FASHION 101: DON’T FALL FOR FAKE FENDIS Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to be head of the class. Perhaps my leadership skills come naturally to me since I’m the oldest of four kids and my mother died when I was six years old. During the difficult years that ensued, fashion became my refuge in what I considered to be a cruel and not-so-chic world that could snatch my mother in such an untimely death. While my father worked long, endless shifts as a male nurse at Brooklyn Hospital, I’d keep the four of us entertained by staging elaborate fashion shows in our tiny living room. (To this day, I think my little brother Socket is the best male model on the catwalk.) Becoming one of the lucky ones granted entry into Fashion International has given me an allaccess fashion pass. First of all, I’m armed with valuable insider 411: for example, did you know it was not French designer Paul Poiret who created the narrow, elevated ramp used in fashion shows known as le podium in gay Paree, but rather British designer Lady Duff-Gordon who staged the first catwalk-style fashion show in 1904?
