Christina Ricci: the ultimate 90’s misfit icon and the muse for my RICCI 501 wearable art piece.

Why did I feel the need to hand paint fifty different portraits of Christina Ricci on a pair of vintage Levi’s?

To unpack that, I need to go back to my childhood. Every Friday afternoon, when me and my sister were kids, our dad would take us to the tiny strip mall in town. First we’d go to the convenience store where we could each pick out one junk food snack. I was partial to Cheetos or KitKats, but occasionally I’d go wild and choose the Combos. Treat in hand, we’d go next store to the video rental place and browse the colorful covers of the many VHS tapes.

I still have a vivid memory of certain covers of movies I would never watch: Howard The Duck (something about it really disturbed me), Howard Stern’s Private Parts (so rare to see a naked man on the cover instead of a woman), and Michael (couldn’t tell you why, I probably just thought it looked like a really boring movie). Of course, we usually were in the family movie section. Movies were always an important part of our bonding as a family, and the Friday afternoon ritual was special.

I don’t think we ever would choose a film specifically because Christina Ricci was in it. But looking back, she was there for so many favorites (The Addams Family, Casper, That Darn Cat, Now and Then). But it wasn’t just that she was there, it was the particular characters she tended to play. Misfits, weirdos, and independent thinkers. Her characters were the perfect antidote to the bubblegum pop, hyper-feminized picture of girlhood that was being sold to girls at that time. She was the ultimate cool girl, but never the popular perfect one.

“Her characters were the perfect antidote to the bubblegum pop, hyper-feminized picture of girlhood that was being sold to girls at that time.”

She was bullied cruelly in the press (as most young female celebrities were at that time), but they could never turn us against her. We who grew up feeling different and found someone to look up to who showed us that being like everyone else isn’t something to strive for.

Looking back, I’m so grateful to have grown up with that influence in my life. So these jeans are my tribute and thanks to a remarkable actress and my 90’s childhood memories.