This New York Fashion Week, the Cut is trying something: responses to the runway, in the form of a poem.
Barry Manilow sang “Copacabana” at Michael Kors’s Studio 54–themed show last night — the hottest spot north of Havana.
He performed in front of a gold-fringe curtain, alongside models
Fran Summers and Bella Hadid.
His neon jacket was studded with rhinestones and featured sunlike spokes emanating from the heart area. It was created by
Leslie Hamel specifically for the occasion, and here is a close-up video of it glittering in action.
(It also said “Copa” on the back.)
To get in the mood, I watched this Willy Wonka–esque “Copacabana” music video from 1978 (or thereabouts), when the song first came out.
I had forgotten about the “blood and a single gunshot” line. Also the part where Lola “drinks herself half-blind.”
Actually, I’d never realized just how sad a song it is, despite the cheerful music. And Manilow’s exhortations toward the end: “Don’t fall in love. Don’t fall in love.”
Is that in general, or specifically at the Copacabana nightclub?
I’m hoping specifically at the nightclub. In any case, Happy Valentine’s Day.
Manilow himself has been with his now-husband, Garry Keif, for 40 years (also since 1978).
Karen Elson walked in the show (see below), too, which reminded me of the hours I spent
Poring over pictures of her face, and her skin, in magazines when I was a teenager. She is so beautiful.
Back then I thought love might happen easily once I became a different person, more beautiful, with better skin. I thought it was something I would get rather than something I would give.
“I’m a showgirl and disco queen at heart,” Elson wrote in a sweet Instagram post, “and this show had me at hello!”
