“Who is this weird old guy taking pictures?” recalls Ernie Glam, one of New York’s original Club Kids, of his first encounter with photographer Alexis Dibiasio. Beginning as a ragtag group of partiers in the mid 1980s who donned S&M gear, neon backpacks, and eerie clown makeup, the Club Kids quickly garnered national attention with ringleaders Michael Alig and James St. James, later immortalized by MACAULAY CULKIN and Seth Green in the cult classic film Party Monster. The infamous Club Kids’ legacy lives on in New York’s nightlife today, as mainstays from the era including Susanne Bartsch, Amanda Lepore, and Sophia Lamar continue to seize the night at various clubs around the city.
Dibiasio’s collection of party snaps from the late 1980s and early 1990s were featured in a special exhibit at last weekend’s LA Art Book Fair, along with the limited edition exhibition catalog Fabulousity: A Night You’ll Never Forget… Or Remember! from Wildlife Press. Ernie Glam wrote the foreword to the book, and luckily for us he still has vivid memories of drug-addled nights spent at the Limelight.
The photographs included in Fabulousity have been tucked away in Ernie's personal archive for the past twenty years. “These are photos from collections that [Alexis] left me before he moved to Florida in 1994. He left me thousands of pictures. He said he was going to eventually come back to New York and get them, but he never came back,” Ernie explained during our talk at the exhibit. He has a distinct recollection of almost every subject photographed. “If I ever get cirrhosis of the liver, this drag queen is responsible for it!” he laughed while pointing at one image as we perused the show.
Our conversation quickly drifted from memories of cranky drag queens writing citations for bad outfits––Brandy Wine and Brenda A Go Go of the self-appointed “Fashion Patrol"––to the ever-evolving world of New York nightlife, the leap from partier to professional, and how to have fun.
Noah Adler: Where are all your costumes today?
Ernie Glam: I still have a whole suitcase full of costumes. I save them figuring maybe there will be a Club Kid archive I can donate them to someday. I already have a pretty big archive, and when Michael Alig gets out of prison, I’m sure he has a lot of Club Kid stuff. We’ll probably put it all together and make an archive.
At what point did people in the scene start careers?
I think it was up to the individual. Some club people never quit. Kenny Kenny, Amanda Lepore, they’re just never going to not do clubs. In Dean Bowery’s case, I think he stopped going out around 1993; he dropped out and devoted himself to his fashion career. He works at Vera Wang now, and I think he worked on the dress that Michelle Obama wore to the second inauguration ball. Another friend of mine who used to hang out with us, she ended up working for Isaac Mizrahi for years. At one point you had to decide if you were going to dedicate yourself to that. You can’t really pursue a career in the fashion industry and go out until 4 o’clock in the morning doing ecstasy four nights a week.
It feels like it was an organized
Dibiasio’s collection of party snaps from the late 1980s and early 1990s were featured in a special exhibit at last weekend’s LA Art Book Fair, along with the limited edition exhibition catalog Fabulousity: A Night You’ll Never Forget… Or Remember! from Wildlife Press. Ernie Glam wrote the foreword to the book, and luckily for us he still has vivid memories of drug-addled nights spent at the Limelight.
The photographs included in Fabulousity have been tucked away in Ernie's personal archive for the past twenty years. “These are photos from collections that [Alexis] left me before he moved to Florida in 1994. He left me thousands of pictures. He said he was going to eventually come back to New York and get them, but he never came back,” Ernie explained during our talk at the exhibit. He has a distinct recollection of almost every subject photographed. “If I ever get cirrhosis of the liver, this drag queen is responsible for it!” he laughed while pointing at one image as we perused the show.
Our conversation quickly drifted from memories of cranky drag queens writing citations for bad outfits––Brandy Wine and Brenda A Go Go of the self-appointed “Fashion Patrol"––to the ever-evolving world of New York nightlife, the leap from partier to professional, and how to have fun.
Noah Adler: Where are all your costumes today?
Ernie Glam: I still have a whole suitcase full of costumes. I save them figuring maybe there will be a Club Kid archive I can donate them to someday. I already have a pretty big archive, and when Michael Alig gets out of prison, I’m sure he has a lot of Club Kid stuff. We’ll probably put it all together and make an archive.
At what point did people in the scene start careers?
I think it was up to the individual. Some club people never quit. Kenny Kenny, Amanda Lepore, they’re just never going to not do clubs. In Dean Bowery’s case, I think he stopped going out around 1993; he dropped out and devoted himself to his fashion career. He works at Vera Wang now, and I think he worked on the dress that Michelle Obama wore to the second inauguration ball. Another friend of mine who used to hang out with us, she ended up working for Isaac Mizrahi for years. At one point you had to decide if you were going to dedicate yourself to that. You can’t really pursue a career in the fashion industry and go out until 4 o’clock in the morning doing ecstasy four nights a week.
It feels like it was an organized