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Gold-plated china dolls.
Burlesque dancers.
Playboy bunnies.
Welcome to New York Fashion Week, which starts today, and the sartorial circus that is the Blonds show. Their biannual spectacular showcases enough sparkle to blind Vegas, and draws the most daring fashion flock, including downtown club kids, top editors such as Anna Dello Russo of Japanese Vogue and celebrities such as heavily guylined “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert.
But for David and Phillipe Blond, the platinum-haired duo behind the label, it’s their chance to shine.
“It’s like the fireworks at the end of the week,” says David Blond, née Trujillo, of the extravaganza, which always happens on the penultimate day of New York Fashion Week. (This season they’re showing Wednesday at Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District.) “We always push the envelope. And we never have celebrities walk because we want it to be all about the clothes.”
The duo might rely strictly on anonymous models, but away from Fashion Week, their biggest fans are pop stars so big, they don’t need last names.
Beyoncé, Britney, Rihanna, Katy, Fergie, Nicki and Kylie are just some of their fashion conquests.
You name them, the Blonds have dressed them.
“It’s hard to keep track anymore,” says Phillipe, né Rollano, of their boldface clients.
Sitting in the couple’s Midtown apartment cum studio space, Phillipe wears a T-shirt bearing his own image and black leather shorts over psychedelic swirled tights. Nearby, an assistant hand-paints a corset.
Corsets are the Blonds’ signature piece, the item that led to their big break. In 2007, Beyoncé’s style team spotted a sparkly waist-nipper in the Blonds first fashion presentation, and used it in her “Upgrade U” video.
“The Beyoncé thing was a total surprise,” says David, wearing a black sweater, black jeans and snakeskin Louboutin high-tops. “It was all word of mouth from there.”
After that, they focused on building a costume business and fashioning Swarovski-studded corsets — and their careers took off like a Top 40 hit.
At the American Music Awards in November 2008, Rihanna wore a spiked Blonds corset that lit up the fashion blogs. (See cover.) Then, after Katy Perry posed in Blonds creations for a Cosmo Girl shoot, her tour manager personally reached out to the designers. They now collaborate closely with the singer, and concocted her famous candy corset for the “California Gurls” video, complete with 3D ice cream cones and dangling gummy sweets.
With more press came more notoriety — and the notorious.
“Lady Gaga got arrested in her ‘Paparazzi’ video in our corset,” David says proudly, referring to the scene in which the singer “murders” her boyfriend.
Style experts say the couple’s over-the-top aesthetic has changed the way stars dress — and heightened the public’s appetite for theatrical fashion. “They’re redefining couture,” says stylist Patricia Field, who has championed the pair since 2007. “They’ve always had a point of view, and for a young start-up company to be able to achieve that in a short period of time is extremely admirable. ”
Perry, who is very literal in her requests (“When Katy says she wants fruit on her dress, she literally wants fruit,” David says), has found the perfect foil for her firework outfits. “They’re larger than life,” Perry told People about the Blonds. “I love that they have no limits!”
The former club kids — who say their pieces take four to six weeks to construct — met at popular gay hangout the Roxy in 2000, just after David, a Florida native, moved to the Big Apple to pursue his dream of becoming the next Tom Ford.
“It was my first time out. Ever,” admits 20-something Manhattan native Phillipe, who that night wore a homemade tank covered in sparkles.
David, who will only cop to being “in his 30s,” saw Phillipe sitting in a corner and approached.
“He was this crazy little fairy. So through my haze, there was this little glow. We’ve been together ever since [both creatively and romantically],” David says.
The Blonds started making one-of-kind pieces as a hobby and ran into Field at a club. They were both wearing shell-encrusted jeans.
“She was like, ‘I love those jeans.’ She used to call us ‘the shell people,’ ” laughs David.
Field, who the Blonds now call a “second mom,” sold some of their creations in her Eighth Street store, while shops in California and Tokyo also picked them up.
They officially launched their first collection in 2007, and started showing at New York Fashion Week a year later.
In 2009, they made a splash at the Life Ball in Vienna, where Perry — buckled into a giant clam while dressed in a Blonds mermaid costume — descended 50 feet onto the stage.
“It was such a crazy story because I strapped her in the clam and said, ‘You’re only going to be in there for 20 minutes,’ and [Perry] said, ‘You’re crazy,’ ” recalls David, who adds that she was stuck in the clam for 45 minutes.
“That show was definitely a milestone,” he says.
Today, they’ve become friends with much of their diva-filled clientele. “We went to Jennifer Lopez’s house and got to meet the kids and [her ex] Marc [Anthony] . . . it felt like we were going to a family dinner,” says David.
Phillipe, who catwalks in their shows, claims he’s a muse for Perry and Rihanna. “I’ll have Rihanna call and say, ‘OMG, can you put nails on my gloves, or can I borrow your
shoes?’ ’’ he says.
“They’re like girlfriends,” adds David. “They talk about how to pose.”
More recently, the Blonds’ fame has led to a custom bridal business. Last summer the pair fashioned a wedding gown for a Romanian bride that had a detachable 9-foot train and a bodice based on Kylie Minogue’s outfit in her “Get Outta My Way” video.
The cost hovered between $100,000 and $150,000.
“She wanted us to actually fly over and dress her. It was the most outrageous thing we’ve ever made. I was like, ‘What are you, the queen of Romania?’ ” says David with a laugh. (He declines to divulge her identity.)
Other private clients request custom-made corseted dresses, which start at $5,000, for birthday parties and special events.
And yet the ultimate blond — Madonna — remains elusive. They’d love to dress her.
“We’ve made stuff for her before, but she’s the kind of person who can have anything, so you sort of submit a piece and cross your fingers,” David says.
In the meantime, they’re most excited about their upcoming show next week, the details of which remain top secret. But there’s one thing you can count on: bling.
“I want to entertain you and take you to a blond planet where motorgirls are going to totally attack you with glamour,” says Phillipe. “It should be an amazing show.”