The designer Zaldy is best known for creating florid costumes for high-octane performers, including Lady Gaga for her Monster Ball tour, Britney Spears for her Femme Fatale tour and numerous outfits for RuPaul, for which he’s won three Emmys for Outstanding Costume Design. Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Cher, and Cardi B have shimmied into his frocks or bodysuits, and he’s designed for everyone from Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. line to Victoria’s Secret, and Willy Chavarria.
In a career that exhaustive (and, one imagines, exhausting), it’s impressive that he still has any surprises up his sleeve. And yet surprise he did last night at the Chelsea Hotel, where he lived and worked for some 20 years. There, Zaldy showed his debut menswear collection, titled Boys Like Me, in front of a crowd of decked out downtown legends, a ragtag crew with whom he is not just deeply familiar, he’s a card-carrying member (mother of nightlife Susanne Bartsch produced the show while famed publicist Kelly Cutrone was on hand to corral models and guests).
Photographed by Oliver Halfin
“I was like, this is my way of doing menswear,” the designer said backstage, amid a chaotic scene of half-dressed models in leather underwear and pleated culottes. “I wasn’t trying to please anybody or think about the market. These are the clothes that I want to see. I hope people love it as much as I do, but I was willing to take that risk.”
“I have so many different moods,” he added. “I love tailoring, so I need suits, but I love glamour, and I love day wear. I need all these items in my wardrobe.” Inspiration ran the gamut from Leigh Bowery to the Victorian era, Armani to Ralph Lauren, women’s couture and American Gigolo, but all funneled through his showman-like lens.