It’s an interesting time for one of the world’s most talented singer-songwriters. Commissioned to work his own version of Prima Donna for the Met Opera in New York, Wainwright was recently told that it will no longer preview in Manhattan, due to it’s entirely French dialogue. No doubt there are many disappointed New Yorkers who were itching to get their hands on such a gilded ticket.
Prima Donna will debut at next year’s Manchester International Festival in July. Wainwright certainly has his fingers in many pies; ‘I’m busy working on little side shows, this and that, you know, and a musical version of Shakespeare’s Sonnets for the Berliner Ensemble with Director Robert Wilson’.
During the months of September and February, flashbulbs might be expected to illuminate Wainwright’s dapper figure at New York and Paris Fashion weeks. A long term and very loyal friend to Marc Jacobs and Viktor &; Rolf, Wainwright can often be seen front row at their fashion fêtes, but what attracts him to these fashion greats?
‘I think it’s a question of the sexes’, Wainwright reflects, ‘if I were a woman I would so wear Marc Jacobs and as a man I would certainly wear Viktor & Rolf, they appeal to both my feminine and masculine sides in differing ways and visual languages’.
With New York fashion week well underway, there’s his notable absence at the Marc Jacobs show from a few days ago. ‘No, No, it is all about New York Fashion Beach this season!’
Wainwright has been out of the city for the duration of September, ‘I’ve been avoiding all things city-like and just spending time by the ocean’. Yet the lure of New York and it’s fashionable haunts has meant Rufus couldn’t resist to take a little trip into town.
‘So I did need my fashion crack, don’t we all? I popped into the city once for dinner at the Waverly Inn’, a notorious A-List hangout. ‘It was full of fashion greats, and then drinks at the Beatrice Inn’, yet another gem of a New York A-List hangout. But he confesses to ‘too many people coming to grab me’ and needing to ‘get back to Sarah Palin as soon as possible’, a clear nod to his close following of the US election and the Republican’s Vice-Presidential candidate. When asked about how to survive the craziness of fashion week Wainwright proclaims ‘enjoy it to the full for a full minute and then take a back seat!’
But it’s not all about New York and I am promptly told to look out for British talent too. ‘You must look out for Jonathan W. Anderson, he’s a Northern Irish beauty! So creative and so damn good-looking you have to be careful to not let that overshadow the design’. Wainwright is clearly a big fan and Anderson is partly responsible for the fact that the singer is known for his style.
With the Autumn months approaching and golden leaves falling in Central Park, our conversation turns to what he’ll be wearing in the coming months. ‘Its so hard to take fashion seriously this season in terms of the election. I’ve been backing Obama all the way’.
A sneaky peak inside the Wainwright wardrobe might well reveal some British fashion for the coming season, ‘Its back to Burberry’s all the way this winter. Talk about turning a sinking ship around! Things were looking bleak.’ Yet we both give a gentlemen’s nod towards the Burberry Prorsum collection and swoon over Pea Coats for a brief moment.
The last time I encountered Wainwright was during Glastonbury two years ago and Marc Jacobs had opened in London’s Mount Street. A bedraggled stylist was dispatched to the store to collect numerous bags of brightly coloured Wellington boots for Wainwright and his entourage for traversing those muddy Somerset fields. But what is his festival fashion advice for coping with such adverse conditions?
‘Mental denial all the way! You Brits are so good at that anyway, no? Just pretend you are in Hawaii, put on a thong, don’t wear a shirt and get on those ripped shorts!’ And with that Wainwright is gone, no doubt headed to the ocean in his own pair of ripped shorts.
James Tregaskes
