Cape Town’s party scene starts looking a little grey around May, but we’ve found something to take it back to technicolour: an all-girl DJ collective that looks like a Sixties fashion spread and has moves that put Jagger to shame.
Say hello to The Jackie Oh!s – they can DJ, they can dance and they’ll even do it on rollerskates! We caught up with Alexia, Carinè and Nadine to find out more.
Who are The Jackie Oh!s?
We like to dance, and shake, and we can mash potatoes and do the twist. We can start a party that’ll have you believe you’ve entered a time machine straight to the 1960s. We have big hair and big sunglasses. We like floral wallpaper, go-go boots, mini skirts and laser guns.
How did this fabulous idea come into being?
Our love of all things vintage and music-related cemented our friendship years ago. We’ve attended countless parties where we dance and dress up for fun. We loved the Shake Some Action parties and the show that Alexia had on Assembly Radio, which had a Rockabilly and Sixties theme.
The idea really sprouted when Alexia (already an established DJ in Cape Town), was DJing with Manuela Gray at The House of Machines one night. The three of us were talking about how fun it would be if there were a pure 1960s soul, mod, garage, doowop party where we could dress up like all of our 1960s icons. Then we realised … why don’t we just create the parties that we would love to attend ourselves? From there our ideas just spread like wildfire, and here we are.
And the name…?
We were throwing a few ideas around but when Robert Scholtz (The Robfather, resident DJ at Aces ‘n’ Spades) came up with The Jackie Oh!s we were completely sold. We like that Jackie Onassis was a very stylish and seminal sixties icon. We can’t wait to recreate her look – complete with pill box hats.
What can we expect from a typical Jackie Oh!s set?
In terms of our performance, we aim to recreate the mood of the 1960s Whisky a Go Go club, where the DJs were women and they danced along to their tracks. So we are essentially ‘dancing DJs’ – we play ’60s dance hits and we dance along to them.
While one of us DJs the other two dance and then we switch – also the idea behind our #danceandswitch slogan. Our moves aren’t strictly choreographed. The aim is to create a vibe and encourage people to dance along with us. We dress up in vintage clothes, with go-go boots, beehives, the works. We want to create a happy, retro experience and to celebrate the music of the’ 60s.
You obviously look amazing. Do you have a team of stylists behind you?
No team of stylists but rather a team effort ourselves. We did a lot of research on the original go-go girls of the ’60s, as well as mod and other styles and looks from that era. The dresses you see in our pictures are our own vintage numbers that we have acquired over the years. We do our own make-up and Nadine is our resident hair expert (she created the fabulous beehives in these pictures).
PARTY WITH THE JACKIE OH!S
Upcoming events include:
14 May at The House of Machines for a #danceandswitch party
27 May at the CT Rollergirls Roller Disco
FAN OUT!
Like The Jackie Oh!s on Facebook or email them at [email protected].
Photography Andy Lund