Last week, the Transom took the elevator to one of the most fashionable floors in town–the ninth floor of Barneys New York–for a celebration of photographer Sharon Socol’s new book, Plus One: An Outsider’s Photographic Journey into the World of Fashion. And it was nothing so much as an insider’s affair.
There was a towering Read More
We all know that during the days leading up to Fashion Week, designers tend to go, in the words of Anthony Perkins, “a little mad sometimes.” Still, it’s hard to imagine what sort of monumental pressure Alexander Wang was under when he agreed to contract Rooster New York, a new branding content site run by Vice magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes (who also directed this segment), for his T by Alexander Wang spring 2013 campaign video. Did we mention that it also stars sketch comedienne Anjelah Johnson as Bon Qui Qui, a pretty racist caricature she developed on MADtv, which we would have certainly been bothered by, had we or anyone we knew watched that program?
Also, Simon Doonan and Natasha Lyonne.
Yikes. When you get an idea this perfect, it must be hard to turn it down. Read More
“This hotel is exactly how I would have imagined the Algonquin transforming itself in the 21st century,” announced Penguin Books CEO David Shanks to an attentive crowd last week.
A single person clapped and, realizing they were all alone, stopped.
Mr. Shanks continued, “It exudes the grandeur of Gotham and the dazzle of the iconic Mad Men design gone modern.” Mr. Shanks cleared his throat. “It’s really amazing.”
Last Monday, a group (of “top hotel and publishing executives as well as media industry influencers,” per a press release) was gathered at a private party to celebrate the grand reopening of the gut-renovated hotel and the launch of its new partnership with Penguin Books. Read More
Our earlier post today about who should be on The Algonquin Hotel’s 2.0 Round Table (House Rules: “No Twittering, Skyping Okay,”) has garnered a lot of responses, mostly in the form of “You should take out X and replace them with Y.” Read More
Fashion Week and its grind have receded into memory (or so it would seem from our Twitter, on which every Condé staffer we follow has finally stopped totemically retyping their every Starbucks order), and Simon Doonan is free to swan about the society soirées from which he draws his coy observations. Tonight brings the 24th Read More
One would think it was the Fourth of July from the amount of red, white and blue. The patriotic triumvirate was everywhere at the Diet Pepsi Style Studio Fashion Show at The Box at Lincoln Center. Coke lovers (The cola! We know it’s fashion week, so we’re being clear) beware: the star Read More
I am surprised there were no poofs caught in the net of that Russian spy haul last week. The connection between espionage and the “friends of Dorothy” is well documented. Paging Guy Burgess, Anthony Blount and other tweedy inverts!
It all makes perfect sense: We gays have a much greater familiarity than Read More
Lynn Redgrave changed my life. I don’t care how bananas that sounds. It’s true. She was my unwitting guru, a patron saint for me and for intrepid, glamour-obsessed optimists everywhere. She died last week, leaving us, her flock of adoring disciples, feeling sad and unmoored. A certain bizarre phrase keeps looping through our brains. … Read More
What has beloved former Barneys CEO Howard Socol been doing since his retirement from the luxury department store?
“He’s a mensch! He’s just extremely altruistic; he’s been mentoring a lot of designers and helping them with their business model,” Barneys creative director and Observer columnist Simon Doonan told the Transom. Mr. Socol’s mentees include Narcisco Read More
Bright pink was the color scheme at a “Barbie Loves Jonathan Adler” fete at Mr. Adler’s Soho boutique Wednesday night. The 43-year-old interior designer and former judge of Bravo’s short-lived Top Design was recently chosen to create a new Malibu Dream House in honor of the doll’s 50th anniversary. “The funnest part for me was Read More
