The last time we checked in with Jeff Goldstein, the sometimes testy, but always charming former club promoter who parlayed throwing parties while still in high school with friends like Shoshanna Lonstein (who went to the all-girls school Nightingale-Bamford) and Claire Bernard (who went to Riverdale) into a hip clothing store for the party kids that have since grown up, he was talking about making Blue & Cream on the Bowery into a "lifestyle." He told us that he doesn’t see Blue & Cream as a just a store, but more of a place where high-end designer clothing is "showcased" alongside works of art and as the sort of place where friends like Charlotte Ronson can stop in, hang out, and maybe pick up an Alexander Wang dress on their way out.
Last night, Mr. Goldstein hosted a one-year anniversary party at his Bowery store that–in keeping up with the theme of displaying art alongside fashion–doubled as an exhibit of "iconic images" from party photographer Patrick Mcmullan‘s archive that were for sale. But since Mr. McMullan is pretty busy these days, his son, party-boy and new Page Six Magazine columnist Liam, was put in charge of choosing the images for display and modifying them in different ways.
"It’s really all Liam, he is going to get the money from these," said Mr. McMullan, the elder, as he was showing off the blown-up photos on the walls to the Daily Transom.
"Here’s a photo of Barry Diller. I think Liam picked this one because he knew Barry growing up," said Mr. McMullan, pointing out a photo of the IAC chairman in 1987 at a party at Limelight, dressed down with his jacket thrown over one shoulder and looking surprisingly James Dean-ish.
Underneath the blown up images on the walls, racks of clothing were handpicked to somehow represent the look of each person in the photos. Underneath an image of Madonna, taken at Limelight in 1984 and on sale for $10,000, Mr. Goldstein hung a selection of ’80s style dresses with bustier bodices by Coven and and fitted leather jackets. Underneath a $2,000 photo of Halston also taken in the 1980s, there was a display of men’s gauze scarves and fedoras by Stussy. And under an image of Andy Warhol as the "invisible sculpture" at Area nightclub going for $12,000, there was a rack of neat, uptown-style Temperley dresses.
"This is dead-on with my perspective of the merging of fashion and art," Mr. Goldstein told Daily Transom. "I stressed days and weeks about it. And even at four o’clock I was worried about how well the Coven dress and the leather jackets went with the Madonna image."
Mr. Goldstein said that the exhibit started with a conversation about putting some of Mr. McMullan’s older photos on T-shirts.
"Patrick and I were saying that all the young kids are stealing these iconic images–they don’t have the copyright to it–but he owns all these amazing images. So for the T-shirts, we talked about Liam and Patrick collaborating and painting on the images, changing it up a bit and making it very artsy," said Mr. Goldstein. "Then of course once we got a look at all the images, we were like, ‘Wow!’ So we decided to show them."
The T-shirts featuring some of the photos–including the one of Madonna–will be available at the store closer to the holiday season.
When we asked Mr. McMullan just how his son "altered" some of his images, he pointed out paint drops simulated on of the Halston print, increased contrast on the Andy Warhol print, and the Madonna print cut a different way from the original.
"I’ve been wanting to blow up some of my dad’s images. I think frames are on the way out. I don’t like frames anymore," Liam said. "My dad still has a bunch of his images from this collection framed, but this is a completely different thing. I did some treatments in photo shop to make them a little different. It was all on the computer."
The Daily Transom inquired if Liam was excited to make collect the money from the sales of the blown-up photos.
"Did my dad really say that?" said Liam with a genuine look of childlike-surprise in his eyes. "I wish! But if he said it…"
