Will brake e for cashmere and Cartier
Friday was Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Carson Kressley’s 36th birthday and he didn’t even milk it. He wasn’t back home in New York swigging champers. He was working, doing press for his new kids’ book You’re Different and That’s Super, about a unicorn that is ostracized by the other barnyard animals until he becomes a hero.
Kressley lives in midtown Manhattan, “Eleven minutes from Saks downtown.” And he didn’t even fly up first class. He drove his Mercedes station wagon so he could shop for antiques. “ I’m a soccer mom,” he quips. “ It’s silver so it goes with everything.”
Queer Eye
keeps him in Cartier watches, Louis Vuitton sunglasses and cashmere sweaters and socks. His previous incarnation as a stylist for Ralph Lauren introduced him to ’ schmere.
“ I have Ralph Lauren cashmere cable knit sweaters in 28 colours,” he tallies. “ When I went to get a mortgage, they told me to list my assets. I told them I had $ 10,000 worth of cashmere.”
At which we had A Sex and the City moment. When Carrie went to get a mortgage, she was turned down because her assets consisted of Manolo Blahnik shoes.
“ I have a walk- in closet instead of a kitchen. The oven makes a great storage space for loafers.”
Instead of being the show’s fashion consultant, he should be the interior designer.
Kressley was born in Allentown, Pa. Always horse mad, he owned his first pony ( Sparky) when he was 5. He is currently a nationally ranked equestrian.
Kressley has degrees in finance and fine art. The day after he graduated in ’ 91, he headed to New York. He got a gig with the American Horse Show Association but eventually decided to move on because “ man cannot live by non- profit alone.” He was headhunted by Ralph Lauren at his gym, where he was head to toe in Lauren, including a matching plaid basketball: a free gift with purchase thing.
Kressley started as assistant to three vice presidents and worked his way up to a stylist in men’s sportswear before auditioning for Queer Eye in 2003.
“ I have an exuberant personality,” he says. You think? He comes across as an imp on amphetamines.
“ I got an education with Ralph. I worked there for seven years and it gave me balance. I have a zany TV persona — in real life, too, I like to have fun. But personally, I like Louis Vuitton.” The book is an extension of the show. “ One of the most gratifying things about Queer Eye is the total honesty with family. I’ve interviewed Cher and I met Hillary Clinton but it’s when I meet a kid who is 15 or 16 who didn’t know how to broach his family ( about his sexuality) and is now well adjusted. This book allows you this opportunity. I wanted to write a book that might help parents love their kids and accept them for who they are.”
Queer Eye
taught him a life lesson. “I’m comfortable and aggressive with the guys on the show and they freak with the touching and hugging. That was homophobia on my part and straight guys respond to that. There is not a lot of brotherly love with that kind of openness and communication: You teach me about hoops and I teach you about two- ply cashmere.”
Side dish
Actor/producer/director/writer/ activist Tonya Lee Williams, who is getting an ACTRA Award of Excellence on Wednesday in Los Angeles, dined at The Corner House last Friday. Ryan Phillippe had dinner with his Breach co-star Chris Cooper at Toba on King St. this week, then wandered over to Gabby’s On King. They were in town doing pre- production.
Colin Heath, cast member of Lord of the Rings, dined at LaBruschetta last Friday. Michael J. Fox did dins at Opus on Sunday. Mickey Rourke and George Chuvalo dined at Vaticano on Wednesday night. Rourke likes their spaghetti Bolognese. Rourke seems to be a regular at
Dimmi Trattoria and Bar Fridays. Among bold face at Bistro 990 this week: Steven Culp Desperate ( Housewives),
Vivica A. Fox and Sharon Gless. Dame Edna dined at Oro last Tuesday after conscripting Oro’s owner to play her husband, Norm, on stage. Tom Green held court at The Drake’s Sky Yard last Saturday. Cash and carry Rhona Mitra ( Boston Legal), here filming Skinwalkers, stocked up on giftees for the wrap party at Kidding Awound. They included one Inflatable Husband, one Vampire Soother and one Mooning Gnome. Mira Sovino, in T. O. emoting in The Hades Factor, shopped till she dropped a bundle at Over the Rainbow last weekend, snapping up everything from silk camis to funky hats. I’m too sexy for my smell Gwyneth Paltrow, 33, is replacing Elizabeth Hurley, 40, as the face of Estée Lauder perfumes in a bid to “ vamp up its image and make it more sexy.” Hurley must be plenty p.o.’d about the “ sexy” reference. Didn’t she upstage then- squeeze Hugh Grant at the premiere of his film Four Weddings and a Funeral wearing a safety-pinned Versace dress? Revenge of the frog legs
Actors have been known to have frogs in their throat but Joaquin Phoenix went one better during an interview with Associated Press last weekend during the premiere of Walk the Line. He asked the reporter: “ Do I have a large frog in my hair? Something’s crawling out of my scalp.” When reassured he was amphibian free, Phoenix replied: “ No, but I feel it. I’m not worried about the looks. I’m worried about the sensation of my brain being eaten.” No more watching Twilight Zone for him.