In 1969 ~ Nico had progressed in looks from
a princess to a peasant. It had been a sluggish journey,
starting with hair tinged a pale strawberry to
please Jim Morrison, to the boots of Spanish
leather she continually wore, then working in from either
end to effect a seamless mood of rustic grace.
(She'd smell like a pig farmer sometimes,
she washed so little, grumbled Viva).
Nice was still obsessive about the effect of
her appearance, and when she spoke to
an American magazine in March 1969
she advised others to follow a simple rule:
'Simple means elegant, black means
dramatic, simple and black means elegant
and dramatic - this is a good foundation.
I have even tried perverse combinations,
such as black with brown leather which
I created in my own look.
because it was simple it worked,
and you see it everywhere now.'
'My solution is to underline my Russian-ness. I think
it makes me look as though I am from another world
or another time, which is quite true.'
{about creating The Marble Index)
John Cale was amazed by her preparation: 'She'd written
all the words down. They were clear on paper,
in that spidery gothic script of hers. But
I never saw a manuscript with a lot of
corrections on it. I only saw - like, if she
would be sitting down and writing
something, I'd sneak a look (I think she
would have hated that, had she caught me),
and there was no crossing out. A lot of
thought, and awful lot of thought, had been
given to it before it went down on paper.
That's remarkable, when you think of her
working in an alien language.
And once it was down there,
it wasn't changed.
She was very confident in her style.
{excerpts from The Life and Lies of an Icon}
