badddiiie 🌈🎱🦋⛈ stealing your man since 1928
July 8, 2017 9:48 PM Subscribe
She's an Instagram influencer with more than 3 million followers, been featured by two major cosmetics lines, turned heads when she wore a bedazzled nude bodysuit to the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, and written a new Guide to Life book. She's Helen Ruth van Winkle, better known as Baddiewinkle, an 88 year old great-grandmother who has always been a rebel, and would like to be a role model for older people. Badddiiie got her (re)start when her great-granddaughter saw her in a pair of cut-off shorts and a tie-dye shirt and said, "Let's make a picture, Grandma, you look awful cute today," and posted it to Instagram.
Love the socks in the last link with the Dead T-Shirt.
posted by xammerboy at 5:30 AM on July 9, 2017
posted by xammerboy at 5:30 AM on July 9, 2017
Great links here. Don't miss the "role model" one, it's a fantastic short video about her life and perspective on how the baddiewinkle persona ties in with her identity.
As a casual instagram follower I love her and have often wondered about who she is. I was surprised to see her dressing so conventionally for church, but as a queer person I can really relate to that sort of outfit code-switching. I often wonder if I'm being false to myself when I dress in heteronormative corporate drag. But I can see how baddie doesn't give a damn, and considers all those multitudes part of her identity. I wish people of all genders felt as free with self-expression as she does. I also wish more men who think women dress just for them - or that fashion is frivolous - would follow her and see if they change their assumptions.
She inspires me as a younger woman to rethink anything I've internalized or that people tell me about what is the proper way for me to dress and behave. I think that society tells us that older people are unchanging and unchangeable, and I love that she's breaking down that idea. Slay, baddie.
posted by Emily's Fist at 9:50 AM on July 9, 2017 [10 favorites]
As a casual instagram follower I love her and have often wondered about who she is. I was surprised to see her dressing so conventionally for church, but as a queer person I can really relate to that sort of outfit code-switching. I often wonder if I'm being false to myself when I dress in heteronormative corporate drag. But I can see how baddie doesn't give a damn, and considers all those multitudes part of her identity. I wish people of all genders felt as free with self-expression as she does. I also wish more men who think women dress just for them - or that fashion is frivolous - would follow her and see if they change their assumptions.
She inspires me as a younger woman to rethink anything I've internalized or that people tell me about what is the proper way for me to dress and behave. I think that society tells us that older people are unchanging and unchangeable, and I love that she's breaking down that idea. Slay, baddie.
posted by Emily's Fist at 9:50 AM on July 9, 2017 [10 favorites]
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posted by humboldt32 at 9:56 PM on July 8, 2017