Empire Records

Last weekend I rewatched a film I hadn't seen for many years. It wasn't that successful on release but has since become something of a cult classic and had a minor effect on me when I was young. 

Empire Records (1995) is very much in the slacker comedy vein that emerged in the early 1990s and one which included one of my favourite movies, Clerks. It also has much of a Breakfast Club vibe. The plot, as much as there is one, revolves around the lives and loves of the staff of the titular record store over one 24-hour period as they try to save their workplace from being turned into a chain store, Music Town, and prepare for the visit of singer Rex Manning. In fact, if you've ever heard the phrase 'Rex Manning Day' or seen it pop up on Twitter then this is what that's referring to. The day is celebrated by fans every year on 8th April. The cast has quite a few future well-known names among it including Renee Zellweger who, although these days is more well known playing the hopeless romantic in films like the Bridget Jones series, (see Note below) here she's playing 'turbo slut' Gina. With it's 'damn the man' teen spirit it's one of those that works well when you're young but is a painful reminder of your lost youth when you reach your 40s. 

However it was Liv Tyler, playing student Cory Mason, who made the biggest impression on me though. I was a teenager at the time and the only reason I needed to rent the video of this was the front cover showing Liv front and centre in a blue cropped jumper, plaid mini skirt and boots (see below). Perhaps this and Clueless fuelled my love of plaid skirts and there certainly seemed to be a lot of it about in the 90s. 

Theatrical poster of Empire Records (1995)
Credit: IMDB

Fast forward a few decades and, watching it again, I started wondering if I could cosplay it. That outfit has become iconic now and, doing a quick Google search, there are quite a few people choosing to cosplay it. It's certainly no weirder than my recent thoughts about doing more waitress cosplays (Alongside Clara Oswald I've thought of doing the outfits from Twin Peaks and Two Broke Girls. I may have a problem).

This brought to mind one of my long held dilemmas about being a straight crossdresser - namely the issue of whether I fancy someone or just want to wear the outfit and in this case I've had a little change. There's no doubt that I found (and still do) Liv Tyler attractive but this time around I was thinking about whether I could cosplay the outfit and how much fun it might be to wear it. Were these my thoughts all along and I simply wasn't expressing them and choosing to subconsciously hide behind sexuality? I don't think so but over the years as I have started to dress more I have allowed myself to think these thoughts, not that I was consciously repressing them in the first place but I just opened the door a bit wider and my world has grown so much that I can think about such things and they don't seem so alien or weird anymore.  

Overall I would recommend the film if you're looking for a fun teen movie with some peppy 90s nostalgia and a great soundtrack. 

Note: One of my first ways of dealing with my crossdressing fantasies was to draw myself in different situations. One of which was as Bridget Jones in a cardigan and mini skirt on the poster when Bridget Jones' Diary was released in 2001.