'Fashionista' singer: Some missed the irony in song, OHS yearbook headline

The composer of “Fashionista,” the song that sparked an online debate this past week involving the Oswego High School yearbook, says he wrote the song as an ironic and satirical look at the fashion industry.

The online debate centered on the “no one ugly allowed!” lyric from the Jimmy James song that was used as a headline on the OHS competitive cheerleading teams’ yearbook page. The team used the song for inspiration and to boost their confidence and energy level for competitions, according to the yearbook article.

“It [the song] means that it’s time for us to be beautiful inside and out, both off and on that mat,” a student is quoted as saying in the article.

However, some online commenters charged James’ lyric could be seen as offensive to students who are not on the team or who didn’t make the team.

“Think about the girls who didn’t make the cheer team, this could really hurt them,” OHS alumnus Natalie Grimm wrote on Facebook.

When asked about the controversy, James, who wrote the song in 2006, said the members of the cheerleading team got it right, as the verse, “No one ugly allowed,” is intended to refer to those who are mean or ugly on the inside. Part of the influence behind that verse, James said, were advertisements he would come across while reading gay magazines that were highly particular or discriminatory when it came to appearances.

“I wrote this song, and recorded this song, ‘Fashionista,’ when I was living in New York. ... I was very involved in, very aware of the fashion industry,” James said. “I love fashion, I absolutely love it.”

But as a self-described “5-foot 4-inch chunky, chubby boy,” he often found himself excluded from the industry.

“I wrote ‘Fashionista,’ and some DJs wouldn’t play it at the beginning, because of that very line, ‘No one ugly allowed,’ and it’s meant to be ironic, and it’s meant to have two meanings to how I wrote it,” James said.

The character James portrays in the song is intended to represent the “artificiality of fashion, but I use fashion as a metaphor for life, actually, and how life can be very exclusionary,” he said. He did mention that as no music video had been produced for the song, it could be difficult to see the intent in his lyrics.

“When I had a chance to write my own music and get in front of that microphone, it was like it was my turn to say who was ugly,” he said, laughing. “It was like saying ‘This is my party, and I’m going to say the ugly ones aren’t allowed’ ... imagine that song as coming from a short little fat boy. I’m the one now, finally saying no one ugly allowed.”

The members of the cheer team, James said, seem to get the irony in the song. In fact, James was so happy over the use of his song, and the understanding from the squad, that he asked for a copy of the page from the yearbook.

“I think they [the competitive cheer team] understand, it’s kind of a joke about the fashion industry,” James said, referring to his feelings on the industry as a “love/hate relationship.”

When asked about the response that members of the public had to the use of his song, with some calling it exclusionary and bullying, James called it “very strange,” because he was bullied as a child.

“I grew up looking like a girl and sounding like a girl. ... I didn’t know what I was, I was just a kid, and I was just being made fun of,” he said. “So, it’s really funny that they’re saying my song is a put-down on people when I in fact am the bullied one.”

“The irony is, that they’re looking at me as the kind of person I was mocking,” James said. “I was kind of mocking that person who said, ‘No one ugly allowed,’ because I was told ‘You can’t be in our group.’ You’re too sissy, you’re too femme, you’re too fat.”

“It was my turn to say, ‘I think you all are ugly,’” he joked.

James has been in show business for 35 years, and has made appearances on several television shows including “The Phil Donahue Show,” “The Joan Rivers Show,” and “Entertainment Tonight.” Apart from “Fashionista,” he is best known for his vocal impression work.