Olympic Wannabes

Ginger Spice. Illustration by Paula.

Watching the Closing Ceremony last night, I was reminded that while The Olympics are all about incredible young athletes, many we’d never of heard of until these past few weeks and will likely forget, the Closing Ceremony was all about old musicians, all of whom we’ve heard of before and will never forget.

Like the Spice Girls.

Baby Spice. Illustration by Paula.

I can’t believe it was almost 20 years ago that they burst onto the scene, becoming one of the top cultural icons of the 90s. Every girl wanted to be one, every guy wanted to bang one. There was someone for everybody, literally, which was part of the marketing genius.

Sporty Spice. Illustration by Paula.

I suppose, at the time, I identified most with Sporty, given my penchant for wearing Adidas tear-away track pants as trousers and jogging bras for tops. Some of my friends called me “Media Spice” due to my job, or “Old Spice” to piss me off. It worked. And every guy I knew loved Posh the most.

Posh Spice. Illustration by Paula.

And it was Posh who went off and married the biggest Global heart-throb  of them all in David Beckham, and pouted her way across every tabloid looking fucking fantastic. I, like most, was dubious when she launched her fashion line, but she nailed that too, even while spawning child after child in incredibly high heels (which Jslow wrote about here.)

Scary Spice. Illustration by Paula.

Gasp, the Spice Girls are all pushing 40, but they ran circles around most girls half their age. Which is what we of a certain age really really want out of those Spice Girls. It was nice to see. Girl power indeed.