Exit
at the center of the Armory stocked
with garden statuaries — oversized
sculptures that often require multiple union men with tools to move
them in. For Emily, who lives in
Boston, the several-hundred person
event is “a mecca for meeting lots
of friends and people we’ve known
forever.” At the end of the night,
Barbara gives her a private guided
tour of the stalls, rattling off facts
about any item Emily takes a fancy
to. Emily told us to prepare ourselves for “glitzy” and “glamorous.”
She doubted any students from the
South Bronx would be there.
The day arrived. So did we. A
guard promised us “all the shades
of New York black” inside, meaning black clothes. From the neck
up, the scene diversified in a limited sense of the word: lots of red
lipstick, two rabbit fur stoles, one
hat that looked like a bandage for
a head wound, one camera obscuring one distinctive face (that
of Bill Cunningham, the legendary photographer, who attends
each year), and white smiles bobbing in not-quite-unison.
We asked a seller of swords and
other hammered metal whether
he expected to relieve his stall
of anything that night. At the
time, he was showing a man who
CULTURE
HUFFINGTON
03.10.13
looked to be in his early thirties
a 400-year-old German helmet,
priced at $90,000. The visitor
peered into the bowl of the helmet,
and fingered a patch of red lining.
“I expect to sell everything here in
the next five minutes,” the seller
told us sternly, in a British accent.
“That’s the way to think.”
In the bathroom, women were
touching up their red lipstick. One
asked another where she got her
From the neck up, the
scene diversified in a limited
sense of the word: lots of
red lipstick, two rabbit fur
stoles, one hat that looked like
a bandage for a head wound …
and white smiles bobbing
in not-quite-unison.”
pants from. “I feel like I’ve seen
them before,” she said.
“I’d be surprised,” said the
woman in pants. “These are Dolce
& Gabbana, from 10 years ago.”
It seemed as if they might argue
about it, but just then, a pair of
blondes at the mirror started talking about a shade of red lipstick
that looks good on everyone. “This
party is always pretty fun, and al-