I was a fashion model twice last weekend! By Monday I was so exhausted I had to take the day off. Now I know what Tyra goes through!
On Saturday I produced "Project Nunway" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. It was part of a Big Idea Night featuring Pansy Division and local drag artists La Monistat and Anna Conda.
Back in the spring, when were were putting together the Sister's 30th Anniversary exhibit at the museum, the curator put the bug in my ear that he wanted to do a fashion show with the Sisters based on the scene from Fellini's "Roma". I vaguely remembered the Vatican Fashion Show scene from the movie, but after watching it several times on You Tube, I got inspired by the fabulousness of it. I mentioned the idea to a couple creative faeries and the event just exploded from there.
We invited designers and artists to re-invent a look for the 21st century nun, as inspired by Fellini's "Roma". Fifteen nuns walked the runway and wowed the audience with beauty and imagination. You'll see yours truly in the first segment of the video above, and since I am know as Sister Zsa Zsa, the Porno Nun, I had to tailor my walk to reflect my namesake.
I enlisted some cute alter boys in jockstraps on leashes to enter behind me tossing out Lavender Lounge fliers. Then they knelt down before me, and when I blew the whistle, they started rolling around simulating having sex. I had an old Super 8 movie camera and pretended to film it. My designer was a local treasure that goes by the name of Mrs. Vera , an artist known for wearing outlandish costumes made for recycled junk. My outfit was made from mostly drinking straws and Popsicle sticks in fluorescent colors.
When word got out the Sisters were doing a fashion show, the National Queer Arts Festival contacted me to invite us to participate in a fashion related event they were producing the following night. Somehow, they convinced us to re-run the show a second time, and even got the Order to provide a $500 grant. Mrs. Vera had already signed on to present her "Verasphere" collection. She had no less than 14 models lined up to wear her creations, so I joined them to get dressed, then marched with them to the two blocks to the venue. I was an unbelievable site to see 16 of us dressed up in day-glo splendor walking down Potrero Avenue!