In Search of Halston (and Baby Benny Liu)

A shot from Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston

A few weeks ago, I was offered an opportunity to do a group phone interview with Whitney Sudler-Smith, the director of the recent Halston documentary, Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston. Disappointingly, the timing was completely off, and I missed it, as well as the screening of the film at The Tribeca Film Festival. I have to admit though, I'm more familiar with (and interested in) the legend of Halston the 70's playboy than his actually work as a fashion designer, mainly because I've been regaled with so many salacious stories courtesy of our fairy-godfather, Benjamin Liu.

Of course, it would be natural to assume that Benjamin would make an appearance in the documentary, but I didn't know until he came out to celebrate my birthday, and one of my friends asked me, mouth agape, if he had seen Benjamin in the movie. In typical fashion, Benjamin himself had missed the screening too, and joked that he was surprised that the people making it managed to get the thing together. Disappointingly, there's no indication that the film is set for a commercial release, so we have no idea when we'll have the opportunity to view it.

In the meantime though, Benjamin did reveal an ancient music video by The Cars that he appeared in for their song "Hello Again." Directed by Andy Warhol and hilariously lo-fi, a flash of Baby Benny appears halfway into the clip dancing on top of a bar in a leopard leotard complete with tail (predating Jeremy Scott x Adidas's similarly styled leopard hoody by twenty five years) and Halston heels (naturally). I think we all died a little when we saw it. Benjamin has promised to show us his old drag costumes and attire, and I definitely can't wait to see this one!

-Tiffany

Birthday Suit

Ashish ice-cream cone dress, Celeste Stein tie-dye socks, Keds sneakers, Miu Miu bag, Slow and Steady Wins the Race sunglasses, Forever 21 headband, Cara Croninger resin bangles

I celebrated by birthday this Friday with Ashish x 2, courtesy of W29. I've been a longtime fan of the designers over-the-top sequined numbers, and they seemed exuberantly appropriate for celebrating getting a year older. I wore the ice cream cone dress all day, and I have to say, babies loved my outfit. I can't tell you how many kids stopped to stare, wave, and blow kisses, probably mistaking me for a giant walking dessert. My outfit even made me a little hungry, and I had to go out and buy myself a pint of Ben and Jerry's after wearing it for a little while. I changed into a silver number with giant gray felt flowers around the neckline for a small dinner with a few friends. Thank you Rachel for making my birthday especially colorful! For those of you interested in Ashish, the line is currently sold at Milk in Los Angeles, and online at Net-a-porter.

Ashish dress with felt flowers, American Apparel tights, Chanel boots, Slow and Steady Wins The Race glasses

-Tiffany

Milk Made

Sorry for the lack of posting, I blame it on the untimely demise of my beloved Mac, which is on its last leg. Luckily my brother will be giving me his old MacBook he's heading to Harvard Business School in August, and henceforth converting into a PC person. Until then, I'm stuck working on Jimmy's computer, with a miserable Swedish keyboard that makes punctuating a sentence about ten times more difficult (so please forgive me if I completely throw all grammatical rules out the window, and excuse the accidental appearance of ö, ä, and å).

Anyway, I've been meaning to write about the latest label to be picked up by W29 Showroom, FIN, an organic and sustainable label based out of Norway. While FIN uses traditional organic cotton and bamboo fabrics, they also have recently introduced the use of Milk fabric, which is made out of the surplus of milk proteins, which are not intended for food. While I have no idea how milk is magically transmogrified into a luxury textile, I do know that the result is lush and somewhat silky. The clothes are also similarly sumptuous, with soft, drapey cuts in a neutral palette, perfect for lounging around on a summer day.

FIN's progressive use of organic materials is currently being celebrated at the Why Design Now exhibition at New York's Cooper Hewitt Museum, which opens today through January 2011.

Tiffany