I lived in New Jersey, but I moved [to New York] in 1989. I hated New Jersey. It doesn’t accept alternative people at all. That’s how we all end up in the big city. It’s better for people like me.
Amanda Lepore in conversation with COBRAH for Interview magazine.
…The final step in the sex change was when I was 17. I used to look at drawings of Varga Girls and I wanted to look like that because they had beautiful skin and hair.
It was kind of 1940s. I always did a retro thing. Since I was a kid, I loved Marilyn Monroe and all the blonde bombshells, so that’s still an influence.
…I think I was harassed as a kid so much that I didn’t want to look like a basic girl. It wasn’t my goal. A lot of transsexuals wanted to just fit in, but I had a punk thing about me that just said, “F*ck it.”
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PHOTOS: Step back in time to New York’s queer club scene of the 1990s
The following is an excerpt from “GETTING IN: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s” by David Kennerley with a foreword by Michael Musto
RomanHans
I went to some art event in NYC probably 25 years ago & was startled to see Amanda there, surrounded by a crowd of people and … totally naked. She was gorgeous then, as now, and as always a work of art.
barryaksarben
I moved from Iowa in 79 nd spent the next 5 years in west hollywood and there was a person there who looked like Lana Turner straight out of the 40s with the lacquered hair and I would see her at there fancy porn store and all around who and wondered if anyone knew who she was. dressed 40s style and the marcelled hair . I forgot her name but like Amanda she was unforgettable. too bad names are forgettable