Back in ye olde days – read: 2003 – I was living in Atlanta. For those of you not familiar with Atlanta, well, it’s got some diversity. Which made it all-the-more interesting when the whole Ghetto fabulous thing came around and it became cool for middle-class whities like myself (and to be fair, my friends) to adopt this theme for parties. Chalk it up to being young and stupid and maybe even a bit off-colour, but at the time, it seemed acceptable and I assure you, nobody’s intention was to be rude or disrespectful.

 THIS WAS 2003. PEOPLE WERE STUPIDER THEN. THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TWITTER YET, GEESH!

 One of these theme parties was entitled just that: Ghetto-Fab. I think it was for one of my friend’s birthdays, held high-atop the city in one of those fancy party rooms that the hoity-toity overpriced (for Atlanta) high-rise condos were apt to have. And so we all took our mid-20’s, Buckhead-frequenting, Lilly Pulitzer wearing selves to the mall and went to the juniors section of Ross. We then went to the sale rack, where the selection was even seedier, looking for the perfect outfit to adequately depict our Ghetto Fabulousness. Some of us – myself included – went so far as to pick a famous rapper as our muse, and went forth into the transformation.

 Which is how this photo, in all of its red velour belted one-piece jumpsuit with faux-leather cabbie hat replete with hand-drawn ‘tattoos’ (inspired by Eve) came to exist.

Internets, don’t ever say I don’t do anything for ya.