Confessions from the Velvet Ropes

2012: My year in jet-setting photos. By Glenn Belverio

Dear around-the-world Wandas,

Even though I spent a lot of time in 2012 stranded on the island of Manhattan, I still managed to do some continent-hopping to a bunch of my favorite foreign locales--and one city that I'd never been to before.

In January, Diane Pernet sent me to Rio again (I had to pout and beg a little bit and she finally relented because it was during my birthday) at the invitation of Monica Mendes and ABIT (Brazilian Textile & Apparel Industry Associaton). We stayed in Copacabana which is really the more authentic, egalitarian Rio experience as opposed to trendy Ipanema.

I celebrated my birthday with Rosario, Suleman and lots of complimentary champagne at the chic Fasano Hotel. (We craftily piggy-backed on a party the hotel was throwing for Mario Testino.)

And I made some new friends at the beach!

I set my camera down on the windowsill next to my bed in my room at the Windsor Atlantica so that I could jump up and capture this gorgeous sunrise on the far end of Copacabana called Leme.

Me hanging out at the treehouse restaurant Aprazivel in Santa Teresa.

In September, I took my yearly trip to the magical music-box-like city of Vienna, where I am invited to cover MQ Vienna Fashion Week.



I usually stay close to the Opera House, but this year for the first 3 nights I stayed in the rarely visited district of Margareten. After World War I, Vienna was known as "Red Vienna" because of the left-wing government that put a lot of Socialist programs in action, including municipal housing projects for the poor. There are quite a few in Margareten (and the highway that borders the district is nicknamed the "Ringstrasse of the Proletariat") and I did my own self-guided tour of the area. This one was my favorite communal housing project: the elegant Reumann-Hof, built in 1924 (above).

Lovely late-day light in Margareten.

Backstage at the Tiberius show at Vienna Fashion Week.

Designer Mariella Morgana Meyer at the "White Mask" afterparty for the Tiberius show at the fabulous Le Meridien Hotel (where I stayed for 3 nights).

One of my rockstar hosts at Vienna Fashion Week, my friend Zigi Mueller paired stars & stripes with rainboots (it always seems to downpour for one day whenever I visit Vienna).

I really enjoyed the "Reflecting Fashion" exhibit at MUMOK in Vienna's Museum Quartier. (Maria Oberfrank of MQVFW kindly supplied me with passes to all the museums.) One of the highlights was the inclusion of Elsa Schiaparelli's collaboration with Salvador Dali, the iconic lobster dress, which was very conspicuously absent from the Met Costume Institute's disastrous Prada/Schiaparelli show. Even though I am a Freudian, I was very amused by this feminist provocation (above), "Flow My Tears 1" by Mai-Thu Perret. The mirrored face is meant to reflect back all Freudian theories projected onto women, making her impervious to them.

After Vienna, I passed through Berlin for 3 days to visit my nutty "cousins" Vaginal Davis and Isabel. (Isabel has since fled the cold shoulders of the Germans and is now somewhere in sunny northern Thailand.) Isabel and I went to the Humboldt Cube museum and I took these photos from the veranda of the museum's restaurant.

Mitte is packed cheek by jowl with trendy, soulless boutiques that all seem to sell the same bougie "design" pillows and lamps for 50 euros a pop. One moment of respite was an interesting bookstore (the entrance, above) that also hosts reading.

Vaginal Davis in her studio in Schoneberg.

After Berlin, I took a 5-day holiday in Amsterdam--my first time!--and I was instanly won over by this charming little city.

House of Cheese!

Amsterdam street style

My friend Marcelo took me out to a marvelous dinner at the Silver Mirror, a restaurant that has not changed much since the early 17th century! We quaffed champagne and supped on foie gras brulee while sitting inside the fireplace. Those tiles!

View from the window of my suite at the delightfully quirky Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy

My suite at the Conservatorium Luxury Spa Hotel

Happy art at the recently re-opened & re-vamped Stedelijk Museum

Me + Moet at the Amsterdam premiere of the amazing DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL

Artist Scott Neary took me on a tour of "his Amsterdam."

We stopped by the Theater Tuschinski to check out the eye-popping interior.

Ilanga met me for green tea out on the terrace of the Amstel InterContinental Hotel where I stayed for one very royal night.

From pristine canal-lined streets to the gritty hutongs of dynasties past: non-stop flight from Amsterdam to Beijing!

Alice McInerney of Anywearstyle.com & I at Dada bar

Design writer Laura Houseley & Beijing Design Week Creative Director Aric Chen

Full moon over the Lama Temple

Partying with rich Communist Party brats at Baby Face

Madame Cat & Monsieur Fish at Wuhao Curated-Shop

Me & Jeffrey Ying aka Oscar Madison & Felix Unger at the Baccarat champagne toast in Sanlitun Village.

Rem Koolhaas's CCTV Tower which generates almost as much propaganda as Fox News.

Beijing's arbiter of elegance, Jeffrey Ying, gave a party for the Party on China's National Day in his glamorous penthouse.

NYC-Vienna-Berlin-Amsterdam-Beijing-NYC: This was literally a trip around the world as my return flight to NYC traveled over the Pacific. Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Love,

Glenn Belverio

My "1970s New York" Christmas-tree-trimming party. Photos & text by Glenn Belverio

Above: Robert Mapplethorpe by Tom Scott, gold-dusted take-out container by Joselle Yokogawa & Mrs. Vreeland by Adrian Milton and Patrick Lehman

Dear holiday hussies, New Yawk punk-rock casualities & Studio sluts,

New York may be turning into an uninspired playground for bland honkies from the 'burbs, but on Saturday night I transported my apartment and my party guests back to the fabulously crime-ridden, decadent, gritty and glamorous '70s. The theme of my tree-trimming party this year was "1970s New York" and my guests certainly rose to the occasion with ornaments and shenanigans. The party was a mix of Old Home Week (friends I hadn't seen in years like Aaron Rasmussen & Tom Scott), new friends I met on Facebook (Carly Sommerstein, Carol Vanderkloot) and in Beijing (Charlene from Tranquil Tuesdays brought me some lovely ancient tree raw pu'er tea--it's what I drink when I'm in Beijing).

Peace in the Middle East in my kitchen!: Aaron Rasmussen, Carly Sommerstein & Mohamad A Canaan. Carly brought a dollop of Chanukah, the Communist Manifesto & Cultural Revolution porn to the party (more on that later). Mohamad, who is visiting from Beirut, quickly became the life of the party. When Mark Morgan Perez arrived later in the evening with a big bottle of top-shelf tequila, Mohamed jumped in and got us all plastered with several rounds of his take on traditional Lebanese "Dodo shots": tequila, salt, Frank's Hot Sauce, and an olive followed by a wedge of lime.

 Icon alert! Justin Vivian Bond, NYC's most revered transgendered artiste, & Patrick McDonald, the Big Apple's most important dandy institution, had a long, intimate chat in the library nook of my kitchen.

 Icon alert #2! Lesbian rock goddess Carole Pope blessed my pagan disco Druid tree with a splash of unholy water: unconsecrated prosecco.

 Sylvia Heisel & her husband Scott Taylor (a bartender at Studio 54 in the late '70s who invented the phenomenon of shirtless male bartenders) of Postmodern Productions erected a conceptual installation in my Mao Zedong VIP Room: spinning disco balls and revolutionary Red lights! Talk about a cultural revolution!

 Marisa Crawford, now a photographer and former stylist whom I assisted back in the day, and her daughter Justine were the first VIPs admitted into the Mao Room. Marisa's uncle, Paul Morrissey (yes, THE Paul Morrissey) recently screened his comeback film at Lincoln Center, which I attended at Marisa's invitation.

Artist Scott Neary, Persian intellectual Suzanne Batmanghelichi, moi avec Andy Kaufman, and Justin (who was on the floor looking for her diaphragm after it fell out of her purse.)

 Superlative sober coach Patty Powers & eternal enfant terrible Bruce Benderson.

Nancy Stout, author of the soon-to-be-released Cuban revolutionary Celia Sanchez biography, and her pal Antonia van Drimmelen engage in dialetical Marxist Melba Moore hijinks. Do the hustle!

 Sizzling hot soul sisters Joselle Yokogawa & Danielle deciphered the conundrums of the Mao Room.

 Knitwear designer (right) Tom Scott won the tree-topper award this year with his Robert Mapplethorpe ornament. A Satanic star for my tree--take THAT, Jesus!

Patrick Lehman won the Charles Nelson Reilly look-a-like contest with more than a little help from his Chester Weinberg scarf and witty repartee.

 Antonia & Christopher Voigt discussed Tibetan Buddhism while keeping a safe distance from the Mao Room (and as David Hemmings documents it).

Glamour puss & Eve Kitten creator Nancy Bacich & Patrick cooled their heels in my boudoir-slash-office.

Musician and radical guitar-pedal inventor Johnny Steele and his girlfriend showed up dressed for a night at the Mudd Club circa 1978!

 Tom's sublime Robert Mappelthorpe ornament reigning supreme at the top of my tree (sharing the title with Joselle's glam take-away carton...)

 Old-Skool East Village diehard artist John Toth battled his way through drunken, vomiting frat boys on the street to deliver his hip-hop graffiti ornament to my party!

 Scott Neary made this ornament because he wants the world to know: I Saw Bette at the Palace!

 Santa Claus is subjected to a terrifying "The Fly" fate after he's morphed with Factory casualty Edie Sedgwick. Ornament by Corey Sabourin.

 My Truman & Andy ornament & Carol Vanderkloot's NYC taxi. Goes well with Andy considering all his excrutiatingly boring taxi ride documentations (how much he paid for each ride or who paid for him instead) in his diaries.

 Joselle's glam-bam-thank-you-ma'am New York Dolls shoe ornament.

 Viva Angela! Nancy Stout made this ornament that documents "On October 17, 1970 FBI agents arrested Angela Davis at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in New York City. President Nixon congratulated the FBI for capturing a 'dangerous terrorist.'" !

More from Nancy: Fidel Castro's 1979 visit to New York purportedly cost the city $170,000 in overtime for 2,000 policemen! But what I want to know is: Did Fidel get turned away at the door of Studio 54?

 Christopher Voigt brought some groovy interior design to the party, which he interprets as a 1970s Nativity scene...the "virgin" in this case is on birth-control pills....

 A hot dog (love the glitter mustard) and dolls--sounds like a typical '70s New York snack! (Suzanne brought the hot dog; Mark brought the empty prescription bottle.)

 Bruce Benderson brought the Crisco to the party--but my house rule required that it be used only in the hallway or outside. I didn't want any greasy fist marks ending up on my champagne flutes and antique sconces!

 Carole Pope's punk decoupage creation is centered around "an inflated used condom"....or so the legend goes. (I can't imagine Carole putting her mouth ANYWHERE where a cock was.)

 Aaron's high-concept ornament is supposed to be me when I'm 70....or me in the '70s....or something like that....

 Elegant disco cocks by Cator Sparks

 Vintage Hello Kitty toy from Nancy Bacich.

 Rachel Spaeth brought an ornament that's supposed to be "how a disco ball looks after a night of doing too much coke" and Johnny got all pre-hipster DIY punk rock and just made his ornament from the PBR he drank at my party (he brought it himself--I would NEVER serve PBR at one of my parties!)

 Bruce & Justin

 The boys in the backroom: Patrick McDonald, Patrick Lehman, Cator Sparks and friend.

 Marisa Crawford brought a Chinese-character version of Mao's Little Red Book

 The aforementioned Cultural Revolution porn that Carly brought!

 I love getting presents at my Xmas parties! Danielle gifted me a a St. Germain & Cava cocktail kit!

Thanks for reading & happy holidaze, dolls...

Love,

Glenn Belverio

 

 

Amsterdam, September 2012

Melting disco balls at the grand Oude Kirke Cathedral

Dear gouda gourmands & red-light lollygogs,

I've always wanted to visit Amsterdam and finally after all these years, I was able to add it to my September jet-set schedule. Here is a collection of my art, design, film premiere, hotel and food reports that have been posted on A Shaded View on Fashion:

My stay at the quirky Lloyd Hotel

My stay at the ultra-luxe Conservatorium Hotel & Spa and the opening of the Stedelijk Museum

17th-century dining at the hallowed Silver Mirror restaurant

Inside Design fair & Art in Redlight at the Oude Kirke Cathedral

The Amsterdam premiere of DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL

My stay at the rather royal Amstel InterContinental Hotel

My visit to the Museum of Bags & Purses

 

Me at the Amsterdam premiere of the documentary DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL

Love,

Glenn Belverio

The Mermaid Parade 30th Anniversary in Coney Island, June 23, 2012. Photos & text by Glenn Belverio

Dear mesmerizing mermaladies & sea-males,

This past Saturday was the 30th anniversary of the Mermaid Parade in the now-transformed Coney Island. (Which looks great, by the way. The new Luna Park is pretty top-notch, especially after all the baleful warnings that the park's demise was certain in the faee of condo development.) Ruby's Bar & Grill, which has also been battling eviction for the past few years, got a facelift (new interior/paintjob/bathrooms but most of the old charm and historic photos intact) and it seems unlikely that they will be forced out for at least a few years.

Only complaint is this year there were too many police barricades in awkward positions, like around the Cyclone (which I believe is a UNESCO-protected World Heritage Site now), making it a nightmare to get around. And thanks to the parade being a trending topic on Twitter (among other internet bullhorns), the crowd seemed to be three times larger than usual this year.

And while it was too claustrophobic to watch the spectacle on the boardwalk (thanks again to too many barricades) we found our way to where gaggles of parade participants were spilling out into a parking lot--an ideal locale for photo-snapping.

I loved this woman because she reminded me of a more svelte version of Edith Massey as Queen Carlotta in John Waters' "Desperate Living."

One of the Queen's foot soldiers

After a few beers at Ruby's, one of my friends thought this pirate sail read, "THE TALIBAN." Well, I'm sober right now and I still don't know what the hell it says.

 This mermaid is made entirely of little cupcakes! (Calm down, curmudgeons--they're not from Magnolia....this float is the creation of some cupcake bakery from Washington, D.C. I thought it was cool that they came all the way to New York to be in the parade.)

 A new addition to Luna Park: some kind of bungee jump that requires two crazy people per ride.

 A bejeweled schlong! Some Radical Faerie/Cockettes realness in Coney...

This woman introduced her daughter as "a character from fiction who died of consumption." Charmed, I'm sure.

Ruby's has a new sign!

 And--wow!!--a "reclaimed lumber" ceiling. Recognize it? It's the old Coney Island boardwalk!

 One of the old Ruby's signs, preserved with care inside the bar.

 We loved this woman's corset.

 My friend Suzanne Batmanghelichi and I. It was Suzanne's first Mermaid Parade!

Also, Suzanne's first foray into the world of raw clams. I ate so many that day.

 Nancy Stout, Corey Sabourin and Suzanne

 Vintage photo, probably from the early 20th century, of the elephant rides they used to do in Coney. (They also had camel rides. You can see a glimpse of that in the film clip from 1905 I posted in my 2010 report--link below.)

The 1979 cult film "The Warriors" is having a bit of a resurgence lately. There were a few Ruby's patrons sporting these vests and also Warriors t-shirts.

"The Warriors are from Coney Island. Now, they're in the Bronx--27 miles behind enemy lines!"

Previous coverage:

Mermaid Parade 2011

Mermaid Parade 2010

Mermaid Parade 2009

Mermaid Parade 2008

 

Love,

Glenn Belverio

Kraftwerk Retrospective opening night at MoMa - April 10, 2012

Dear sauerkraut rockers & bratwurst boppers,

I was lucky enough to attend the first evening of Kraftwerk performances--Autobahn & assorted greatest hits--at the Museum of Modern Art here in New York.

My full report can be seen here at A Shaded View on Fashion.

Later,

Glenn Belverio

Highlights from New York Fashion Week, February 2012: Daphne Guinness & Genghis Khan by GK Reid, Jeremy Scott, Brazilian designers at Hotel Americano, "The Dandy's New York" at Dorian Grey Gallery

A look from the Jeremy Scott collection, which was inspired by '90s internet culture. Photo: Glenn Belverio

Dear slaves of New York fashion,

 I'm very selective now about what I attend during New York Fashion Week (back in the day, I would go to 9 or 10 shows per day). I like the idea of the shows being staged at Lincoln Center--because it elevates fashion to be on par with opera and ballet---but it's too annoying for me to go up there and wait in long lines. Here are the links to my reports on A Shaded View on Fashion of the downtown events I covered:

Jeremy Scott Fall 2012 Runway Show

Premiere of "The Legend of Lady White Snake" starring Daphne Guinness & Genghis Khan fashion show

Brazilian designers at the Hotel Americano

"The Dandy's New York" photography exhibit featuring Patrick McDonald

Cocktail reception at Jeremy Scott Two-Week Boutique

 

The VIVA Girls, a band from Beijing, perform at the premiere of "The Legend of Lady White Snake." Photo: Glenn Belverio

Patrick McDonald & I at Dorian Grey Gallery

Love,

Glenn Belverio

Camille Paglia parses Daphne Guinness & Lady Gaga. Photos by Glenn Belverio

Daphne Guinness at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, February 12, 2012.

Dear acolytes of all things stylish:

Earlier today I sent my longtime friend Camille Paglia my report from A Shaded View on Fashion on uber-muse Daphne Guinness at the Genghis Khan fashion show and film screening during New York Fashion Week. During the course of our email correspondence, Camille had this to say about the divine Daphne--and she also had more than a few choice words about Lady Gaga. As you can guess, she didn't hold back:

"Daphne is sensational!  Of course Gaga ripped off an incredible amount from her, but she has no idea how to WEAR those amazing fashions.  Gaga just puts stuff on that the savvy Nicola Formichetti hands her and wears it like a donkey with a saddlebag!  Daphne WORKS it--like a dancer--and she adopts and projects the correct PSYCHIC MOOD for it.  Fashion as extreme as that requires a dance-like relationship to the environment--to physical space.  It's really captured beautifully in the trailer for 'The Legend of Lady White Snake', where Daphne is walking in giant red clogs along a balcony rail and makes precisely the right interesting and graceful moves.  Whereas Gaga in the same shoes just clunks along like a bag of potatoes, just showing off for the paparazzi.  Gaga has such glaring lack of instinct and intelligence about the relationship between fashion and the body.  That people can't see that drives me crazy--they're so fooled by Gaga, it's pathetic!

 

Daphne exudes the poetic, atmospheric mood of those European art film stars like Delphine Seyrig (in 'Last Year at Marienbad', 'Daughters of Darkness', and also 'Accident', where she's so mysterious and discreet having the secret affair with Dirk Bogarde in London).  There's a little of Edie Sedgwick in Daphne (little rich girl lost), but Daphne is infinitely more glam, assertive, and urbane.  She is evidently a sophisticated book lover, which is why she dropped by the National Book Awards banquet at Cipriani two years ago, when I briefly met her.  She swept in like an electric breeze from a photo shoot at Harper's Bazaar. She truly has authentic charisma!!!!"

 

Daphne and fashion scholar Valerie Steele

Further reading: My report on Daphne Guinness, "The Legend of Lady White Snake" and the Genghis Khan fashion show

Ciao,

Glenn Belverio

My Stanley Kubrick Christmas tree-trimming party in New York, December 10, 2011. By Glenn Belverio

Dear droogies, snail-swallowing gladiators and Long Island Lolitas:

It was time again for my annual holiday tree-trimming party at my apartment in the East Village and because I'm a hopeless cinema fan-fag, I chose Stanley Kubrick as the theme. My guests rose to the occasion with clever ornaments and even a few Kubrick-esque looks.

Christine applies a Clockwork Orange-style bottom lash to singer Carole Pope.

 Since Christmas is really a pagan holiday, this guest showed up with one of the ritualistic orgy masks from "Eyes Wide Shut" which I do find mildly terrifying, especially since I didn't know the guy wearing the mask! I thought it might be a fashion designer whom I gave a bad review to in the past arriving to exact some revenge.

 Me sporting my first-edition "A Clockwork Orange" cover-design t-shirt and my Phuket tan.

 Because it's just not a party without a pair of cheeky fag Lolitas! Raul and Christopher Voigt attempt to channel the long-gone days of when they were jailbait.

"Anger Scale" author Katie Degentesh channeled Shelley Duvall's style from "The Shining."

 Artist Scott Neary gets the Obscura Prize for resurrecting a little-known Kubrick film (his 2nd feature), "Killer's Kiss." Many of the scenes of this gorgeously shot, low-budget noir gem from 1955 were shot around the East Village. I watched the film yesterday on Nextflix instant watch and was in awe of the moody black-and-white photography of New York, not to mention the hot and hairy lead actor who plays a washed-up boxer. The penultimate scene of a spine-tingling duel in a mannequin warehouse is not to be missed. (This clip is of the film's chase scene through, I think, Brooklyn.)

 Hands down, this was my favorite ornament - the monolith from "2001: A Space Odyssey." It was created by Evan Schafer, who is the boyfriend of Grazina Snipas, a graphic designer whom I sometimes work with at Moxie Interactive. (I also love the skull bracelet ornament that Doreen Oakley donated for my tree.)

 Lolita sunglasses and the bone from "2001", also created by Evan Shafer. Now, whenever I think of the flying bone scene in "2001" I think of the hilarious moment in "Good Bye, Lenin!" when a budding GDR filmmaker is editing a wedding video he shot which he turns into a "2001" homage but cutting a shot of the bride's flying bouquet (the bone) with a shot of the lit wedding cake (a stand-in for 2001's spaceship.)

Nancy Stout was inspired by the wardrobe of "Barry Lyndon."

Katie brought an adorable stuffed owl ornament.

Spartacus tribute #1 by Carlos...

...and Spartacus tribute #2 by Corey Sabourin.

Carole Pope brought a less sinister "Eyes Wide Shut" orgy mask..

Artist Rupert Goldsworthy created a tribute to Wendy Carlos, the transsexual composer responsible for the iconic electronic Beethoven soundtrack of "A Clockwork Orange."

Artist Scott Taylor and fashion designer Sylvia Heisel made a Kubrick double header...

Dominique Guihenneuc made this very witty ornament that is a nod to the chess game between Shelley Winters and James Mason in "Lolita." This piece is Winters' queen and the notes read: "You're going to take my queen? That was my intention."

Jack Nicholson looks on at a young Kubrick in a piece made by Nancy Stout.

Astronaut food from "2001"....

A gaggle of poets showed up and I was half-expecting a prosecco-fueled reading of HOWL or "There was a man from Nantucket" underneath the mistletoe: Drew Gardner, Mel Nichols and Katie Degentesh.

 Artist Scott Neary

 Artist Scott Taylor, fashion designer Sylvia Heisel, and author Nancy Stout

 Artist Rupert Goldsworthy and publicist/playwright Jay Blotcher

Me & Rupert

 Filmmaker Vincent Gagliostro & Jay

 Adrienne Lloyd who plays bass in Carole Pope's NYC band with Carole.

 Doreen Oakley stopped in to show off her bag before dashing out to prepare for her costume-making-magic at the NYC Ballet.

 Jay & I

 Meanwhile, in the Mao Room....

In a metaphor of the New China, the Great Helmsman is overwhelmed by Christmas Capitalism.

 On the other side of the Mao Room, Lenin looks on stoicly...

 Nancy's ornament of Stanley Kubrick on the set of "Barry Lyndon" in 1975.

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Glenn Belverio

 

 

Beijing Design Week in Dashilar Alley & 751-D Park, China's National Day in Tiananmen Square, Jingshan & Taoranting Parks, the Bullet Train to Tianjin & dinner at the Yunnan Provincial Government Restaurant & Moscow, September-October 2011

Above: Opening Ceremony for Beijing Design Week at the China Millennium Monument

Dear Readers,

Here is a roundup of stories on my recent trip to Beijing:

My morning in Jingshan Park

Beijing Design Week Opening Night in Dashilar Alley

The surreal Opening Ceremony for BJDW at the Millennium Monument

Beijing Design Week at 751-D Park

Wuhao Pop-Up Teahouse in Dashilar Alley for BJDW

Our strange trip to Tianjin

China's National Day in Tiananmen Sqaure, "Tarantino's Cultural Revolution Film Park" & dinner at the Sino-Soviet Frenemy Hall

My stay at the Orchid Hotel

The mannequins of China

Me at the Wuhao Pop-Up Teahouse during Beijing Design Week in Dashilar Alley

The bizarro China House in Tianjin

My Alfred Hitchcock Christmas Tree-Trimming Party in New York, December 11, 2010. By Glenn Belverio

Dear Hitch Hounds,

I wanted to do a film theme for my Christmas tree this year and my first theme idea was "Old Hollywood" but then I decided that was just too faggy, even for me. I wanted to give my guests a challenge so finally decided to celebrate the holiday season with one of my favorite directors, Alfred Hitchcock. New Yorkers are a busy lot so I was concerned that people wouldn't have time to put any effort into their ornaments, never mind that they would follow my joke-y dress code. However, my guests definitely rose to the occasion, not only bringing imaginative ornaments but also a few came donned in Hitch-inspired ensembles.

Keith & Dan came as the gay murderers in ROPE (who were played by Farley Granger & John Dall). Dan wrote a Barbara Stanwyck biography that's coming out next year which should be terrific.

Corey came as the bloody shower curtain from PSYCHO.

Minori came decked out in plumage from THE BIRDS.

Christopher & Raul get the prize for most current eventsy ornament: Camila & Prince Charles terrified in the back of their limo as they're attacked by a flock of angry birds.

Christopher Stoddard brought Janet Leigh (which one of the guests thought was Michael Jackson) and artist Scott Taylor devised a mini bloody shower curtain.

Mary Adams, the dress designer, brought an array of handmade pieces. What would Christmas be without Santa Hitch?

Left to right: One of Mary's VERTIGO inspired pieces, a pillowy Hitch ornament sent by Penny and a gilded red fox penis bone brought by Refinery 29's Peter Miszuk. When he announced what it was, I thought he meant it was the penis bone that belonged to Redd Foxx of "Sanford & Son." Then I realized it would have been much bigger.

Nancy was inspired by Salvador Dali's masterful dream sequence from SPELLBOUND. Here is Dali with his mustache hung with an infamous cabal of Communists.

Joselle & Crazy Legs brought a glamour bird with rococo wings; an image from SPELLBOUND from Nancy's series.

A piece by Mary Adams

Bruce Benderson made an homage to Marlene Dietrich and her song "The Laziest Gal in Town" from STAGE FRIGHT.

Christopher & Raul brought along Carlotta Valdez from VERTIGO

VERTIGO-inspired ornament; Lauren's Hitch "cock"

Mary Adams decorated a bag with Hitchcockian collage

Christine in velvety chic

Lauren Pine taunts the predatory blackbirds (or are they crows?) that Christine brought with a glass of Prosecco. 

Me & Joselle Yokogawa

Nancy Stout & Mary Adams

Cator Sparks takes a bite out of one of my famous radis farcis au chevre. (No racy gingerbread mise-en-scene this year!)

Marc Benecke & Moni. Marc was the doorman to Studio 54 during its heyday.

Sameer Reddy & Pete Miszuk

Joselle & Legs in my Mao Room.

 
Scott Taylor, Sylvia Heisel & Rachel.

Angela Gaimari: Film-noir heroine or villainess? 

Christopher & Minori share a laugh over some gallow's humor.

Carole Pope & Bruce Benderson

My dress code for the party was: Hitchcock heroine chic, strangulating neckties, mink coat & typewriter-in-tow ensembles for Tallulah Bankhead glamour, 1940s murderous gay hysterical bottom runway realness, Mrs. Bundy ornithologist tweeds for butch women, Jimmy Stewart peeping-tom haberdashery, Edith Head hairdos & dark-grey shades, Mrs. Danvers sinister lesbian chic, Melanie Daniels spoiled socialite smugness, Grace Kelly cocktail gowns for cross-dressers & Norman Bates neuroticisms.

 Love,

Glenn Belverio