My glam best friend and I went to our last lecture at FIT last night and was a perfect culmination. A perfect end. We had the incredible privilege of seeing Andre Leon Talley, one of the many larger than life, glorious editors at Vogue.
While he didn't grow up wealthy or in the fashion world he dreamed of it in the way all of us whose passion is that world do-he worshiped at the altar of Vogue. When I was 13 I asked my mother for a subscription and she said no, that it was too old for me, I could have Seventeen if I wanted it. I didn't. We fought and fought for months and she got me Seventeen but I kept fighting and finally when I was 14 she relented. I have had a subscription ever since. The difference between Andre and me is that he gets to actually live his fantasy life and I remain an amateur, but amateur in the Greek true definition of the word, while I do not make a living from my love I study, I seek out history (modern and of the past) and I am as passionate as any high fashion magazine editor and could easily fit into that world. Andre has had some amazing luck-some of which he made on his own and some it was just pure and dumb.
Listening to him tell stories about Pat Cleveland, Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent and so many others brought me right back to my teenage years. I am a little too young to have been in the high fashion world of Halston, Calvin Klein and the golden age of Studio 54 but I did read about it. I knew. Fortunately or unfortunately, by the time I got there it wasn't much of anything but listening to ALT tell his stories made me a teenager again but this time old enough to have actually gone to Studio 54! His stories are my memories too. They also immersed me in a world of couture that actually is dying- he knows Hubert Givenchy who worked for Balenciaga-that chain is close to death. Karl threw unwanted shirts at him...He talked about the early days of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute which are days I remember too. The brilliance of Diana Vreeland's shows there have not yet been duplicated though there have been 2 curators since she died (Richard Martin, her successor, was a brilliant writer and thinker but his presentation skills left much to be desired and don't get me started on Harold Koda the present curator as I have no use for him whatsoever. He's the reality TV director of the fashion exhibition world and I hate it) . My mom took me at the beginning... When I was in college my soon to be husband and I had the incredible privilege of going to the cocktail party that was after the gala dinner of the opening of the exhibit for several years. I remember seeing even being able to chat with Perry Ellis, Mary Mcfadden, Calvin Klein oh so many others. My fiance and I danced at the Temple of Dendur in our evening clothes and it didn't matter that we weren't really part of that world because for those moments we were.
A woman in the audience told stories of buying American couture, such as it was, of buying Norman Norrell!!!!! She remembered Geoffrey Beene's first "shop" was in Macy's and she announced that she was sitting next to one of the fashion directors at Bonwits!!! I got to talk to her as we were leaving and she knew so many people that I did. And I was a teenager again. She gave me her home phone number and has insisted I should call so we could talk more!!! No one knows Bonwit Teller today, the elegant, and glamorous store on 57th St and 5th Ave from where I tried on my first Yves Saint Laurent pieces, in the early 80's. I was trying on very famous pieces of art, that have since become icons. I was 18 and the ladies who worked in the suit department thought I was adorable and loved to see me in the clothes. Those moments changed my life and taught me the beauty and importance of glamor and of the magnificent fabrics against your skin when you buy truly expensive designer pieces. My new friend remembers too...
As we left FIT and I let the sounds and the life of the city wash over me as I remembered what was...my glam best friend, his boyfriend and I wandered over to the Standard for the bar where we had an appetizer and a cocktail. I needed the old fashioned glamour of a gin martini to keep me in my head that much longer. I let their conversation wash over me as I did not want to leave the place I was in my head and my heart. The only thing that made me sad was that my husband had chosen not to come with us as they would have been many of his memories too. The loudness and modernity of the Standard pulled me back to today and my friends which was fine but the moment I get home I will remind my husband of our shared memories of a world that is no more and we will go back there together-which is where we started. And I soar with joy!
We should look for contests for fashionistas like yourself and my good fashion friends too! I'm so jealous of this girl Emily! See here: http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/cupcakes-and-cashmere-for-coach/. Where is our chance to shine? lol.
Posted by: Tiffany | 05/14/2010 at 09:21 PM