Getting cosy with Amanda Lepore
Amanda Lapore is a self-made pop icon whose image is set in stone. Andrew Georgiou chats with the glamour doll while we wax the piano for her pin-up girl close-up.
AG: Amanda you wear so many hats so very well but If somebody, say, living under a rock, had never heard of Amanda Lepore, how would you
best describe what you do?
AL: Probably
performance artist, nightclub hostess, um… glamourpuss?
Glamourpuss is
good.
Narcissistic
glamourpuss.
Whoa! Even
better. It’d be nice on a resume, too.
Well, as I’ve said, you do all of those
things, but what's your biggest passion out of all of them?
Well, I love
going on stage and performing, you know, doing a little show.
Isn’t singing
rather new to you?
It is, yeah. I was really nervous at first and it
was so hard to learn the lyrics, but I keep on getting better and better with
it, and I really enjoy it so much.
I’ve always
thought of you as a pop culture icon, and the interesting thing is that long
after you and I have both left the planet, your image will continue because it’s
been immortalised by so many great
photographers.
Talk to me about what inspirered your look.
Well, you know, when I first starting taking hormones and even before that, I was
kind of a loner and spent a lot of time by myself. When I took hormones, I wasn’t allowed to go to high school;
I had a tutor at home. And I would
just escape, look at old movies, and I became fascinated by Marilyn Monroe and
Jane Mansfield and all those blonde bombshells. I was really fascinated, because they
seemed so artificial. They were
creative, they seemed so artistic and beautiful to me. I loved their body types. I think that that has a lot to do with
what I look like. Oh, and later Jessica Rabbit.
So over-accentuated features is something that’s obviously very appealling to you?
Yeah, very
voluptuous. At first, I just had
my sex change and I didn’t do anything, I was like away from it. And when I
would go to the plastic surgeon’s office – because I had to get hormone check-ups
and stuff – I would see people getting things done, and I became fascinated that
you could change yourself. More
than just into a girl; into a full-blown woman. I became fascinated with that. It was like my little project.
Very personal
project. If people didn’t really
understand the direction you were coming from, as far as your look is
concerned, they might think, “Okay, this person has gone to quite an extreme.” But the way I understand it, you’ve had
a great amount of control over how you look.
Yeah, I’ve gone
very slowly and really just went in one direction. I didn’t want to copy trends. I didn’t want to look like Cindy Crawford or someone else or
someone else or someone else. I
always wanted to look like that one thing. It was always in that direction, like pin-ups and movie stars.
Did you find it
challenging to communicate the look that you wanted to a plastic surgeon? Would they have an idea in mind and you'd, “No, that’s not what I want”?
I would never
talk about it in that way. I would
just say, “Oh, get this bump, so I can have a smaller waist.” I went in there as myself. I wasn’t one of those people that would
go in there with a picture and say, “Can you make me look like her?” I would just tweak things on
myself. You can still see, over
the years, that I’m the same person, just tweaked. I think I’ve had less surgery than people think.
Often the media
might portray that as more extreme than it is.
Yeah. They think that I had so much, and it’s
kind of weird being like a plastic surgery poster-child. But I know men, transsexuals, that have
a lot more done than me. And that
jump around a lot more.
Beverly Hills
housewives have a lot more than you.
[laughs] Yeah.
So is the
masterpiece finished?
Yeah, I mean, I
haven’t had any surgery for years.
Is where
you’re most comfortable?
Yeah. I don’t think my breasts could handle a
lot more. I have a hard time
keeping them in dresses.
They’re pretty
amazing. Do you reflect much on
the time when you were growing up as Armand, the young boy?
Is that a part of your life now that
you look upon, or is it something that you’ve distanced yourself from?
It all seems like
one thing to me. I really didn’t
feel like I turned into, like, a different person. I feel like the same person. As you know, my name was Armand
before this, so I just added an ‘a’ and dropped the ‘r’ because I thought that
would be a more natural progression. I never turned my back on that. I’m totally an open book. I
feel like the same person.
I’m interested in
how you connect with the trans community at home. Do you feel a part of it, and are you considered a role model
or somebody that they look up to?
Definitely the
younger ones. I feel like a role model to them. They say that they’re inspired by me, inspired to be who
they want to be. That feels really
great. Back when I started, it was
all about like fooling guys and blending in.
There weren’t
strong communities established then. Now people can be who they want to be.
It’s great, in
that way. I feel like I’ve changed
the world a little bit. [laughs]
Do you young
people transitioning ever write to you for inspiration or advice?
They do. They hang out with me. I become friends with a lot of them,
you know; I try to help out and give them advice. It feels great.
That is a unique position to be in. Every image we see of you is so glamorous and stylised and
beautiful, but when you’re at home, are you sort of like a sweatpants and T-shirt kind of gal?
Sometimes. Sometimes you’ll see me with hair
rollers and everything. I mean,
there’s definitely a beginning and an end and a lot of hocus-pocus going on
when I get ready. I don’t, like,
sleep like this or anything like that. Sometimes I’ll have no make-up, just to let my skin breathe. Any time I go out of the house I
usually wear make-up. It’s not
like any kind of celebrity thing, it’s just something that I’m used to. I love being a prissy girl, girly-girl,
and I love make-up and doing hair.
You do it so
bloody well! So, is Amanda Lepore
in love at the moment?
No, no. I’m getting, I think, more
narcissistic, where I don’t call guys back. [laughs] I’m turning into the girl
with the qualities that I hated about guys years ago!
Do you have a few gentlemen suitors?
Yeah, there’s
always guys lining up. [laughs]
I hope that’s not
a complaint!
No, not at all!
Let's play a quick game. I’m just gonna
give you about five phrases, and you just say the first thing that pops into your
mind. It can be anything. Ready?...
Sexy as fuck.
Big penises?
George Bush died.
Rest in peace.
Bad taste.
Flat shoes.
Your ultimate
dream.
I
think I’ve got it. Sydney. Australia!
[laughs]
Amanda Lepore makes her Australian performance debut at the launch of Staurday Fucking Night on Sat 7 Nov
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