Image: Getty
#1. To thine ownself be true.
Both Shakespeare and the Spice Girls share a homeland, but the similarities don’t end there. If the “girls” taught us anything, it’s best said in the famed Hamlet quote above. Are you sporty? Perhaps a bit scary? Decidedly posh? Once you’ve determined who you are, never lose sight of it. Live by it, reflect it in all you do and wear and, of course, sing.
#2. Friends come first.
In their breakout hit “Wanna Be” the Spice Girls croon, “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.” Although this might be misconstrued, the words simply mean ‘if you’re going to love me you have to be down with the people I love’.
In their anthem, “Spice Up Your Life,” the girls tell us clearly, “Everything is free/All you need is positivity.” Their message of hope and maintaining simplicity in life, while attempting to “spice it up,” are words to live by.
Image: Getty
#4. Girl Power.
If ever there were ever a decisive term for neofeminist empowerment, it’s the Spice Girls’ “girl power.” A phrase reiterated in their music and reflected in their personas, a whole generation of young women growing up in the gaze of the Spice Girls’ spotlight did so knowing that the girl power is in fact a superpower.
#5. The higher, the better.
Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) and Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) favoured sky-high platform boots and sandals—often in dramatic prints like their signature Union Jack. The current shoe seasons of Victoria Beckham, Saint Laurent and Calvin Klein have made the statement platform feel like a revelation, again. It is all about the entrance, after all.
Image: Getty
#6. When you’re at a loss for words, make them up.
Writing a song, giving a speech or simply conversing and feel like you’ve run out of things to say? Simple make them up. Zig a zig ahhh! Hi ci ya!
#7. Let your clothes say who you are.
Fashion can be a powerful thing if you allow it. Want to convey to the world that you’re rather athletic? Quite fancy? Perhaps a bit immature? Say it in your silhouettes and colour scheme every single day.
#8. Opposites attract.
You don’t need to roll around in the girl group equivalent of The Backstreet Boys, all matching and non-distinct. Surround yourself with varying personalities, it will certainly be more interesting.
#9. Know when to walk away.
After the runaway success of “Spice World”(a film staring the girls in which a “world famous pop group zip around London in their luxurious double decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans”) and three hit albums (not including a Greatest Hits Collection), the Spice Girls chose to walk away from it all at the height of their success. It takes courage to make seemingly unpopular life choices that simply feel right to you.
#10. Know when to come back.
You can’t just do any reunion when you’re the Spice Girls. When the quintuplet opted to rejoin forces it was on the global stage of the Olympics in London. And it was everything.
