By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
August 20, 2000
The music rocked. A bride bonded with Superman. And the clothes weren’t bad, either.
This year’s Fash Bash–Friday night at the Chicago Theatre–had all the frenetic energy that was lacking at the event’s more staid Chicago debut last year.
Hosted by Queen Latifah–who kicked it in a pair of form-fitting burgundy leather capri pants with upturned cuffs, suede stiletto boots and a checked Dolce & Gabbana sweater that would later turn up on one of the male models–the show was an hour of mouth-watering eye candy.
The real stars were the members of Antigravity, a New York-based troupe of athletes and dancers who performed electrifying somersaults and gyrations so dirty that Tom Jones would’ve been proud.
The troupe was led by a pair of lean, floppy-haired twin brothers whose ability to pop-and-lock set the tone for the evening’s entertainment–disjointed, but fun.
Ranging from Latifah’s soulful hip-hop, to Bobby Short’s elegant cabaret, to the Kiss Army’s freakish doppelganger of Gene Simmons and his glam rock band, the music set the pace for how the models worked the clothes.
It is a credit to the show’s organizers that their musical selections perfectly mirrored this year’s theme–a salute to nightlife. The atmosphere was more rock ‘n’ roll than many concerts, and the crowd responded in kind.
Looking at the sea of well-heeled Chicagoans waving their phosphorescent glow sticks, it was like being at a rave–minus the drugs and sticky teens.
At the show’s finale, a princesslike model whipped off the bottom layer of her wedding gown, jumped into the audience and won the attention of a smitten Dean Cain, the actor who played Superman on TV’s “Lois and Clark.”
The rest of us? We were eyeing her not-so-disappointed glam rock “groom.”
