fashion iqons.....out in force
The weather was bitterly cold as I expected and on my way I chanced upon some homeless people all huddled together.
My destin ation was a club I had never been to, but had heard about. Imagine a line of mostly fashion people all vying to get into a night club, all this at the discretion of the bouncers. As the line attends patiently, the talk among an international crowd, seems to be about the door policy and the world of fashion. I am stood by a tall woman from Austria, with a heavy accent, a man from the Czech republic and a man from far off New Zealand, whose job is “make up”. I am half concentrated on their conversation, but mostly willing the crowd to move forward, so I can get out of the cold. Taxis arrive in a short narrow street and the glamorous descend. There is an obvious system in place, where by the more important get to enter the club almost directly, while the lesser mortals must wait and endure the cold. The club does not open until midnight, and I arrive after a hard weeks work, my durability perhaps lesser than some, to last long into the night. There are some interesting looking characters, as you might imagine amongst a fashion crowd.
The event is a party organized by a web site called “IQONS” The purpose of this site seems to be to square up to “my-space” (the leader in online music) and become the leader in the field of online “fashion”. As in the words on it’s web site. IQONS aims to create a free platform where people connect, show their work and start alternative networks across the world to invigorate fashion globally. IQONS aims to provide a platform for everyone in the global fashion industry and create the world’s first truly interconnected ‘fashion ecology’ comprising of designers, retailers, models, fashion PR professionals, photographers, stylists, financiers, show producers, magazine publishers, manufacturers, head-hunters, consumers, aficionados and basically anybody with an interest in fashion.
I discovered this site through another site, IQONS was advertising on, as they don’t just embrace fashion, they also like artists and so I have put an online portfolio, on this site. Who are the people behind IQONS? There is a Venezuelan, based in Paris called Rafael Jiminez, who is a marketing stratagist, Suran Goontilake, who is the co-founder of
“body metrics” a company pioneering the use of body-scanning and virtual reality technologies in fashion. At Selfridges, in Oxford Street, and in Harrods, Knightsbridge, customers can get their body-scanned and order perfect-fitting designer jeans (I don’t think I will be doing this, as appealing as it sounds).
The third is fashion critic and a video journalist Diane Pernet. JC de Castelbajac, who in his illustrious Past designed clothes for “bishops” and the “Pope” no less is the front man for the site and you can listen to an interview with him, on the site. This will particularly appeal to those who like to here English being spoken with a strong French tilt. He has a jeans line named “Jesus” . He is certainly not a bashful man, but I suppose this is true of many people involved in the world of fashion.
The club where the IQONS party is to take place is called the Bains- Douches and we are talking a club, which has been in the past a magnet for the A list stars, the jet-setters, models and such like. Perhaps its heyday was in the 70s and 80s, but I am sure a star or two still patronizes this establishment. It has even had some songs named after it, Kid Creole and Grace Jones, both honored it. Fashion goddess superstar Naomi Campbell celebrated her birthday in this club.
It gained its reputation by inviting the big cheeses, the hard hitters, from the fashion, music, film, and model industries, as well as many models, which built up this club‘s kudos. Of course when you have a club packed with such people, ordinary folk want to gain entry to such a club and consequently a severe door policy was put in place. A vast crowd would spill out into the street, many would have a forlorn hope of gaining entry. I suppose many must have left despondent, refused entry, which is a fear I harbored myself, on this freezing cold January. However these day the club has a less stringent policy and the snobbery of previous times has given way to a more open minded policy.
All I came armed with was a password “I love Salvatore” which in the end I did not have to use.
I managed to make it, having been ushered in by the bouncers. There was the sound of some familiar eighties electro-pop track, Tears for fears or some such. The music proved to be quite eclectic, with a mix of more recent, with seemingly ever popular eighties. I was a little disappointed by the visual image of the club, perhaps it still trades off its old reputation. There was certainly know Vj (video Dj) projecting sophisticated images. What was being projected on the many screens around the club, were mostly images of people, I guess “clubbers”. I soon gave up on the idea of getting a drink, more chance of getting food, in a time of food rationing in an empty supermarket. There were a few people in interesting attire, but not many, I expected more. There were a few I noted who probably imagined they were great dancers, but in reality were abysmal dancers, with cringe-worthy moves. So I became embroiled in people watching. There were no stars, well if they were perhaps they were eating upstairs, or hiding from the ordinary?
Another place to go where you used to find stars was The Buddha Bar which may once have built its reputation for its passing trade in international stars, but these days its giant effigy is more likely to look out over a wide-eyed sea of celebrity-hungry tourists and cash-ready businessmen. I went there once, with some French fashion designers (this is not my normal crowd) and a female friend started chatting with some business type, who proceeded to buy all of us a drink, despite the fact that he had not been introduced to us.
There are places with A list credibility The entertainingly extravagant Mandala Ray or Man Ray (owned by Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, John Malkovich and Mick Hucknall) for example. If you are not craving for a glimpse of a celebrity out on the town, and Techno and House music is your thing, there is club a stones throw from where I live called “The Rex” which was founded by Laurent Garnier.
Maybe I left too early, but in my opinion the atmosphere of the IQON party never quite hit fever pitch, muted enthusiasm. I remember well the period in the UK, when “raves” were sweeping the country. People would scream, yell, blow whistles or horns, throw their arms up in the air, all manner of manner frenzy whenever the hook line or an iconic tune was played. Things would reach hysteria. There was only patchy moments, in the Bains- Douches, where the crowd seemed elevated. There were people trying to show off on the stage and some Japanese fashion-lovers strutting about. When I left, getting out was like getting in, a cattle market, scrum, there were still some hopefuls, waiting to get in.
OH well......that was a Friday night in Paris......
