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It`s wacky world!
May 05: Although it doesn`t take one to know one, NY Observer columnist and Barneys Creative Director Simon Doonan claims in his new book `Wacky Chicks` if he were to have a sex change, `you bet your sweet bippy` he`d be one of them.
May 05: Although it doesn't take one to know one, NY Observer columnist and Barneys Creative Director Simon Doonan claims in his new book "Wacky Chicks" if he were to have a sex change, "you bet your sweet bippy" he'd be one of them.
Belligerent, Resilient, Uninhibited, Naughty, Creative, and Hilarious (B.R.U.N.C.H. for short) is how Doonan describes a Wacky Chick (W.C), and, in his newly-published ode to 16 of them, he makes a strong case for why it's not only O.K. to be one, it's preferable.
"A fully actualized wacky chick is invincible," he writes. "She throbs with passion, ambition and creativity. She is, above all, a participant in life, not a spectator, and, just like Auntie Mame, she's grabbing life by the balls." Not to mention, "having more fun than most regular chicks and all men, except maybe gay men." And old geezers, whom style icon/book publisher and certifiable w.c. Lisa Eisner models her wardrobe and Cadillac-driving way of life after. Other W.C.'s include comedienne Amy Sedaris, Warhol Factory girl Brigid Berlin, showgirl extraordinaire Suzanne Bartsch, jewelry designer Kazuko, and Spider Fawke, a former designer for Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Claude Montana, who now lives in the San Fernando Valley with 38 lizards and a four-inch tarantula, and works on the weekends as a park ranger. "Wacky though she is," Doonan says of the 6'2" Buddhist, "she has crafted exactly the life she wants." Meant not only to inspire and empower readers, "Wacky Chicks: Life Lessons From Fearlessly Inappropriate and Fabulously Eccentric Women" is also Doonan's attempt to correct a societal misstep: our tendency nowadays to idolize only actors, and "frosty, upperclass grande-dames" like Jackie O. and Babe Paley. "Shouldn't we expect a bit more from our cultural icons than good looks, the ability to keep their weight down and a talent for showing up on a movie set on time?"
But for those who are one tiara-on-a-cowboy-hat, and six-foot-iguana shy of being a W.C, Doonan has some advice: "Being a 'Nora Normal' is fine -- don't hate yourself," he assures from his offices in uptown Manhattan. "What you should do then is sponsor a W.C, as they always need cash ... and attention." And attention is what many of the 16 w.c.'s will get next Tuesday as Doonan -- along with Natalie Portman, Stila's Jeanine Lobell, and Barneys CEO Howard Socol -- celebrate the book launch at the department store's Madison Avenue locale.
For the event, Lobell has created a dusty pink "Wacky Chick" lipstick, the sales proceeds of which will benefit First Steps, a nationwide job-training program for homeless and low-income women.
"I have to say, Lobell is a prime example of someone who has successfully channeled her wackiness, and the fact that she's not in the book is a horrifying omission," stresses Doonan. "Hopefully, there'll be a 'Wacky Chicks Deux'."
Bureau Report
"A fully actualized wacky chick is invincible," he writes. "She throbs with passion, ambition and creativity. She is, above all, a participant in life, not a spectator, and, just like Auntie Mame, she's grabbing life by the balls." Not to mention, "having more fun than most regular chicks and all men, except maybe gay men." And old geezers, whom style icon/book publisher and certifiable w.c. Lisa Eisner models her wardrobe and Cadillac-driving way of life after. Other W.C.'s include comedienne Amy Sedaris, Warhol Factory girl Brigid Berlin, showgirl extraordinaire Suzanne Bartsch, jewelry designer Kazuko, and Spider Fawke, a former designer for Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Claude Montana, who now lives in the San Fernando Valley with 38 lizards and a four-inch tarantula, and works on the weekends as a park ranger. "Wacky though she is," Doonan says of the 6'2" Buddhist, "she has crafted exactly the life she wants." Meant not only to inspire and empower readers, "Wacky Chicks: Life Lessons From Fearlessly Inappropriate and Fabulously Eccentric Women" is also Doonan's attempt to correct a societal misstep: our tendency nowadays to idolize only actors, and "frosty, upperclass grande-dames" like Jackie O. and Babe Paley. "Shouldn't we expect a bit more from our cultural icons than good looks, the ability to keep their weight down and a talent for showing up on a movie set on time?"
But for those who are one tiara-on-a-cowboy-hat, and six-foot-iguana shy of being a W.C, Doonan has some advice: "Being a 'Nora Normal' is fine -- don't hate yourself," he assures from his offices in uptown Manhattan. "What you should do then is sponsor a W.C, as they always need cash ... and attention." And attention is what many of the 16 w.c.'s will get next Tuesday as Doonan -- along with Natalie Portman, Stila's Jeanine Lobell, and Barneys CEO Howard Socol -- celebrate the book launch at the department store's Madison Avenue locale.
For the event, Lobell has created a dusty pink "Wacky Chick" lipstick, the sales proceeds of which will benefit First Steps, a nationwide job-training program for homeless and low-income women.
"I have to say, Lobell is a prime example of someone who has successfully channeled her wackiness, and the fact that she's not in the book is a horrifying omission," stresses Doonan. "Hopefully, there'll be a 'Wacky Chicks Deux'."
Bureau Report