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Kinderwhore Wikipedia

Kinderwhore was an image used by a handful of United States|American female Punk rock bands in the early/mid 1990s. Exactly who invented the Kinderwhore image is up for debate, though it is widely accepted that Kat B'jelland of Babes in Toyland (band)|Babes in Toyland was the first to define it and Courtney Love of Hole_(band)|Hole was the first to popularise it.

For many years, an argument between Love and Bjelland over who had come up with the idea raged, with Bjelland claiming that Love had stolen it from her. Before earning their own success, Love and Bjelland had played together in a band called Sugar Baby Doll, and so it is difficult to prove either way who came up with it. Love claimed that she took the style from Christina Amphlett of 1980s Australian rock group, The Divinyls, in an interview in the Los Angeles fanzine Ben Is Dead.

The look itself was probably defined best by Kat Bjelland and consists of torn, ripped What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?|Baby Doll dresses, slutty makeup and leather boots. It basically works as a slutty, DIY Punk Ethic|D.I.Y. Subversion (political|subversion of the traditional Prom queen look, and the supposed feminine, fragility of the image works in stark contrast to Bjelland's extremely aggressive singing style. It caught the attention of the male dominated Rock music press (particularly in the United Kingdom|UK,) who were the first to label it Kinderwhore (or Baby Doll depending on which publication you read).

Following the notoriety garnered by Babes In Toyland, a new found interest in all female (or at least female fronted) bands began. Any American band with at least three female members were catergorized under the term Riot grrl.

Though Kinderwhore and Riot Grrl are forever linked, by no means did all of the Riot Grrls dress in the Kinderwhore fashion. Rather, Kinderwhore was part of the reason for Riot Grrls early success. In discussing Riot Grrl's early British success, the context of the early 1990s British music scene must be remembered. Any sense of style at the time was largely non-existent, Shoegazing bands who stared at the floor whilst playing and had no exciting image were all the rage, and so the exciting Kinderwhore look would have stood out on front covers.

For the most part the Kinderwhore look died out very quickly. Courtney Love, one of the prime exponents of both Riot Grrl and Kinderwhore, moved into acting and became very successful. When she returned from the acting world for Hole's last album, 1998 in music|1998's Celebrity Skin, she had dropped her controversial image, though she has remained controversial through her actions and statements. It could be said that Frankenstein Drag Queens From The Planet 13 as well as Murderdolls|The Murderdolls (though both entirely male bands) were the last to have an image like that of Kinderwhore.

Category:Fashion

Last Modified:   2005-12-15