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

“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

Every Saint Has A Past And Every Sinner Has A Future: Worshiping At McDermott & McGough’s The Oscar Wilde Temple
Art

Every Saint Has A Past And Every Sinner Has A Future: Worshiping At McDermott & McGough’s The Oscar Wilde Temple

Asked by prosecutor Charles Gills to define the “love that dare not speak its name” during his infamous trial for sodomy and gross indecency, Oscar Wilde responded, “It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an … Continue reading

Doing the Leftover Things: Notes on Robert Melee’s After-Party Camp
Art

Doing the Leftover Things: Notes on Robert Melee’s After-Party Camp

In Susan Sontag’s seminal, often quoted and equally maligned “Notes on ‘Camp,’” Sontag composes a list of examples of camp including Tiffany lamps, Swan Lake and “stag movies seen without lust.” While Sontag’s list is certainly limited, she surely would not have hesitated to include opulent lamps, gaudy glass chandeliers, shining streamers, clashing ribbons, dangling … Continue reading

From Decay to Disney: Queering the Ghosts along the Mississippi
Photography

From Decay to Disney: Queering the Ghosts along the Mississippi

Because it is time, the eyes open, the body stands up, the hand stretches out, the fire is lit… —André Breton and Paul Eluard In his introduction to the retrospective exhibit of his work “The Personal Eye,” Clarence John Laughlin offers this theory to explain the artistic vision of his photographs of Louisiana plantations and of New … Continue reading

Role Models: Sick Boy
Role Models

Role Models: Sick Boy

I hated the ’90’s. Well, the first half of it, anyways. All of the over-the-top tacky fashions of the ’80’s gave way to plaid and torn jeans–and all that long, greasy hair. Thanks a lot, Seattle. I did what any traumatized boy would do: I went into hiding to pray for the coming millenium/apocalypse; that … Continue reading