Much maligned and often ostracized, Liz Phair is unquestionably a style icon for a gaggle of girls of a certain age, specifically this particular girl.
Blond and pretty like your older sister in a comfy middle class way, Phair looked and sang as a vulnerable, unsure Midwestern prom queen. Well, one who had been hurt and wasn't going to take it anymore, with no ability to keep her mouth shut. With coy eye contact and a ton of early 90's small floral prints, Phair was the icon for all us girls who looked 'normal' but most definitely did not FEEL normal.
Imagine the shock and joy when this awkward early teen popped in my sister's mixed tape (titled Supertape: Jams and decorated with collaged images of cute boys) and heard "F**k and Run" for the very first time. The unsure tone and sexually honest lyrics of Exile in Guyville reflected the private, Dear Diary moments of the rest of us in world where 'sexting' and oddly honest blogging about EVERYTHING did not exist.
Criticized as a 'sell-out' (one of the lamest phrases in the English language) and never quite able to recapture the magic of her explosive first album, this singer's physical appearance vs. her vulnerable tone captured on Exile in Guyville remains extremely relevant to this day.
Liz Phair, queen of the jagged normal girls...we salute you.
xoxo-Shopgirl A