Certifiably eccentric designer Jared Gold rolled his Tim Burton-style circus into downtown’s Union Station Friday night with a wickedly screwy presentation for his signature and Black Chandelier collections before some 1,500 friends and fans, who also turned it out for the night in their finest frippery knowing full well this was going to be a media event.
And lensmen (and women) were certainly treated to an eyeful both back stage and front of house (everyone from the Associated Press and Women's Wear Daily to Uber's own camera crew were there--look out for the vid roll in coming days on Uber, in fact). The kids upped the ante for this closing show of L.A. Fashion Week, which was more of a happening club night than anything and made some of us pine for a regular (maybe monthly?) event that could fuel such an absolutely fun, freakish scene. The merry, madcap band Miss Derringer, fronted by Elizabeth McGrath, took the stage following the show, and a pop-up shop opened to guests, who immediately began hording striped shirts, candles and skirts decorated with Gold’s signature iconography, and even live Giant Madagascar cockroaches speckled in colored crystals and selling with a gold leash for $80.
Admittedly, I went mad with my camera. Some 300 pics later, I find myself only able to post a fraction here. While I avoided most of the shows this week, this one was well worth the outing (and reason enough to pull out my electric green Indonesian beetle brooches which I pinned all over a black ruffled Viv Westwood dress).
Always the showman with a mind for marketing, Gold and his co-host/co-conspirator Clint Catalyst rounded up a model brigade of young internet celebutants to strut the runway, including Audrey Kitching, Chris Crocker (he of “Leave Britney Alone” notoriety), Raquel Reed (rocking a blue ‘do on this night) and 19-year-old Mathew Lush (an avowed vegan sensation who was swarmed by a legion of teen cuties post-show lining up and in hysterics--even tears!--to get an autograph). Also strutting in the sky-high Marie Antoinette-wigs were “America’s Top Model” runner-up Lisa D’Amato, ”Dexter” actress Jennifer Carpenter, model Tony Ward (yes, you’ve seen his profile and pecs from L’uomo Vogue to Dolce & Gabanna campaigns) and that perennial porn-turned-actress favorite Tracy Lords.
As for the collection: Dubbed “Czarina,” Gold cites the elaborate imagery in the productions of ballet icon Vasilav Nijinksy and his Bolshoi dance theater. It was certainly hallmark Gold, from the striped capes and shifts that riff on vaudeville and pirates to the skirts screened with imagery. That is something he did long before Libertine. Yet, like Libertine, it’s ultimately diluted Westwood for the club kid masses. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.