Last night, we watched a group of young women get down to Missy Elliott’s music as they waited for a newer rap diva to appear. Nicki Minaj, fresh off a not-widely-appreciated exorcism/performance at the Grammys, and Ricky Martin, fresh off something, were to appear in order to promote MAC’s “Viva Glam” line of cosmetics, which benefits people living with AIDS.
The crowd included Kelly Osbourne, recognizable by her shock of lavender hair, and Christian Siriano, the designer who’d previously dressed Ms. Minaj. Mr. Siriano was recently the subject of a Times profile examining the difficulty of crossing from reality-TV fame to fashion world repute. “Every season you get better and better,” said Mr. Siriano to us, Sphinx-like, when we asked if he’d achieved the approval of the cognoscenti with this year’s collection. Would Mr. Siriano ever do TV again? “As long as it would be something that would represent my brand well,” he told us. After speaking to Mr. Siriano, we attempted to leave the venue for five minutes, but were forbidden to leave–Nicki was on the red carpet!
In a burst of dry-ice fog and strobe lights, Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin appeared–the stage rotated to reveal the pair posing with a motorcycle. “We all know someone with AIDS–it affects everyone,” said Ms. Minaj, after shouting out the fan army, the “Barbies,” some of whose number was in attendance.
“Use a condom!” shouted Mr. Martin, totemically.
Though the pair promised to come into the crowd and dance, the stage rotated away with another burst of fog and they were gone into the night,
