Having a Moment in André Leon Talley’s Collection at Christie’s: A (Mostly) Photo Essay
Art / Decadence / Fashion

Having a Moment in André Leon Talley’s Collection at Christie’s: A (Mostly) Photo Essay

In Hilton Als’s at once heroic and damning 1994 portrait of then-Creative Director of Vogue Magazine André Leon Talley in The New Yorker, entitled “The Only One,” Als details Talley’s unwavering attachment to having “a moment.” “He finds moments in other people’s impulses (‘I can tell you were about to have a moment’), work (‘What Mr. … Continue reading

Welcome Back to the Pleasure Dome: “After Blue (Paradis sale)” Resurrects the Filthy Delights of Camp Artifice
Camp / Decadence / Film

Welcome Back to the Pleasure Dome: “After Blue (Paradis sale)” Resurrects the Filthy Delights of Camp Artifice

Are you sick to death of sleek cinema? An overbearing aesthetic that has trickled down so far that even the most whacko experimental films and unhinged underground movies strive to achieve a similar spotless surface perfection as those boring big-budget Hollywood films? Blech! Give me the awkward, the uncanny, the janky, the shonky, the half-baked, … Continue reading

“Twinks4Trump”: Contrarianism, Wilde, Decadence, and the Future of Queer Politics
Decadence / Rants and Raves

“Twinks4Trump”: Contrarianism, Wilde, Decadence, and the Future of Queer Politics

Happy Gay Pride, friends! Happy BIG 50 to the Stonewall Riots! I mean, Uprising. No, I mean, Rebellion! Yes, rebellion! The New York Times recently provided a series of pieces on the many conflicting narratives about Stonewall. Who threw the first brick–or stone–or rock–or coins? Surely, it wasn’t Roland Emmerich’s cornfed midwestern white boy laughably … Continue reading

Look At Me! How Dare You! Close Your Eyes!: Going Camping with Queen Anne and “The Favourite”
Camp / Decadence / Film

Look At Me! How Dare You! Close Your Eyes!: Going Camping with Queen Anne and “The Favourite”

“Did you just look at me? Did you?…LOOK AT ME! How DARE you?! Close your eyes!” This head-spinning hysterical interchange, delivered to the silent suffering of a young servant, marks the moment I fell in love with Queen Anne in The Favourite. Played with maniacal glee by Olivia Colman, Queen Anne, with her angular streaks … Continue reading