December 9, 2007

Jared Gold's big love in Utah

Until Friday, I had never attended a fashion show where shivering attendees wore an inch of virgin snow on their heads, because they had been lining up outside for hours.
Where was this frozen fashion frenzy? New York? Moscow perhaps? Actually, Utah, known for its Big Love polygamists, stunning rock formations and utilitarian approach to style (think Tevas, mullets and snow boots).
The only time fashion becomes anything more than a minority pursuit in Utah is when Sundance hits Park City. Or, as I discovered, when Jared Gold puts on his winter fashion show.
Gold upped sticks and moved from Hollywood to Salt Lake City four years ago. Why on earth would a fashion designer leave L.A. for the style-barren plains of Utah?
Gold, a Mormon with investors based in SLC, had his reasons. He set up a factory and opened four of his Black Chandelier-brand boutiques in Salt Lake City, with plans to open dozens more around the country. "It is my belief that fashion should be democratic," said Gold when I chatted to him just before the show, held at the historic Union Pacific train station building in the heart of SLC.

I met Gold during LA Fashion Week last October through our mutual friend, the writer Clint Catalyst. When Gold invited me out to Salt Lake City to attend his show I was thrilled to step outside my bi-coastal box for once.

Democracy and accessibility were themes that permeated the show, inspired by Scandinavian Belle Epoque design. Belle Epoque icons from Rimbaud to Ibsen, from Cezanne to Oscar Wilde, were contemptuous of the bourgeois snobbery that plagued their times. It's a sentiment that Gold echoed, right down to his choice of models, 40 or so Amazonian locals with some colorful special guests flown in from LA and New York. They were stars of reality TV (Lisa D'Amato of "America’s Next Top Model" fame and Nyabel Lual from "Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency") and internet celebrities, like pink-haired alterna-babe Audrey Kitching, blue haired New York club diva Racquel Reed and the talented Stevie Ryan (pictured, in green cardigan), beloved of Crispin Glover and one of the biggest stars of YouTube. Gold told me he feels these women represent the democratization of entertainment, and for that reason, they fit perfectly in his vision.
The 1,600-strong audience was a motley crew, ordinary-looking folks mixed in with green-haired teenagers, drag queens, tattooed vixens and even a Marie Antoinette look-alike, complete with towering powdered wig (all that was missing was some cake).
“But Jared,” I protested, “you know some people won’t approve of this populist approach? To them, fashion’s air of exclusivity is what makes it magical.” His response? "I don’t care." And what of the clothes? The collection, called Caspian, featured items from his ready-to-wear collection mixed in with some magnificent one-of-a-kind pieces. Blue-feathered drop-waist dresses with mandala motifs. Tangerine, azure and brown prints. An enormous gray over coat looked like the offspring of a felt factory and a rubber dingy, the collar towering above the model’s head. Updo's were romantic and gossamer-like, with East L.A. Chola influences evident in the dark-lined lips, heavy black eyeliner and giant hoop earrings sported by the models.
And then Lisa D'Amato got her bum out.
Well...not on the runway, exactly. But at a teeshirt-signing the next day, the rambunctious model amazed shoppers at a Salt Lake City mall by offering up her rear end for Sharpie autographs. She had been up most of the night with new friends made at Salt Lake City nightclub the Trapp Door where she had performed songs from her new album after the fashion show.
On the flight back to Burbank Lisa, who is launching a music career with the help of producer Cisco Adler, reminisced about her time on "America's Next Top Model." "The other girls hated me on that show,” she said. “Especially after I peed in a diaper on national TV."
Whaaaa???
"Life's too short,” she said, explaining how she stumbled upon the diaper and then decided to use it for what it was made for. “The other girls thought it was trashy.”
We suspect Lisa, who recently signed a six-figure recording deal with a Geffen subsidiary, will enjoy the last laugh.

December 9, 2007 in FAME | Permalink

Comments

Thanks for the great write-up! I have loved this company (Nexia Holdings) from the get-go and was happy that someone (Jared Gold) was challenging the politically correct, traditional fashion world. After all, the vast majority of people are not represented in that fashion world and Jared gives something for everybody. I invested in Nexia''s stock (NXHL.OB on Yahoo) before the split, buying 2 million shares. I have tripled that recently as I believe that Black Chandler will someday become a common site at the big malls in this country and others.

Posted by Wayne O. | Dec 21 2007 11:17AM

Excellent job, beloved Caroline! I'm stoked to have enjoyed this adventure with you, bay-bee... =] Oh and, I have photos of that silver-Sharpie covered bum. I suppose you missed the moment when I signed Lisa's right breast, and Jared signed the left. And because we're talkin' about "The D'Amato Deluxe," you know I am NOT. EVEN. KIDDING.

Posted by Clint Catalyst | Dec 12 2007 9:34PM