show & tell

Hamish Bowles Is Having ‘Major Acid Flashbacks’

Inspired by the economic downturn, Chris Benz revisited the last economic downfall of the late seventies and early eighties for the fall 2009 collection he presented in a warehouse space in West Chelsea last night. “I was thinking of kind of big clubs and the emergence of downtown, and kind of the uptown lady that was like throwing on her coat and like hitting the pavement and going out downtown all night,” he told us. “When I first moved to New York there was like huge clubs and like dance parties and all that, which kind of doesn’t exist now. I miss the Tunnel, and the drama of nightlife.” Benz said he pretty much only goes to the Beatrice these days since he doesn’t like traveling outside a one-block radius of his apartment, but hopes bottle service dies. “I’m ready for kind of a free-for-all.”

Bergdorf Goodman’s women’s fashion director, Linda Fargo, told us after the Cynthia Rowley show she was enjoying the eighties resurgence on the runways this season (but didn’t cite her eighties club days). “I’m loving the bigger shoulders,” she said. “I’m going to have to go on a diet to wear the legging pant, but I’m gonna do it.” She raved over Alexander Wang’s collection, especially the cutout jackets, dresses, and white shirts.

As with Fargo, we didn’t expect Vogue editor Hamish Bowles to recall his crazy eighties party days. But he did! “It’s funny seeing, you know, the girls you kind of grew up with and went to clubs with,” he told us at Chris Benz’s presentation. Those clubs include the Palladium in New York and Taboo in London. “I’m having major acid flashbacks is what I’m thinking,” he said. Then he headed off to the Marc Jacobs show where, we presume, his tripping-out continued.

Watch a slideshow of the Chris Benz collection.

Hamish Bowles Is Having ‘Major Acid Flashbacks’