Since moustaches (both real and imagined) were in such high demand this Halloween, it bears mentioning that ROBOT Piercing & Tattoo out of Portland, Oregon sells glass 'staches that sit snugly in your septum piercing. (I know, right?)

They're available in both "Rakish" and "Foppish" (and 6 guage through 12 guage) at www.mega-robot.com, and from what I can see, they look pretty cute... although I'm really more of a handlebar 'stache man myself.

For the past several months, I have been blessed with an intern named Sarah Galvin, who, in addition to being an good-spirited data-enterer, is a hilarious and adventurous fun-lover. Today's proof: The following photo essay on the smashed-fashion club night Hard Times, featuring interviews and text from Sarah Galvin and photography by Kevin Kauer. Enjoy!

Advertised as a “multi poly omni art experiment,” Hard Times is the Wednesday dance night and cabaret at the War Room. Created by David Richey and L.A. Kendall (who also started Hot Mess and Kiss My Ass), Hard Times features a rotating selection of DJs, slide shows of glitter-and-fake-blood-drenched parties projected on the walls, and banners bearing messages like “Sexual mutant, get some electro-pussy!” The cabaret acts have included an EZ Cheez-and Bugles-gargling drag queen and a biblical/insect exterminator-themed strip show. A high percentage of the acts require that the stage be covered with a tarp.

Hard Times attracts people with a wide variety of tastes, backgrounds, and sexual orientations, but most are united by an interest in fashion. This is not the usual melange of skinny jeans, Adidas and plaid shirts. Hard Times patrons come dressed up like five eccentric millionaires taped together. Being in the War Room on a Wednesday night is akin to being violently shaken in a bag full of holiday decorations and partial nudity, with vodka.

Four more impressive Hard Timers photographed by Kevin Kauer and interviewed by Sarah Galvin after the jump...

"Stop the cruelty!" say the protesters in front of Quinn's on 10th and Pike. There are other potential objections to Quinn's (like the fact that the majority of people who work and play in the vicinity can't really afford to eat there— does anyone remember the Mexican restaurant it replaced?), but this group gathers every Friday night to protest the restaurant's serving of foie gras. I say "awesome" as they thrust a flyer towards me, and hope they don't think I mean it's awesome that ducks and geese are tortured to make the spendy dish. (I'll make it up to them by saying, if you want to join the protest, you can click here.)

Okay. Phew. Finally through the gauntlet. Finally at Sole Repair. Man, Capitol Hill sidewalks are a trip on Friday nights.

• 80s prom decorations probably weren't this good in the 80s.

Gina Young: David! You cut your hair!
David Richey: I know, right? From long hippie hair to... I don't know.
A pompadour! What inspired the change?
It was time to let that go. I kept it for a year after a breakup because the person I was dating hated long hair. Cutting it felt really good and freeing.
Haha. So you don't miss it?
Well, it [was] easier having hippie hair! Short hair costs money to maintain. You're supposed to cut it every week and a half!

Tell me about your watch.
My cheesy Timex watch? Really?
Really.
Well, it's my favorite. A little bit classic but not over the top. I have this one, a gold one, and a calculator watch that I wear all the time.

Gina Young: I keep staring at your shoes. What kind of shoes are those?
Yin Yu: Oh, they're called Simple Shoes. I love them.
I've never seen anything like them.
I bought them online. They use all recycled materials. I have a pair of Simple Shoes flip flops too; they're made of hemp and the soles are made of bicycle tires... (she grins) you know, hippie stuff.

Who are you here at Neumos to see tonight?
The main act. [Amon Tobin] But these guys [Dirty and Grym] are really good too.
I agree. I like your scarf.
Always a scarf. If not a scarf, then a belt.
On your head? Why is that?
Cuz I don't like the haircut. (she laughs)

With the spike of La Roux talk this week, you'd expect the British synth-pop two-piece to be the brave little hype that could, and it wouldn't be your fault, what with the band playing Chop Suey for one of only five U.S. shows, and doing so in front of a couple hundred of people with no domestic album to back it up.

Of course, it's important to remind yourself that the band really is #1 back in the U.K. and performed in front of a rammed thousands-strong mob on the dance stage at Glastonbury only a month ago.

La Roux has already made it. So tonight's just time to see if they deserve to cross over.

Expecting a crowd of about twenty, we see a Chop Suey that's mostly full, even in the Arrakis-like Seattle heat-wave. A reassuringly variety of fans dance as soon as the music starts, without attitude or dress-code, and people are nice to give space or when you accidentally flick water at them. There feels like an even keel of gender and sexuality. We hear a New Zealand accent. When singer Elly Jackson asks, "I know this a long-shot, but is anyone from England here?" she's surprised to get about a quarter of the crowd to yell back.

Points for La Roux's live setup. There's Jackson out front, an electronic drummer, a back-up keyboardist, and The Man With Some Computers Who Looks Like One Of The Fleet Foxes In A New Wave Button-Up, or presumably Ben Langmaid, the band's other half. The whole choice looks and sounds quite well. With a music culture so fixated on the 20th century, it's both encouraging and circular to watch an unapologetically throwback act accept the modernity of performing with exclusively live electronic instruments.

It's there that's the breaking point for most people.

La Roux, unlike their colleagues Ladyhawke, Parralox, or, say, Les Rythmes Digitales, are excessively '80s. The electro font. The emotional cool. Videos with nods to 'Knight Rider', Peter Gabriel, and "Take On Me". Jackson wears an Adam Ant outfit tonight. There's her defining Mike Score-meets-Conan-O'Brien red quiff. It's all put us on the fence for a while now, along with the rigid sense of synth-pop and the inconsistent, almost Lilith Fair vocals. "Quicksand," last year's debut single, always hacked us off with how much it's Prince's "When Doves Cry".

It doesn't help that the album's a bit unremarkable, apart from the "Growing Pains" bonus track, where La Roux lighten up, letting in a smile, as well as the remixes it's given us, particularly Midfield General's antsy-piano take on "Bulletproof" and Skream's already ubiquitous Summer anthem of tension for "In For The Kill" (you say "phoned-in," Eric, we say "minimal" and "held noose-tight by an impeccable delay tactic").

None of which explains why we're enjoying ourselves.

In person, Jackson has a stand-off charisma that's hard to cross your arms about. The new romantic beats sound dramatic and dense where on record they're rarely more than ordinary. Maybe it's the drummer, who fidgets with his hits, making him uniquely watchable. Maybe the crowd, who seems to have heat-amnesia and dances like these are the most exciting songs ever made, like they're onto something that America will eventually understand.

The place wraps up with a sing-a-long to "Bulletproof" in no time at all, and you wish La Roux would make more like it — microphone punch! — but it's lights up and everyone's casual and pleased, even if we feel we're the only ones as impressed, unconvinced, and confused as ever.

Slats shirt by Curt Doughty. All other photos by Kelly O. This post was originally published Sunday.

More tour news!

Thanks, Chris B., for alerting us to what we should've already known for a long time.

Kylie Minogue has announced a short series of U.S. shows. The first ones ever, apparently.

Nice-sized venues, too.

Except, Kylie?

Ms. Working On A Follow-Up To The Best Album Of Your Career.

What's wrong with Seattle?

Wed 09/30/09 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
Thu 10/01/09 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
Sat 10/03/09 Las Vegas, NV Pearl Concert Theater
Sun 10/04/09 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl
Wed 10/07/09 Chicago, IL Congress Theater
Fri 10/09/09 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
Sun 10/11/09 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom
Mon 10/12/09 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom
Tue 10/13/09 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom

Is it our hair?

Gina Young: So it's Friday. Woohoo! What are you going to be doing tonight— raging kegger? Gothic/industrial club?
Baby Ryan: Nah.

No? Huh. What exactly does a baby do for fun?
Well, once I've got the parents settled in, I usually have myself a feast of pureed peas, beets, sweet potatoes and delicate desserts such as steamed pears, blueberries or other organic fruits. After visiting with family, friends and taking a few laps around the living room I get myself a nightcap: breast milk— straight from the tap.
So, uh, what you're saying is, you just like to cool kick it on a Friday night?
Yeah. I'm usually asleep around 7.

Babies can't dress themselves. Ergo, for better or for worse, they tend to become reflections of their parents' tastes. These days, there seems to be a preponderance of young parents who are dressing the new generation of babies differently. You see them dropping off studded hoodie-wearing tots at childcare while they go to yoga, or dressing a two year old in a throwback jersey and fitted baseball cap. This question is for Ryan's Mom: in the sea of options, from traditional to trendy, how do you choose clothes for Ryan?
Danielle: I love items that are unique and fit her personality. Fun, colorful, but not too cutesy. And I really treasure the one-of-a-kind items that were made by friends specifically for her. We have some onesies that were embroidered or silk-screened with great pics and phrases that are special to us. The two items Ryan is wearing today were hand-dyed and hand-embroidered locally and are available at the Body Bar in West Seattle.

Do you have any thoughts on the way young parents dress their babies? Any "trends" you've noticed that you like or dislike, in terms of brands/styles/super cute or overly cutesy ideas?
I don't like "baby costumes." I always try to think, "Would she be embarrassed to wear that?" or "If a photo is taken of her in that outfit, will she hate me 20 years from now?" I love it when parents dress their babies in real clothes, not matchy-matchy ensembles. Seeing little kids in Rock Band T's and little cargo pants (think Jolie-Pitt or Stefani-Rossdale) is also so cute. Individual style all the way!

Gina Young: Mercado, what the hell are you wearing— are those glasses even real? Do you need glasses?
Nicole Mercado: I do need glasses, but I wear contacts. These glasses aren't prescription. They're actually considered sunglasses, but with clear lenses. I bought 'em in a boutique in Spokane for $10. So... pretty much I wear glasses AND contacts.

And skinny jeans? Do tell.
Do you see me in flared jeans? C'mon now. Awkward city. That would remind me of when I used to wear platform Sketchers. It just doesn't work. Skinny jeans are my niche. I can't go back.

Do you think there is a Capitol Hill "look?"
Definitely. Capitol Hill is just so inventive. Everyone tries out different things. The other day I wore baseball pants, and although it was a little weird at first, I actually got praised for it. Pin-striped baseball pants!
Nice. Are you from Seattle?
Not originally; I'm from good ol' Eastern Washington. I came here to go to school.
Was your style this fetching in your undergrad days?
My first few years at UW, my style was definitely... Eastern Washington. But being in Seattle and around such craziness, I came out of my shell fashion-wise. The hair started to look like a Tegan & Sara mullet, the jeans got tighter and the t-shirts became more vintage and less Abercrombie.

So you abandoned Abercrombie as a rite of passage. What other brands do you eschew?
I try to avoid the mall.
Conversely, what brands do you like?
Members Only jackets. Sperry boat shoes. Tank tops by Blayne Walsh— those are designed locally and available at Strut Boutique in Belltown. Oh, and anything Value Village.

So Merc, forgive me for asking this, but are you a hipster? Do you identify as a hipster?
Hahahaha... I've had this conversation so many times!
I bet.
I identify as a queer. Is it possible for queers to be hipsters? Or are queers just inherently fashionable?

You tell me. Or better yet, tell me this: do you judge people based on what they're wearing?
Hmm... I might be more likely to talk to someone wearing a pair of skinnys with an old school Spice Girls t-shirt than I would be likely to talk to someone sporting a pair of khakis... I think you look on the outside how you feel on the inside.
And how do you feel on the inside?
Colorful.

Gina Young: What are you doing tonight?
Johanna Breiding: Eating a delicious pizza and drinking stolen wine.
GY: Nice. Who would you say is your fashion icon?
JB: Oliver Twist.
GY: Which eras inspire your style and why?
JB: The 1920s. I think the whole androgyny thing… Women wearing men’s clothing. Also the Baroque era… with the fancy collars and sleeves and ruffles. And then a little bit of skater boy/snowboarder creeps in. I like a mixture between comfort and old-fashioned style. The clothes I wear, I could go to bed in. I only wear baggy pants, I don’t understand carrot pants.
GY: Carrot pants?
JB: Pants that are tight. That make your legs look like carrots.
GY: Ahh… I know those as skinny jeans. Or cigarette pants.
JB: It's the German term. I'm from Switzerland but I've lived in Seattle for a little over a year. I also don’t like high water pants. I like them to be as long as possible, so most of my pants end up under my shoes.
GY: Where did you get that hat?
JB: At a flea market in Berlin.
GY: And what about the belt?
JB: I made the belt. Out of skateboards.

GY: Come again?
JB: Actually out of one skateboard that my brother rode, and broke. I cut the skateboard into domino-sized pieces and drilled three holes into each piece. I used a thin rope to connect all of them with knots.
GY: So, would you say that you completely buck conventional fashion?
JB: Uh... my shoes are Diesel.

Gina Young: Where are you going tonight?
Felicia Stapleton: Oh my god. I never have it planned out. A bar? A house party? A dance party? It's always one of those three.

GY: When you're going out on a night like tonight, what do you go for, clothing-wise?
FS: I love the way tights and boots look. My whole outfit inevitably revolves around that. These tights were the last pair of their kind at all of the American Apparels in the Seattle area. I also want to match and have things that go together. Everything mini or short shorts.

GY: What makes an outfit look good?
FS: Confidence. And don't be afraid to go for the skank!
GY: You're serious?
FS: I wear what's aesthetically pleasing and works with MY body type— it has to look good on an hourglass figure, or else! Artstar brings out the skank in me.
GY: Artstar Andrew Jay? Man, he's kind of the Andy Warhol of Seattle's all ages scene, or something. I guess that would make you an Edie Sedgwick of sorts. Anyway. Where do you shop?
FS: Flea markets, consignment and vintage shops... I'll gravitate towards a pattern and see what I can do with it. Usually, make it shorter.

GY: What's your personal philosophy when it comes to getting dressed?
FS: The more stares the better!
GY: (misunderstanding) Wait, stairs?
FS: No. STARES!
GY: Oh! I get it.

What if someone else tries to get in line with you?
We tell them there's nine of us, and only nine pairs. They give up and walk away.

Are you gonna wear the shoes or keep 'em in the box?
(Silence)

Where do you go to the bathroom?
Mostly in the alley. Sometimes in that hotel over there.

Do you like my Payless Shoe Source sneakers? I'm on my way to the gym.
(Silence)

Alright, tell me this last thing. Do you think Kanye might be gay?
No, no (all laugh)... He likes fish sticks!

Tons more photos after the jump...

Gina Young: You're adorable. What do you do?
Amy Corwin: I'm the Assistant Fashion Designer and Fabric Coordinator for a major retailer downtown.

GY: Oh wait, so you work in fashion. That's kind of like cheating. Please tell me about these accessories you're wearing?
AC: Haha... Well I found the headband at Urban Outfitters. It was only 5 dollars because the glue was coming off, but I actually think it looks way better this way. I paid them less to do ME a favor. The shoes were Nordstrom Rack for 30 bucks. The top started ripping, so I used doublestick tape. It's not really noticeable, but they're messed up.

GY: Broken seems to be a central component of your look today. And yet it's totally working. What do you wear in this crazy hot weather we've been having?
AC: Really, really short shorts with looser fitting tops. I love that Daisy Dukes are back, but I don't want to look like Jessica Simpson— I like being totally big and oversized and blown out on top. And then just being all legs.
GY: All legs, huh? What does "all legs" do on Friday nights?
AC: Drink. Meet up with friends and go somewhere. The last weekend of June we're having a birthday party with an Oz theme. The guy that I'm dating does costumes. He enjoys dressing up; he's totally into it. He wears little horns like Pan.

GY: Um, do people ever tell you that you look like Kristin Allen-Zito from the Trucks?
AC: All the time! People always say, "Are you related?" That's okay with me— she's incredible!

Gina Young: Where are you going tonight?
Miss Julia: I'm working a double here, at the Bus Stop.
GY: You're not going out?
MJ: Nah... at least we've got air conditioning in here.
GY: So, answer me this one burning question that Friday Night Fetch will ask a random person each week: why do you dress the way that you dress?
MJ: Because these guns are just too big for sleeves.
GY: Meaning it's sleeveless shirts now?
MJ: All Summer long.
GY: How do you choose what you're going to wear out?
Gary (co-owner of the Bus Stop): It's what she passed out in last night.
MJ: (laughing) I'm pretty sure this is what I was wearing to brunch yesterday. Actually, yeah. I'm positive.
GY: So you don't spend hours getting dressed every morning? But your hair, on the other hand, kinda looks like it took some work. Who did this to you?

MJ: Jenny at Rudy's.
GY: Jennyfer Goodwin? Nice girl. What's the "WH" stand for?
MJ: Whitney Houston.
GY: Fuck you.
MJ: No, I'm serious.


GY: You're fucking serious. I can't even handle that. And the belt buckle?
MJ: I got it at Pike Place Market. It's a buffalo nickel! And the inside has the back of the buffalo nickel!
GY: Are you Native American?
MJ: No, but I've always loved Native history.
GY: Okay, I think that's it. Thanks for your time, Julia.
MJ: Make sure you get the "because it's what I passed out in last night" part.

Gina Young: So where are you going tonight?
Honeysuckle Hype: Mixx, a queer dance party and performance night.

GY: And you started this party, yeah? Why?
HH: Honestly? Drinking gets boring. And even if I'm not totally in the mood to go dancing, or not in the mood to sit and watch a show, or not in the mood to chill in a booth at a bar, I'm probably in the mood to do each of those for a small period of time and alternate between them.
GY: Sounds good. Plus you've got the Bromance DJs and the Guerilla Go-Gos and a bunch of burlesque acts. Anyway, that's some serious eye makeup you've got there.
HH: I am addicted to a 99 cent glitter gel that provides very little glitter but most excellent gel. Then I layer actual glitter on top of it.

GY: Do you want to tell me about your purse and shoes?
HH: Is Moses Jewish?
GY: Haha...
HH: If I could get paid for work directly in shoes, I would save on my taxes. I camp behind the Cole Haan outlet store on warm nights. I'm kidding. But these were $19.99 marked down from $375.
GY: And the purse?
HH: The purse I got in New York, where all good things come from. Lulu Guinness on Bleecker street had these two barrels of handbags on sale around the holidays. I only bought one, which showed marked restraint.

GY: And the dress?
HH: Melissa Flynn of Friday Night Date opens her phenomenal collection of vintage and modern thrift on Fridays and by special appointment.
GY: Sequins are highly underrated. A lot of people spell them wrong— like "sequence" or "sequince"— which drives me nuts.
HH: I think they are tacky as fuck, until you hit this critical mass, after which point you are beyond glamour.

GY: One last question: what criteria do you use when choosing an outfit for Mixx? Or, said differently, why do you wear what you wear?
HH: Getting dressed makes me happy. My grandmother was known to say "If you're feeling down, get out of bed, take a shower, and get dressed." I don't think she had any idea what I'd be putting on, but she was damn right.

Mixx is tonight, Friday May 22nd at Noc Noc, 1516 2nd Ave. Doors at 9pm show at 10pm. Ten dollars. 21+

That's the title and instigating question of this Daily Beast blog post by Elizabeth Gates—"a former intern at Vogue [whose] interest in image, art, and fashion has driven her desire to contribute to the vast narrative of modern culture in America and abroad"—who consults both Harvard professor Marcyliena Morgan and hiphop style guru Fonzworth Bentley in her search for an answer.

Here's her opening:

When Kanye West and his sartorial cohorts left the Comme des Garcons show during Paris Fashion Week, it was business as usual. Dressed to the nines, they were quickly met with the customary sparkling of paparazzi flash bulbs and fashion enthusiasts, stray wanton women, and BlackBerry buzz. However, as images of the internationally mod clan hit gossip blogs back on the mainland, things started to get ugly.

“Only gays wear that [crap]!” wrote blog reader “TheTruth,” while another reader advised that they should “go taste the rainbow.” “Bootylishious” wrote that he/she simply “feel(s) sorry for all those gay dudes,” and sadly, the list goes on. It seems that just as we settle into our most modern America yet, the tradition of black fashion has been lost.

Gates soon gets to this:

If young audiences would dare to conduct a comparative study, they'd inevitably find that Kanye West’s 2007 Grammy outfit really had nothing on Eddie Murphy’s red-leather get-up in his 1987 stand-up film Delirious, and that Prince and his bedazzled unitards would quickly render André 3000’s Top-Siders and patterned suspenders meek and perhaps even typical. So what’s gone wrong? How did the community that once welcomed Little Richard become so violently judgmental?

The problem with all of this: Both Prince and Little Richard were roasted mercilessly for their perceived fagginess. The "welcoming" they received from the community was primarily financial—hit records, sold-out shows. This exact same "welcome" is bestowed on Kanye West, who has yet to release a record that hasn't sold in the multi-millions. The real difference between what happened with Little Richard and Prince and what's happening with Kanye and Andre 3000 is the internet, which provides a permanent, cached home for the same kind of homophobic chatter that's swirled around Prince and Little Richard their entire lives.

Despite the faulty premise, Gates' piece touches on some interesting ideas (perceived gayness versus actual homosexuality, for one), and features this quietly amazing Fonzworth Bentley quote:

"I was raised with confidence. If I’m walking down the street and a man and a woman are kissing on one side, it wouldn’t bother me if on the other side two men were kissing. I’d just keep going forward. I believe that if you pay too much attention to all that, it says more about you than them quite honestly. ”

Read the whole thing here.

I actually rather hope he ends up buying the shirt of Rasputin's face and shaggy hair.