Here’s the fashion scoop for summer and you heard it here first from Da General, inspired by today’s Sparkle Video. Its starlettes, the lovely ladies of Dynasty, are dressed in all-white featuring shimmering spandex accented by metallic gold belts. This super-chic look is destined to take over dance floors everywhere Soldiers, because nothing says summer like being inside a cavernous dark disco while flashing lights and laser beams reflect all over your fabulousness. And that’s what we call “Satisfied”.
STAR FLIGHT SPARKLE!
I’m a big fan of Legs & Co videos which feature a troupe of lovely ladies dancing to the hits from the TV show, Top of The Pops. However, a lot of times their costumes fall short of fabulous, but not in today’s Sparkle Video! Someone was channeling Flash Gordon or Larry LeGaspi or both when they designed these dazzling gold metallic numbers complete coordinating hat, gloves, booties and most importantly – cape! They look like heavenly golden stewardesses who have landed their spaceship on earth, ready to bring close encounters to a dance floor near you. Their performance of Earth, Wind & Fire‘s “Star” is nothing short of magical, complete with dreamy “rainbow” light effects. But it was 1979 after all, the year of disco, so they had to deliver. I’m just hoping that Sir Richard Branson sees this and takes the hint, because this is the only outfit that will do for a cabin crew if I’m ever getting on a ride to space.
SOLID GOLD SPARKLE!
Today’s Sparkle Video is a “mash-up” edit of an extended disco classic married to various Solid Gold countdowns featuring the show’s sexy dancers with fabulous hair and gobs of satin, sequins and glittering pizzazz. It’s the fashion show of my dreams set to the sparkling sound of “Souvenirs” by Voyage and accented by the swirling light from disco balls. I want this to run in a loop all day, everyday- then my life would truly be complete.
Disco Commercials: Maybelline Kissing Sticks
Let’s hear it once again for 1979 when disco had an influnce over everything including cosmetic products. Soldiers have always known that there’s nothing like a dance floor make-out and that having smooth, shiny and luscious lips is a required part of any disco proper makeup look. After all, flashing lights and laser beams don’t look their best against a matte pout, do they? Maybelline was smart to acknowledge this fact and used it in this fabulous gem for Kissing Sticks– fruit flavored, calorie free “treats” for the lips. Most important is the closing tag line, “What kisses your lips but isn’t human?”, which I think is a secret message that’s really saying “disco chicks are up for anything!”.
HOLD YOUR SPARKLE VIDEO!
Today’s sparkle video features disco legend Celi Bee and her back up dancers performing “Hold Your Horses” in a fierce spandex explosion. Celi is one of my style icons with her slicked hair, disco-tastic makeup and fabulous fashion sense. She’s like a living, breathing Fiorucci illustration that twists, moves and poses on a stage of flashing lights that makes her rhinestone accents blink and sparkle madly. It’s perfection as it should be, especially in 1979, the year of disco!
I WHO HAVE SPARKLE VIDEO
Today’s Sparkle Video is one of the sexiest and most hypnotic disco songs ever. It’s the kind you want to be playing while you dazzle on the dance floor to a never ending extended mix because everything about this track is on point. Starting with the steady beat of the intro, the kick-in of melodically haunting background vocals and then, of course, Sylvester’s legendary falsetto yearning for the man he loves. He is competing for his lover with a woman who can buy him diamonds and all kinds of fancy gifts, while he has nothing to offer but his love. Intense, right? So intense that while there are many so many other Sylvester videos where he is dripping in sequins, this clip was chosen even though here he sits in a proper man’s suit with only the smallest accents of fabulous. His clever addition of a sparkling silver tie and a coat worn over his shoulders in “cape style” fashion lets you know that he is no ordinary man hanging out in a bar, but that he is the better choice and he knows it. Sure- do I wish he was in a bedazzled catsuit? Yes. Does it matter? NO.
SPARKLE VIDEO WONDERLAND!
Today’s Sparkle Video is a fabulous fashion onslaught of mad proportion. Earth, WInd & Fire, aside from their supreme funkiness, have always been known for wearing incredible outfits and this clip is no exception. It starts from the very beginning with band members in “O.T.T.” getups playing those infamous beginning notes and then- we are hit with the amazing female backup singers. It’s pure magic when they shout “Dance!” while they flail their multicolored chiffon wings and shake their black bedazzled tops and skin tight red spandex pants all over the place. Then KABLAM! Enter the lead singer, in his slim fitting white jumpsuit (with clever neckline to show off his manly chest), covered in so many glimmering sequins it’s almost too much! But it never is… is it, Soldiers? Like I said in the beginning, it’s a stage filled with dazzling fabulosity, which is truly the only way to go if you’re going sing about that glorious place known as “Boogie Wonderland”.
Disco Dancing Tonight
One word that comes to mind when looking through “Disco Dancing Tonight” by Andy Blackford, is “lurex” because this shimmering metallic yarn is woven into many of the outfits featured throughout this literary gem. Another word is “fascinating”, as this book begins with a very entertaining hypothetical situation where archaeologists of the future discover the ruins of night clubs and make some interesting, but incorrect deductions based on their findings. However, soon after it moves on to the real message, which is that disco was “the single most important cultural influence of the decade”.
This book has gobs of photos of disco-tastic fashion (can you say spandex?), instructions for the hottest dance moves and information about the most famous night clubs so that people would know where to shake their booties in style. I also love that it includes some of the lighting effects used back in 1979 to ensure party goers could dazzle on the dance floor and have the most fantastical night of their lives. In fact, my favorite moment in the book comes in a paragraph that refers to light-up dance floors as “underfloor lighting” to “give a flashing chessboard effect”. Get it? They didn’t have the official name of “light up dance floor” yet- adorable! Because of all the endless magic inside, “Disco Dancing Tonight” is truly a fabulous addition to my already fabulous collection.
BODY TO SPARKLE VIDEO
Today’s Sparkle Video is beyond a classic, in fact, it’s almost a religion. That’s because “Body To Body” is one of the sexiest disco songs ever made- and that’s saying a lot for 1979 (the year of DISCO!). Giampiero Scalamogna, a.k.a. “Gepy”, was one ultra-smooth dude; a “vanilla Barry White”. So cool was he, that rumor has it he called the group Gepy & Gepy in acknowledgement of his “double” size. Just look at him- surrounded by sexy ladies in high slit satin gowns while he makes dramatic poses in his sparkling sequin vest. SMOOTH.
Disco Commercials: Disco Darci
While it doesn’t feature any disco music or dancing footage, this clip falls under the Disco Commercials category because it features one of the coolest dolls ever- Disco Darci. Disco Darci was one hot babe who came dressed in a “silver disco jumpsuit” and included a glittery disco ball and a light-up disco stage with spotlights for added drama. Educational toys for children have always been important, but this was ultra-fabulous 1979 when teaching children about dazzling on the dance floor was truly top priority.
VIEWER IMPRESSION: I want one!
Join the Sparkle Army 