Odd Jobs: October
Michelle Walker, a Los Angeles film editor, visits Crystal’s shop about twice a year. She agrees with Crystal that “living dark” is a way of life. Walker recently purchased a black-beaded 19th century mourning wreath and a large black bird (preserved by taxidermy) that perches inside an antique cage.
The Doomed and Heirloomed
Both items are distinctly displayed on her memento post-mortem wall donned with antique photos of dead children. These final photographs date from the 1840s through the early 1900s and are rare collections.
Many people believe the lifestyle a bit creepy or evil. Walker says her friends, at first, find Crystal’s place a bit uncomfortable as they sit around the coffin that serves as a coffee table and gaze at bottles of preserved animals and Chinese oddities displayed on another wall.
“All I hear is, ‘Ugh!’ but as they look around, they find it more interesting than evil.” Walker says it’s an unusually creative person who lives a dark lifestyle and it’s a ‘closet thing.’” Walker, a thirtysomething professional enthralled by the dark side’s art and history, is mostly out of the closet and wears only black and Goth-like fashions. “Except on Halloween,” she says, “I wear white.”
Move over shabby chic. When business professionals like Walker dare to step out of the shadows and announce their Goth status, they open the door for Crystal’s ambition to become a “cemetery chic” designer for those with ghoulish curiosity. A connoisseur of display and staging, Crystal implicitly beckons Hollywood to discover her dark talent.
Little Shop of Elegant Horrors
Continued...
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