ll see how that goes. Anybody listening out there?  Come on, somebody set that up!

Yeah, get me some Cookie Monster! Explain the term “fantasy rock” – like, how did you come up with that idea?

It doesn’t so much apply now; it applied back in the day with the “Enchant” record, before the whole Asylum thing happened, before I was locked up.  Obviously, once that happens, you’re never ever the same person again.  From then on, when I got out, I looked different, I sounded different – a completely different voice – I thought differently, everything was different.  You never, ever can go back to before once you’ve been in, you never really get out, and that’s why I have my cell number tattooed on my arm.  Don’t even try to pretend it didn’t happen; don’t even try to run away from it, own it.  Say “Yeah, if you’re gonna call me crazy, I’ll show you crazy, and I’ll make a career out of it, and I’ll make crazy pay for the gas on my fucking expensive tour bus.” A kind of “Fuck you” to the stigma, because it is one.

It is, and that’s because nobody understands it.  I know that I’m derailing, but it’s fun to talk about the whole bi-polar thing for a second. Well, it’s part of what you’re doing right now, you should talk about it.

Yeah, that’s true.  There again, it’s like:  don’t try to pretend, because you realize that the moment that you’re on a psychiatric drug, you’re not really going to be taken seriously anymore, and the moment that you are locked up, it’s all over for you.  So I could either try to live a normal life and be 9-5, whatever, and have background checks and psychiatric evaluations and have that matter, or I can take everything and make it my career.  Now it’s like:  how can you fuck with that; it’s what we’re making money off of, and that’s a beautiful thing.  I’m honestly pretty proud of that, because I’m not ashamed of anything.  I may not be happy about it, but I’m not ashamed of doing the things that I’ve done to myself – I’ve never hurt anybody else.

The thing is that bi-polar disorder/manic depression, to begin with, is so intensely misunderstood in a way that really affects people and really matters.  It doesn’t help if you’ve got people in Hollywood – Britney shaving her head and showing her whatever-the-hell (I couldn’t think of a clever word to call that right now) we’ve all seen it a million times, and not just with her.  Basically, a famous person behaves badly and the next day in the paper, they start calling her bi-polar.  It’s like “Oh my God, she acted crazy, she must be bi-polar.”  It’s almost like calling somebody a retard. It’s passed into common vernacular and people don’t even really understand what they’re talking about.

Yeah, it’s like saying “That bitch is insane, she’s acting all bi-polar” and the thing is, no, they’re hopped up on drugs, that’s what.  They might be miserable, and they might have good reason to be, but they’re not bi-polar – that’s something entirely different.  This condition has made me try to kill myself, but it’s never made me get out of a cab without underwear or shave my head.  It made me cut my hair, but that was different – I left a few inches on there. It’s kinda like the post-partum depression that somehow turns into homicidal behavior – I’m not buying that, either.

Right.  I see that and I think that I agree, but…wow, I was about to say never having been pregnant, but it happened.  It was terminated, obviously, and that’s in the book, so I can’t even be quiet about that now as it’s all going to come out anyway.

That’s a stigma too now, thanks to the Conservative movement.

It is.  I mean, I hesitate to say that I or this book are important enough to have any backlash, but I suspect that it will.  We’re going to push it; I won’t stop until it is read, because it is everything to me – my whole life.  It’s the most important thing that I have ever done, and likely ever will.  I know that sounds crazy, but it’s massive, epic, huge and it’s everything.  I have almost no more secrets now, and it’s pretty scary, but it’s also just a bit cathartic, because you don’t have to wonder anymore if people understand you or not.  I’ve never felt entirely understood – and any complex person never will – but this gives me at least a better chance at that.  You know that if people like you, they like you even knowing all of this, and I think that is a nice thing in some way. It does talk about all of the things you’re not supposed to talk about. I’m a big fan of that.

I can tell!  In this world, we talk about depression now – not that it’s understood, because it’s not – but we do talk about it.  We talk about rape and child abuse and all of those things, which we should (and those are in the book, too) but there are still some things that we really don’t talk about.  We don’t talk about suicide and we don’t talk about cutting, and we don’t talk about a lot of diseases that people absolutely don’t understand.  We don’t talk enough, or in the right ways, about abortion and all of those things.

No, we just try to squash it.

That’s the thing:  we squash it or it’s just about taking sides, or it’s about Women’s Rights (and that’s good,) but there’s so much more to it:  how it affects you forever, and how it feels to have one.  I mean, people don’t realize, and it’s not meant, anyway. They pass judgment before they understand the problem first.

And they don’t know what this is like.  You don’t know what finding out that you’re pregnant when you’ve been continuously on the pill feels like – when you are that point one percent, and I was.  Try to judge that; I didn’t go around being irresponsible.  I can’t believe we’re talking about this – I have never, ever talked about this in an interview before.  I realize now:  it doesn’t matter anymore, because I can’t pretend to be more glamorous than I am; it’s all going to be there anyway, so I feel like “Why not?”

I have my own things that I hide too, and I’m listening to you and wondering why we do that.  I remember having an anxiety attack at work and being terrified that they were going to find out, because you feel crazy.  How do you explain to somebody that you think you’re having a heart attack when you’re not?

You’re viewed as naturally weak, and people will, they will!  They will absolutely think “Wow, you’re a little bit unstable.”  Even something even as simple as “mentally unstable,” especially when you’re not working exclusively for yourself, is something you don’t want.

It’s such a dismissive term.

Well, that’s why I felt the need – it’s not just about me and this bullshit, it’s about this other world, and most of the book is this world and what goes on in it; this alternate reality that I had to create in order to survive while not being allowed to have contact with the outside world.  What I didn’t know at the time is that it would all become very, very real, and it’ll all make sense when (hopefully) you read it.

It’s necessary, because people are just so fucking cruel about it, and a lot of the book is just about that.  Like, look at how we behave toward these people who need help and compassion and care.  Like, it’s so true that so many people’s reactions to an attempted suicide are anger…

Scorn…

Scorn, disgust.  Same with cutting yourself, same with even having to be on drugs in order to survive.  There is so much absolute brutality and cruelty.

They call you weak.

And, almost the worst thing that’s happened to me with all of this – probably the most cruel, honestly, in spite of all the abuse and harassment – the most degrading thing is when your boyfriend does something shitty, and you have an actual problem with that, and they say “Have you taken your medication today?  That’s the equivalent of asking “Is it your time of the month?”  It’s no different, and there’s nothing worse than that.  People feel that they have a right to do that, and that’s the point:  it discredits everything you say, everything you do, and everything you will ever do.

It’s almost my only hope, in getting through this life with any semblance of happiness, to own it and to make my life entirely about it.  Just the complete reverse psychology of it is that I am not ashamed.  I maybe should be, but I’m not ashamed of that or anything that I’ve done.  I think we need to talk about it – I need to talk about it – but the trick is that nobody likes to be preached to.  You need to do it with humor, and the book is also very funny (or I would like to think so.)  God, that sounded pompous, but anyway, I try. The show really just highlights how to say this message in – as childish as it sounds –with massive doses of humor; using sexuality to do it, because I have no problem with that whatsoever.  I think it’s a great, awesome, beautiful thing, using those tools in order to send the message that you want to send.  Even if it’s as simple as letting people know that we’re all in this together and they’re not alone and we still get unequal pay as a reward.  That hasn’t changed, and so much hasn’t changed, and it needs to. I think that one of the most awesome things that’s ever, ever happened to me is when we were sound-checking for the concert recently in Mexico City.  One of the crew guys who worked for the venue came up and said that he was a fan of the music, but what he really appreciated the most (and he was fully in that culture – a guy’s guy) was that, in our own way, we are educating men there to treat women.   That machismo thing which is a huge part of their culture (they know that – it’s not derogatory, it’s the truth.)  He was saying “This is how guys are – here, especially – and you’re helping to change that.

Now, I don’t think we’re really helping to change that, but it’s cool that he thought so, and that he, as a guy, thought “This is good.”   Guys would be so much happier – and they don’t even know it – if this were all equal, and that’s all we’re asking for.  You know what I’m saying? Changing behavior is definitely what it’s about.

It is – it’s about changing thought process, behavior, reaction, all of that.  Educating in whatever way I can, and even more than all of that, it’s just about creating an environment where even I can be accepted in that process.  Creating it and letting other people share in it, because that’s the funny thing, is that now everybody wants to be an inmate.  It’s hilarious, because the asylum is actually the last place on earth that you should want to be, but that’s the joke, and it’s a beautiful one.  It makes me smile, which is a very, very long time coming type of thing.  In the end, the whole show – and the fun that we have together onstage – is all about taking back the asylum and making it what always should have been.  

A fucking asylum is a sanctuary; a place where you go to be safe.   It’s not how it was, and not how it is now, but we can create it for ourselves, even if it’s just us, in this venue – us right now, together.  That’s the point, because I need a place to live, and I’m not comfortable outside the asylum, because it’s not set up for me to be comfortable. So, I will make my own reality and I will build my own house, and surround myself with people who will understand – even if it’s just my band.  We are all best friends, and in the end, it’s like: fuck all the rest of this, and what I have to complain and write books about.  How fucking lucky am I that I get to tour the planet with my four best girlfriends?  In the end, I’ve realized that I have very little to complain about, and I’m grateful for all of this.

And that the suffering was necessary.

It was, and it still is.  It continues, and it always will, but I am going to accept it and learn from it, and make it entertaining for everybody else.  The truth is that people love to watch a crazy girl freak out, and I’m going to deliver, because I can.  It’s honest, and fuck it, I don’t blame them – but I’m going to look good doing it.

I just wanted to note that Vecona started working with Emilie in 2006 before her debut as a BC in 2007. Both the 4 o'Clock and Laced/Unlaced photoshoots happened in 2006, per Vecona in SFLAG's interview with her. She provided costumes and design for concerts from 2007 to 2008.

Like, yes, there are a lot of similarities between Ophelia Rising and EA, but Vecona was very established in her style and design, so comparing her work with theirs under a narrative of being too similar is a bit of a disservice. You put together a very interesting read though!!!

____

Thank you! Yeah, I was aware of that! 4 o’clock and Laced Unlaced photoshoot were EA and Vecona’s first collaboration ever if i remember correctly. I know that Vecona was long established seamstress, in fact a lot of clothes that EA and Crumpets wore were made long before and shown around on different fashion shows. So I’m not saying Vecona’s designs were stolen from Ophelia Rising, i was talking about Emilie’s own clothes that she wore very early on... When Emilie played on tv with Joo Hee and Jacinda, they were all wearing opheliac clothes made by Emilie, not Vecona. These costumes I actually find very beautiful and very classic opheliac. That was in the beginning of 2006, January or something. I think she met Vecona later that year. So there was already that look before Vecona, when she started working with her i think Emilie achieved much more unique look.

  Sure corsets and stockings look was common for rock/goth bands, for example Amy Lee dressed like that too. Emilie also wore corsets before during Enchant era so my point is that maybe there was that “victorian Ophelia” inspiration taken from Lexa but stylistically she was evolving (and Vecona clothes helped a lot). What actually made me think she ripped OR a little were some stage props/performances, crumpets throwing and inclusion of dancers/Bloody Crumpets. But EA gradually made in into something different, working with circus, fire eaters and aerial silks performers was pretty cool.

Here are early opheliac costumes i had in mind, these weren’t made by Vecona:

EA’s own 2009 corsets + crystals clothes were fine but I think now Vecona years were the best, especially when they had Joo Hee touring with them cause she played cello for real. I recently found Joo Hee playing cool live cello improvisations on I Want My Innocence Back and Liar which i’ve never heard before, i’ll link it later cause it’s just awesome

Emilie Autumn

Emilie Autumn Liddell (born in Los Angeles, on September 22, 1979), better known by her stage name Emilie Autumn, is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and violinist. Autumn draws influence for her music—the style of which she has alternatively labeled as "Victoriandustrial" and glam rock—from plays, novels, and history, particularly the Victorian era. Performing with her all-female backing band The Bloody Crumpets, Autumn incorporates elements of classical music, cabaret, electronica, and glam rock with theatrics, burlesque, and "flamboyant" outfits. Outspoken about bipolar disorder and her experience in a modern-day psychiatric ward, she has written an autobiographical novel, 2010's The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls.Growing up in Malibu, California, she began learning the violin at the age of four and left regular school five years later with the goal of becoming a world-class violinist; she practiced eight or nine hours a day and read a wide range of literature. Progressing to writing her own music and poetry, she studied under various teachers and went to Indiana University, which she left over issues regarding the relationship between classical music and the appearance of the performer. Through her own independent label Traitor Records, Autumn debuted with her classical album On a Day: Music for Violin & Continuo, followed by the release in 2003 of her supernaturally themed album Enchant.She appeared in singer Courtney Love's backing band on her 2004 America's Sweetheart tour and returned to the United States. She released the 2006 album Opheliac with the German label Trisol Music Group. In 2007, she released Laced/Unlaced; the re-release of On a Day... appeared as Laced with songs on the electric violin as Unlaced. She later left Trisol to join New York-based The End Records in 2009 and release Opheliac in the United States, where previously it had only been available as an import. Her most recent album Fight Like A Girl was released in 2012.

Asylum Secrets: This corset pictured (the Opheliac corset) was not the first but I believe the second corset that I toured with as a primary costume piece. Years after its debut, it was reincarnated into something almost unrecognizable. Can you guess what very photographed piece it became? (I know I mentioned this somewhere in the past, but I don’t remember when or where, so let’s just pretend I’ve never said it before.) -W14A🥄

From the Archives: June 27, 2018

TBT - Emilie Autumn, Lady Joo Hee, and Jacinda at the Double Door (2006)

TBT - Emilie Autumn, Lady Joo Hee, and Jacinda backstage at the Double Door (2006)

TBT - Emilie Autumn at the Double Door (2006)

CORSETS AND STRIPED STOCKINGS:  OUTFITTING THE ASYLUM FOR WAYWARD VICTORIAN GIRLS by She Fights Like A Girl 

Welcome to a brand new series exploring the design and history of the costumes used throughout Emilie Autumn’s career! This is structured to be a general overview of how costumes were made and designed over the years, and how one style evolved into the next. But don’t scroll through too quickly! You never know what secrets you might find hidden within...

Feel free to drop me a line here with any questions or corrections. Please check the tags for any honorable mentions that helped me along my way, and visit the credits page linked at the bottom for my sources.

PART I: ENCHANT & THE FAERIE QUEENE

“If from the height of space you dare to fall, You’re sure to find the meaning of it all…” - The Enchant Puzzle

Let’s take a look back to the turn of the century: 2000 and 2001, when Emilie was a featured model for “Enchant Clothing and Costume.” There’s a lot of information around about this company and its origins available online, but in the interest of not digging up any graves, I’ll be restricting my coverage to a few times.

First: the Victorian Corset.

This is a single thread that spans across eras. It was there at the very beginning and kept on appearing well into the early Opheliac Era, even being featured on Emilie’s second poetry publication, Your Sugar Sits Untouched. 

It was one piece in an expansive wardrobe designed with Baroque, Rococo, and Victorian influence. The second signature item was the dress below, featured on one copy of the “Violin promo” (Emilie’s teenage classical demo album) and in the lost violin podcast from the Early Opheliac era. 

More on other Enchant Clothing & Costume items here.

Pushing on into the “Enchant Era,” we saw a full fledged faerie burst out onto the fantasy-pop-rock scene. Off stage, her style was more faerie-rock than victoriandustrial, matched with the bright pink hair her fandom would grow accustomed to for years. Onstage, she wore hand-made faerie ensembles, often matched with a pair of wings and sparkling accessories. 

As far as the production of these pieces, there isn’t much to say. A lot of her costumes were reportedly obtained via second-hand stores, either in fabric or clothing form, which she would then alter herself (as seen with one of the dresses above, notably worn on tour with Courney Love & The Chelsea).

However, there is something to say about how EA made her wings! She was featured on HGTV’s Crafter’s Coast to Coast, showcasing the way she made faerie wings and soaps. 

Shortly before 2013’s Fight Like A Girl World Tour, Emilie teased Moth’s faerie wings online with process photos - but we’ll talk about those later. 

Then, of course, there’s the Enchant Wings and the Faerie Queene herself, and all the prizes one might win from 2003′s “Enchant Puzzle.”

Enchant Wings, with detail shots from 2014 eBay auction.

These prizes remain unclaimed, but they are one of the final notes left behind from this era. Enchant was a love song to medieval design and fantasy folklore, brought to the modern era on the strings of a violin. 

But by the end of 2004, we were already starting to say goodbye to the Faerie Queene as Emilie began work on her new album, Opheliac, and her Shakespearian influences began to mix with industrial alt-rock. The heart under her eye appeared during her last Enchant concert in October 2004. During her time with Courtney Love & The Chelsea, she debuted an iconic white top on The Tonight Show (2004), and later appeared on WGN alongside Billy Corgan in some familiar striped stockings.

It was with this that the faerie wings were stored away and the fandom would have to turn their backs on the enchanted forests from whence they’d come, faced instead with the tall, jagged spikes of the gates of a place only known as “The Asylum.”

Next up… PART II: DROWNING OPHELIA

“I am all these things of course, but the faerie wings help to suspend all that for a moment and say, ‘for this short time, I am a being beyond limitation or self-consciousness or restriction, and you can be too.’”

[SEE ALL CREDITS AND SOURCES HERE.]

CORSETS AND STRIPED STOCKINGS: OUTFITTING THE ASYLUM FOR WAYWARD VICTORIAN GIRLS by She Fights Like A Girl

These articles are best viewed on desktop, but are mobile friendly. Please excuse any strange formatting on your phone browser or the Tumblr app.

PART IV: WAYWARD VICTORIAN GIRLS

“Why can I never go back to bed? Who's is the voice ringing in my head? Where is the sense in these desperate dreams? Why should I wake when I'm half past dead?” - 4 o’Clock (2007)

The Gate Tour, which featured a short set of European-exclusive dates in late 2008, was the first notable tone shift in the Opheliac tours. With Vecona’s departure from all things Asylum after The Plague Tour, new costumes were debuted and the Crumpet line-up changed. The Naughty Veronica, Captain Maggot, the Blessed Contessa, and Aprella became the main line-up through 2009 (with some appearances by Little Miss Sugarless).

Most notably, we see the introduction of the third white heart corset, as Vecona’s costumes had been auctioned to fans on eBay. 

EA Heart Corset / Third White Heart Corset, various sets, 2008-2011

More detail on this look later. 

Then there’s a one-tour-only appearance of The Gate “corset” (a possibly-pleather torso wrap that went over a corset).

And how could I forget? There’s also the Rat Queen herself!

While this particular costume has a deeper history than what I’ll talk about (which you can read about here), it’s most indicative of the tone shift in shows. “4 o’Clock” had been performed in almost every tour previously, but this was the first instance of a song being assigned a character. Not just Emilie singing it and the Crumpets playing along in their on-stage world, but the image of a rat crawling out of the Asylum; Emilie embodying a pivotal character from her book and letting the rats out to play. There’s structure here, matched with a more solid sort of storytelling.

The style of the Rat Queen changes from tour to tour. The mask-slash-headpiece gained more decorations, sparkles, and stones as tours went on, and the original corset with white stripes and a white heart (seen above) was later toned down to a grey-only design (seen below). Ear headbands from previous tours were used, as well as the rat tail; decorative sleeve parts were changed and remade between tours.

Emilie Autumn by Scott Legato (2011, right) and detail shots from 2012 eBay listing (left).

The Rat Queen and accessories through various tours (2008-2012)

The following tour was called “The Gate II,” as it almost immediately followed the former and didn’t need much distinction. Some pictures from that tour are featured above. There isn’t much notable change in costume design during this tour, but it is the beginning of what I’ll call SparkleGate, because everything that could go through a Bedazzler did.

Then, in late 2009, the Asylum as we knew it was turned upside down by a rather sudden shift in management. Emilie split with Trisol Records and thus ended a very large and lengthy chapter of her career, going on to re-release Opheliac under a new label, The End Records. This double disk re-release came complete with a new photo shoot by Don Scott, usually known as “The End Photoshoot,” or “Opheliac Industrial.”

The same outfit was featured in book readings preceding her next tour, Opheliac’s first North and South American tour, “The Key.”

The overall design concept becomes considerably more glam (see: SparkleGate) than steampunk-goth, while the set remained relatively the same as tours past. The Bloody Crumpets continued wearing costumes similar or the same as tours past. It’s not until Opheliac’s final tour, The Door, that we see the full sparkle of the Asylum’s glam phase.

The SparkleGlam Corset. Or, as it was more commonly referred to, the KinKats Ensemble. 

Again, the individual parts that make up this ensemble aren’t new. In typical EA style, this corset is a piece from former tours that was re-purposed and accosted with Swarovski crystals. 

This full ensemble made its debut in two parts: the KinKats photoshoot and the Medical Burlesque Performance. (See the whole burlesque performance here.) Fans who’ve been here for a while might remember this as the pasties and/or “GlitterTits” phase (roughly 2010 to 2011), when the fandom was in a constant turmoil over Twitter Rants and Playboy blurbs. 

By the time this ensemble it made its way off magazine covers and to stage, it had changed slightly in the bra, accessory, and wig department, and would continue to do so between tour legs (European, South and North American). But it was always the same general idea: pink, sparkly glam-rock. With really tall hats.

The rest of the stage costumes remained largely the same, featuring the Rat Queen (for the final time) and the white heart corset (#3). The Door Tour was advertised as the final tour for Opheliac and became something of a worldwide event, performed in separate legs across the world. By the official end of it, there was only one place left to go.

Australia.

Emilie was invited to perform in The Harvest Festival “Down Under” after The Door Tour had come to a close. The set ended up being a majority of Opheliac songs despite the record’s retirement from tour, but there was one new song that did debut:

Fight Like A Girl.

“It gives me strength to have somebody to fight for; I can never fight for myself, but, for others, I can kill.” -The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls (2009)

Up next... PART V: AN ASYLUM MUSICAL

Fly back... PART I: Enchant and the Faerie Queene PART II: Drowning Ophelia PART III: Vecona, Seamstress of the Asylum

Remember to visit Part III and enter our giveaway! Ends 12/1/19.

[SEE ALL CREDITS AND SOURCES HERE.] 

CORSETS AND STRIPED STOCKINGS: OUTFITTING THE ASYLUM FOR WAYWARD VICTORIAN GIRLS by She Fights Like A Girl

These articles are best viewed on desktop, but are mobile friendly. Please excuse any strange formatting on your phone browser or the Tumblr app.

PART V: AN ASYLUM MUSICAL [CONTINUED] See first post here.

The first Asylum Rags, worn during Gaslight and The Key, were the ones featured in the Fight Like A Girl music video (2014).

Reason to join the #flagtour2013 at The Troubadour in LA tonight: Because we will be wearing the filthy nightgowns used in the "Fight Like A Girl" video directed by @darrenbousman who will also be there tonight:)!!!  (x)

These costumes were designed to be the clothes that inmates of The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls wore during their internment. Emilie, as Emily-with-a-Y, also wore a key tied around her thigh with a ribbon for (the aptly named) The Key.

To finish out the show, the girls appeared in their finale look for One Foot in Front of the Other Foot, Mad Girl, and Thank God I’m Pretty. See them in their finale dance below!

Now, to close out this part of the series, there’s one more corset, a new mohawk, a music video, and certain faerie I need to talk about. 

First: The Fight Like A Girl music video.

Speaking strictly to costumes, the music video only debuted a few new ensembles. One appears to be a costume slated for the 2013 South American tour that never made it onstage, debuting here instead on an unnamed Bloody Crumpet / Inmate.

RIGHT: Busy in the costume shop, creating new magic for my S. American Plague Rats;)! twitpic.com/bcwhq5 what will you be wearing?? (x)

Below are some photos of other costumes from the video, for all the other boys and girls (and everyone otherwise undecided) featured on screen.

From left to right, up to down: Ulorin Vex, Veronica Varlow, Unknown Inmate, Emilie Autumn, Maggie Lally, Benjamin Michael Marsh, Craig Anton, Sarah Saviano, Unknown “Conjoined Inmates.” Costume Design by Emilie Autumn, Mildred Von Hildegard.

Read more about the FLAG music video here.

Second: The Asylum “Sparkle Heart” Corset and Mohawk v2 from the final Fight Like A Girl World Tour. 

The Sparkle Heart corset is another recycled costume, changed from its original iconic look to a new one.

Asylum Secrets: This corset pictured (the Opheliac corset) was not the first but I believe the second corset that I toured with as a primary costume piece. Years after its debut, it was reincarnated into something almost unrecognizable. Can you guess what very photographed piece it became? (I know I mentioned this somewhere in the past, but I don’t remember when or where, so let’s just pretend I’ve never said it before.) -W14A (x)

Yep. That’s the Opheliac corset. Full circle. From the drowned victim to the proud warrior she transformed. ~W14A (x)

The original mohawk was sold on eBay in May of 2013, after the Fight Like A Girl: North American Tour (2013) and the FLAG music video. A new mohawk debuted for the Fight Like A Girl World Tour (2013). This version featured a helmet-like design, presumably for easier removal and longevity as a headpiece.

Now, third and last: Moth.

Captain Maggots had scheduling conflicts with the last leg of the Fight Like A Girl World Tour, prompting the introduction of a new Bloody Crumpet. Known as Moth, or Anathema, Jill Evyln joined the Crumpets and took on the long-lost role of a faerie. Her costume featured two sets of wings (large and small), and she performed a fan dance in lieu of Maggot’s stilts and fire performances. 

Emilie crafted Moth’s wings as she had all her faerie wings in the past, teasing them on Flickr and Twitter with little to no context before the tour began.

And so here ends the tale of the Fight Like A Girl Tours. But that’s not to say the gates of the Asylum never opened again...

“And no one’s coming, Coming to take me home...” - Gaslight (2014)

Up Next... PART VI: THE ASYLUM EXPERIENCE

Fly back… PART I: Enchant and the Faerie Queene PART II: Drowning Ophelia PART III: Vecona, Seamstress of the Asylum PART IV: Wayward Victorian Girls PART V: An Asylum Musical

Remember to visit Part III and enter our giveaway! Ends 12/1/19.

[SEE ALL CREDITS AND SOURCES HERE.]

CORSETS AND STRIPED STOCKINGS: OUTFITTING THE ASYLUM FOR WAYWARD VICTORIAN GIRLS by She Fights Like A Girl

These articles are best viewed on desktop, but are mobile friendly. Please excuse any strange formatting on your phone browser or the Tumblr app.

This article was longer than intended and image-heavy, so it’s been split into two parts.

PART V: AN ASYLUM MUSICAL

“And if I end up with blood on my hands, Well, I know that you’ll understand ‘Cause I fight like a girl.” - Fight Like A Girl (2014)

And now we're back to the relatively recent past, when this blog was in its infancy and the fandom couldn't decide whether to stick with the forum or run rampant on Tumblr. Fight Like A Girl (the album) was still being recorded, but Emilie did a few live dates Down Under and decided to feature the title song from the unfinished album.

To my understanding, the Harvest Festival was another one of those concerts where the show was considerably downsized because of the cost of shipping props and set pieces. But where the South American tours hadn’t pulled back in the wardrobe department, the Harvest festival did. Emilie and the Crumpets performed in one costume for the entire set. But to make up for the lack of glam, EA debuted the first costume of the FLAG era.

This costume was worn for the cover art of Fight Like A Girl, and acted as the signature corset for the very first Fight Like A Girl World Tour (2012). 

“Asylum Secrets: All of my costumes over the years have been made to look as though someone had been murdered in them and come back from the dead to enact a fabulous revenge. To achieve this, I have employed techniques from melting fabrics with an industrial strength heat gun to spraying them with solutions that no human should ever breathe. In the case of the corset pictured, I burned it mercilessly with sticks of incense before painting the fabric to make it look moth-eaten.” - EA on the creation of the FLAG corset (June 25, 2018)

Speaking of the 2012 FLAG World Tour! While there were a lot of changes from The Door Tour and Harvest Festival, this tour is probably best remembered as a transition phase between eras. There were new costumes, but… the Rat Queen still introduced the show with 4 o’Clock. There were new set dressings, but… the shadow scrim was still main stage center. The new corset was mixed in with the Rat Queen ensemble and the structure of the show hadn’t changed terribly. New, but… kinda not?

Except for that Warrior Mohawk, of course.

Upper: WVC content / eBay listing photo. Lower: Making of the Warrior Mohawk from Emilie’s Flickr account.

This is the only tour where Emile wore a mohawk for the entirety(-slash-majority) of the show. Later concerts would see her removing it after the third song. There was some slight skepticism in the fandom with its debut, sparking discourse about everything from cultural appropriation to thematic relevance, but EA didn’t make much comment on the criticism.

“[The Warrior Mohawk] signified the transformation from victim to warrior. I feel that it is important for me to let go in order that I may go on to transform yet again and create new bits of wearable magic to surprise you with... This headpiece symbolized the birth of a new era in the Asylum…. This is the headdress of a tribal Queen…” - EA, 2012 eBay auction description.

“The Mohawk headdress represents the tribal, wild element of the sisterhood that formed during the imprisonment of the inmates, and shows that, once we escape and are on the rampage to take down our oppressors, we have indeed transformed from individual, helpless victims into a strong and beautifully terrifying tribal warriors.”  - EA for Natalie’s World, 2013 (x) (x)

Another costume that debuted on this tour was the MC of the Ophelia Gallery, who had his own brand-new number: Girls! Girls! Girls!

And as for its history...

(My best guess is that this photo originated in 2009, based on her hair.)

This character is a hint at the structure of the tour (and album) to come, where it would be less about the mad girls existing inside the Asylum and more about the story of how they got there, and what happened once they were interned. Allow me to stray from the costuming topic for just a moment…

A TANGENT: OF STAGE SHOWS AND ASYLUM CONTINUITY Spoiler filled ramblings of a long-time fan.

I’ve got a running theory that The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, in all its forms, runs in parallel to the concerts. But they match each other in reverse. [Spoilers for the book to follow.]

Emilie’s first concert of the Opheliac brand was in a small venue in Chicago, alongside Lady Joo Hee. In The Asylum… book, Emily-with-a-y’s final days in the Asylum were spent with Sachiko (a character based on and formerly named Joo Hee). 

The Opheliac shows of 2007-2011 were all about the women in an Asylum singing songs and welcoming others home. Cannibals, ballerinas, pyrate captains, nymphomanics -- they all ran rampant with no apparent oversight except from Emilie herself. Rats crept and crawled onstage unbothered; toys, crumpets, and cupcakes were in abundance, often served alongside “tea,” and there isn’t a single cell door in sight.

Especially in the earliest days of the concerts, the set design had an emphasis on appearing hand-made -- not only because it was, but because it should be for these girls. This was the world EA branded for herself: a world of freedom, without judgement, earned by their own hands.

In The Asylum… book, after the Inmates take over and kill the doctors, this is very much what they do: impersonate medical professionals and welcome sick and not-so-sick girls home to protect them, nurture them, and give them the best life that the Victorian Age fails to do. They take over the Asylum and make it their own.

Then in the FLAG performances (2012-2014), the storytelling shifts. EA’s Asylum world is no longer loosely themed with inmates running amok, but adheres to a more rigid storytelling structure, detailing the struggles and despair of the girls locked up in The Asylum(-with-a-capital-T). It mirrors the bulk of the content in The Asylum… book. The carefree, whimsical stage dressings shift to bars -- a representation of the cells and gates in The Asylum. There might be a bear tied to a dreary grey harpsichord; you might even see a single rat scratching about. But they don’t have dominion here. There’s no freedom. Just the story of the girls trapped behind the bars.

And now we’re stalled on both sides of the street. We’ve met in the middle. The concerts started at the end of the book, and ended at the beginning. 

Ok, I’ll put my soapbox away. Let’s get back on track.

BACK TO BUSINESS

Where were we?

Oh, yes: Girls! Girls! Girls! and new costumes.

So let’s jump forward a little more, because there isn’t much else to say about Emilie’s costume style in the 2012 FLAG World Tour. Moving on to the 2013 Fight Like A Girl: North American Tour (and following European and Australian tours), a brand new show was brought to the stage. Full new stage set-up, new costumes, and a full new setlist. 

A costume I’ll be referring to as the “armored corset” replaced the moth-eaten FLAG ensemble in the opening number. Both Maggots and Veronica were given new costumes as well, replacing the costumes they had worn for years. 

Armored Corset, with varying amounts of sparkled (2013)

Maggie Lally; Captain Maggot / Captain Maggots

Veronica Varlow; The Naughty Veronica

The show design of this tour had Emilie in the armored corset with the mohawk for the two opening numbers, Fight Like A Girl and Time for Tea. The mohawk and the armored plates on her chest and hip were removed during the 4 o’Clock Reprise, leaving her without her armor for What Will I Remember? as the narrative moves back to the beginning of the story, before the “Uprising.”

On the subject of the corset: structurally, it was outfitted with snaps to attach the armor and allow for easy removal (see corset detail above, bottom right). The mohawk proved a more difficult challenge to remove, as it was securely clipped, pinned, and secured into EA’s hair. This ended up being corrected in the redesign that produced Mohawk 2.0.

Back to the show! By the time we get to Veronica’s Dominant fan dance, EA has removed the armor corset completely in the interim to prepare for the Girls! Girls! Girls! costume change. After Scavenger, the entire cast changes into Asylum Inmate Rags to perform Gaslight and The Key, and then changes back into full costume for the finale. Emilie wears the full FLAG ensemble from previous tours to close out the show, with varying headdresses. 

But I’m skipping over something important.

The Scavenger.

Inspired by Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, The Scavenger, a vulture-esque representation of Dr. Greavsely, appeared onstage for Scavenger. 

“This is the start of the original costume @maggotmagpie wears in our show, the one Greavesly wears in #AsylumMusical will be bonkers…” - EA on the Scavenger (February 7, 2016)

EA on Twitter/Twitpic 2012 (x)

The Scavenger was usually worn by Maggots as part of a stilt-walking performance, but if the venue couldn’t or wouldn’t allow for stunts onstage, Emilie would appear alone in the costume for the number. 

Scavenger has plenty of different “shows” (A show, B show, and C show for my theme park friends), with “A Show” being Captain Maggot on stilts.

Note: The Atlanta show featured here is a bit strange, as it uses the Stage Screen and the Asylum Bars during a tour that doesn’t feature the former. Emilie also isn’t in the normal costume for this number, using a personal scarf to cover her bloomers and bra.

“B Show” would be Emilie performing as the Scavenger, due to venue restrictions. This was actually the way Scavenger debuted, until Maggot’s first performance later in the tour. (See pictures and even more info here.)

“C Show” would be Moth’s performance in the final set of Fight Like A Girl tours, as seen below:

(There’s also “D Show,” (ha) which is this random dude performing as The Scavenger. I’ve yet to figure this out, but my guess is it was a technician stepping in at the last moment or a friend of EA from Oakland.)

Last, but not least, are the Asylum Rags. You’d think there wouldn’t be much to say here, but there is. Click on the continue link below to learn more about tattered costumes and the rest of the FLAG era, because Tumblr only allows 10 pictures per post.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE.

Fly back… PART I: Enchant and the Faerie Queene PART II: Drowning Ophelia PART III: Vecona, Seamstress of the Asylum PART IV: Wayward Victorian Girls

Remember to visit Part III and enter our giveaway! Ends 12/1/19.

[SEE ALL CREDITS AND SOURCES HERE.]

Emilie Autumn: Story

Archived from the Emilie Autumn Official website, March 17th, 2022.

~*~*~*~

Well, if you’ve ever lacquered on black nail varnish, sported striped stockings, danced to German industrial music, would commit criminal acts for a cup of tea, have a thing for electric violins, an even bigger thing for musical theatre, participated in a shadow cast of cult films set in circuses, or you love someone who has, then you’ve probably seen my mug before. If you haven’t, do see below…I didn’t write the text, but it gives a vaguely good idea of what’s going on here. ~EA, Inmate W14A

THE STORY

Internationally recognized as a world-class violinist, singer, composer, author, actor, and artist, Emilie Autumn mastered the classical violin before going on to travel the world as a highly theatrical performer. Known for her genre-bending albums Opheliac and Fight Like A Girl, Emilie has also starred in The Devil’s Carnival musical fantasy film series (alongside Adam Pascal of Broadway’s RENT fame, and Ted Neeley of the iconic film Jesus Christ Superstar). Emilie’s academic career ended abruptly at the age of ten when, as a child-prodigy violinist, she was removed from school to allow her the time to perfect her craft. Yet, despite her near-complete absence of formal education, her debut self-published novel (The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls) is cited in text-books used as part of the psychology curriculum at Oxford University, amongst other publications. Emilie's poetry, written in her teens, has been used as the basis for original works created and performed by New York's Rochester Ballet Company, using her spoken-word and classical violin work as the score. Emilie originally intended to begin and end her career as a classical soloist and composer, but gradually became aware that, in order to express herself completely, she must use her voice as well as her fingers. She soon armed herself with an electric violin, a uniquely powerful singing voice, and self-taught skills as a digital programmer able to record and produce her own albums (she has been made an official artist representative for Steinberg, creators of industry leading recording software). Upon the release of her 2007 Shakespearean-themed concept album, Opheliac, Emilie found herself an overnight star in Germany's industrial rock scene, and began touring extensively. With her flaming red hair, fetish for tightly-laced corsets, and signature heart painted on her cheek (a unifying symbol devotedly replicated by her global audience known as the "Plague Rats"), Emilie fast became a sensation throughout Europe and the United Kingdom before touring frequently through America, South America, Canada, and Russia. During this time, Emilie released several singles, EPs, a cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," and a double-disc album of instrumental work, the violin extravaganza Laced/Unlaced—one disc featuring her classical work, the other her industrial-metal electric violin pyrotechnics. Then came the literary creation that would alter the course of Emilie's career and change the perception of who she was in the minds of both fans and friends—an illustrated autobiographical/historical fantasy novel weighing in at nearly five pounds: The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. Diagnosed first with major depression in her early 20s and later with bipolar disorder, Emilie’s novel was culled from the very real pages of the secret journal she kept whilst incarcerated in a mental hospital. The tale takes an unexpected turn when, whilst still in the psych ward, Emilie discovers evidence of a parallel dimension—a world that soon becomes indiscernible from her own. As the days drift on, the seemingly disparate worlds of the story's two lead characters (Emilie and Emily, her Victorian counterpart) begin to merge. The Asylum... is a profoundly moving saga of suffering, sisterhood, and revenge that has empowered thousands of young readers to victoriously end their battle with self-harm, and to create communities wherein they can support one another and cultivate pride in what makes them different. Emilie has held hundreds of book readings and performed scenes from the book around the world, often asking her listeners to join in and act out the scenes themselves. Since it's release, The Asylum... novel continues to increase in popularity as Plague Rats around the globe cover themselves in tattoos from its elaborate art, cosplay as its varied characters (both human and animal), write their own fan-fiction, put on their own stage plays taking place in the Asylum world, and incorporate Emilie's story into their own lives in virtually every imaginable way. Aiding the phenomenon, the famed Vans Warped Tour featured Emilie Autumn's Asylum Experience, in which festival-goers enjoyed an interactive, day-long immersive theatre installation in Emilie's signature environment. Emilie is currently at work composing the Broadway-bound musical version of The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, and is constantly releasing music from the musical, most notably the new album The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls: Behind the Musical, now available everywhere. All the while, Emilie’s visual art has been developing wildly. She made her public debut at 2021’s Art Basel, where she showcased her mixed media works wherein she transforms the medical materials of nightmares into beautiful and empowering works of stunning cultural sophistication, with each piece being named after one of her song lyrics.