After a Fashion

Spring beauty by 365 Days, 365 Ways at Fashion Central's Year of the Monkey fashion show, produced by Shiki's Jane Vanisko McCan (Photo By Susan Potter)

GIMME AN "A"... The boys at Anthony Nak are like a big snowball: rolling along and getting bigger all the time. In addition to having their jewelry worn by so many of the world's most beautiful women, partners Anthony Camargo and David Nakard Armstrong are becoming stars themselves. During the most recent Fashion Week in New York, they were accorded front-row seats at the Richard Tyler, Anna Sui, and Narciso Rodriguez shows. They attended the party after the Rodriguez show with their good friends Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld and Sarah Jessica Parker at the posh new restaurant Per Se in the glamorous new Time Warner building in Columbus Circle. Later, Rodriguez accompanied Armstrong and Camargo to the Baby Phat show, along with Stevie Wonder's wife and niece, where, sitting across from Vogue's Anna Wintour on the front row, Camargo slipped the fashion editor a note that said, "Dear Anna, Thank you for all your support. Anthony from Anthony Nak." The enigmatic icon looked up and smiled broadly from behind her signature sunglasses. They also attended Patricia Fields' birthday festivities and reveled in the attention that they received from having their jewelry so prominently displayed during the Oscars, SAG Awards, and Golden Globes. Beauties such as Andie MacDowell, Erika Christensen, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Amy Smart, and Lauren Ambrose all sported Anthony Nak, and Catherine Zeta-Jones had her photo splashed all over People, Us, and In Style dripping with AN jewels. Kelly Lynch wore AN to the Oscars and was later raked over the coals by Joan and Melissa Rivers on E! for her dreadful Zack Posen dress – and both fashion hags gasped, "But her earrings! Omigod!" AN created all the jewelry worn by Halle Berry for her press junket for Gothika. Anthony Nak jewels have also been most recently worn by Liv Tyler on the cover of Marie Claire, Britney Spears on the cover of Seventeen (wearing $12,000 earrings that not many 17-year-olds can afford), and adorning Lindsey Buckingham's wife on the cover of Town & Country. And now? Vogue has nominated Anthony Nak for the Council of Fashion Designers of America's prestigious and coveted Perry Ellis Award for Accessories Design – which in the fashion biz is like being nominated for an Oscar.

EDDY-FIED I am now officially a two-time Eddy Award winner as Austin Civic Personality of the Year. The time-honored Eddy Awards are given by the fabulous Uranium Savages – the hysterically funny and deeply disturbed satire band who are wonderful musicians and take their satire very seriously. The award itself – a battered can of SPAM mounted on a stand – is the quintessential symbol of the Keep Austin Weird movement ... but these are the guys who made Austin weird in the first place, and they deserve accolades and awards for that. Strangers to high fashion, but never without great style, Kerry Awn, Robert Stanton, Beverly Robinson, David Perkoff, David Novak, and crew performed a set dedicated to SPAM and a tribute to aging ("I get by with a little help from Depends, I stay dry with a little help from Depends ..."). Other awards went to The Austin Chronicle for Newspaper of the Year, accepted by Margaret Moser (sporting her replica of Princess Diana's tiara); KEYE's Coco Douglas for TV Personality of the Year; KVUE's Mark Murray for Best Weatherman; and a Lifetime Achievement Award to John Kelso, presented by Sister Margaret. And I think a special award is in order for Jovita's manager Brad Reed, who created a ringside table for Sister Margaret and me.

SPEAKING OF SPAM One more piece of trash that jams my e-mailbox regularly offers Debt Consolidation With a Christian Perspective. Puh-leeze. I already have that. Every time I open my bills, I say, "Oh, Jesus," or sometimes I just say, "God help me," and I throw them in the trash. What I do need help with is stopping spam ... with or without a Christian perspective.

SPRING AFFAIR A gorgeous spring evening on the grounds of Laguna Gloria was the setting for Fashion Central's recent Year of the Monkey Fashion Show. It was a whirlwind of bright colors and breezy styles from Shiki, Fabby Darling, Casa Loco, Capra & Cavelli, and 365 Days 365 Ways (thanks for the hat, guys). Adelante (at 26 Doors) showed a wide range of looks in candy colors, and especially notable was Wardrobe's showcasing of their unusual mix of very sophisticated, yet very arty women's wear (drop by their fabulous new location at 1715 W. 35th).

TONIGHT! TONIGHT! The irrepressible Zach Scott presents its Wilde Party for It Ain't Nothin' but the Blues at 6:45pm. These always entertaining parties occur regularly around many Zach Scott productions and are in support of gay youth and the gay community and are studded with some of the most entertaining and accomplished folks that grace our fair city. Call 476-0541 x1 for more info.