I am so excited to share this feature I’m in on Zoomin Tv with you!!!!!!! We shot it on the coldest day ever around my home and neighborhood but the filmmaker Laura did an incredible job shooting despite the chill! I am beyond grateful for the feature, I think it really captures my work for Gloomth and my personal style!
My first instinct when booked for tv spots is always “Oh crap I’m gonna disappoint people because I am not skinny/hot/etc”. Which is just absurd, people know what I look like by now- I haven’t been secretive! And I am absolutely not ashamed of myself. It’s taken a very long time to unpick a lifetime of social conditioning that tells women we owe the world one limiting brand of “beauty”. We don’t. I do owe it to be kind to myself and to have fun in this ONE life/body I have, not to put things off for some future date in which I will be “acceptable”. I never agreed to play by those rules!!!
In my youth I would tape all the goths/clubkids/weirdos talk-show episodes I could find, seeing unique adult people living their lives brightly and happily really encouraged me to do the same. The thing that was most affirming about these “gawk at the misfits” 90s shows was that the weirdos represented a wide spectrum of bodies, ages, and genders. As if by stepping off the game-board they stopped having to follow the rules society set. They were free. And I wanted that.
I hope by being confident and open and exploring my creativity through Gloomth and my own appearance that it will encourage others to do the same! Maybe someone only beginning to accept themselves will see me romp around my neighborhood in a bright pink coat and think “If that chubby weirdo can do it, so can I!”.
I truly think the more creative and colorful the world is the better a place it will be!
-Taeden
Gloomth & the Cult of Melancholy 