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According
to his public relations bio, Patrick McDonald is
known as “Dandy” to the fashionista crowd. This I never
knew until I read the bio. The title sort of fits although I don’t
think it quite covers it. It also never occurred to me that Patrick had a
publicist, although it makes sense – this is New York and
he is a man who is seriously out and about. And out and about seriously.
It never occurred to me that he might have a publicist because he doesn’t
need one; he’s his own best. Take a look at him. This is a man, no matter
where you might run into him — at a party, at a club, coming out of Louis
Vuitton on Fifth Avenue, at a benefit — always ready for his (full-length)
closeup, and like all pros, he never disappoints. There’s an artistry and
discipline in that that is rare these days, even in New York.
He’s fairly new to my eyes – I think I first saw him a few years
ago at an art gallery opening. Although he’s been a well-established New
York scene-ster for a couple of decades. The first time I saw him I thought it
was a costume. Which it is. His costume. Complete, right down to the
ever-present chapeau, the dyed red hair (what you can see of it, underneath),
the impeccably applied make-up, the color mix which although it varies, is always
consistent with the sartorial impression he’s out to create. And create
he does.
He was born in Germany, of American parents, with a twin (which
is hard to imagine on the face of it). I could be wrong but I have a feeling
you might not recognize his twin (who lives in Los Angeles) if they were together
in the same room.
He was brought up in California, went to prep school in Hawaii (Can you see him
as a preppie? No?) He went to Pepperdine, that citadel of American Conservatism-goes-
Surf City overlooking the Pacific. From there, he came (or possibly fled) to
New York, in the 1970s, where he took up modeling and the Studio 54 life.
Fashion is his love; fashion is his passion. In the 70s he worked for Fiorucci which
was the “cutting edge” retailer of that decade, and then was an assistant
buyer for Barney’s European collections. From there he worked for the late,
lamented Fabrice, and for the past eleven years and up until
recently, he was on the staff of couturier John Anthony. He
writes – there’s a column appropriately called “Highbrow” in Paper magazine.
His image has appeared in (besides Paper and the New York Social Diary) Detour,
the New York Times Style Section, Sportwear International, Russian Vogue,
and is also featured in an upcoming book The Style Makers.
Patrick personifies the New York fashionista, consistently astonishing, seriously
imaginative and whimsical and kidding but not. Off-camera, he can be as arch
as that highbrow eyebrow, yet softspoken, courteous with a bit of that down home
West Coast aw-shucks, and a very pleasant fellow, a one-man band on the run(way). |
Albemarle,
Rufus
Aston, Muffie Potter
Basso, Dennis
Benedict, Daniel
Capehart, Jonathan
Cominotto, Michael
Curry, Boykin
Dahl, Tessa
DeWoody, Beth Rudin
Duchin, Peter and Brooke
Duff, Patricia
Eaton, Phoebe
Fales-HIll, Susan
Fekkai, Frederic
THE FULL LIST
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