New York Fashion Week ain’t what it used to be, you say? Not if you’re Rudy Giuliani!
On Saturday, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer—and the former New York mayor—made a surprise appearance at the show of Malaysian-American womenswear designer Zang Toi. Around 3 PM on the day of the show, Toi told GQ in a phone interview this morning, the designer received a call from his friend, the conservative Sirius Radio host and Fox News regular David Webb, asking if Giuliani, with whom he was having lunch, could join them at the show.
“I said, ‘Absolutely! We will squeeze a seat for him,’” Toi said. “And sure enough, at 5:15, he showed up backstage pre-show, and he was front-row center at my show!” (Apparently no one told Giuliani that the unofficial fashion rulebook decrees you show up 15 minutes late, not 45 minutes early.) Thinking about “how he was considered after September 11, it was just perfect timing,” Toi said, for his New York, New York-themed show to have “the former mayor sitting front row. It’s fantastic, it’s amazing!”
“He was very courteous, very fun, and was in good spirits—taking pictures with all my fans, and doing all the interviews,” Toi continued. “He hung out at least thirty minutes backstage before the show.” (That gave him about fifteen minutes to tweet from the front row, just two minutes before the show was set to start, that the latest episode of his “Common Sense” podcast would feature an interview with former Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko discussing “that State, DOJ, & FBI were not interested in evidence of Democrat bribery, extortion, money laundering, & illegal interference in the 2016 election.)
The open-armed embrace of one of the country’s most divisive Republican figures may seem surprising in the left-leaning fashion industry, but Toi’s twice-annual show has become a kind of unofficial “safe space” for Trump insiders to take part in the champagne-fueled frivolities of fashion week. Marla Maples also attended Saturday’s show, which took place at the Women’s National Republican Club in Manhattan, and last season’s guests included Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle. Ivana Trump, Toi says, has been a “a loyal friend and client since 1995.”
But Toi’s political leanings have also had a rosy effect on his bottom line. “I was a lifelong liberal, but in 2008 I switched parties because I felt like the party left me,” he explained. “Business has been amazing for the last two years. I’ve got a lot of support—wealthy conservatives have been buying up the collection like crazy!”
He said these women like his clothing because “I don’t do the trendy, trendy fashion. It’s classic, timeless pieces. They are very high end. Quite expensive. My signature pantsuit starts at $10,000.” Still, “I don’t consider myself a political designer. I’m a supporter of President Trump, and I can go over a list of accomplishments he has accomplished in two years, and of course I know the family really well.” But even though “the supporters of President Trump flock to me, it’s by design, it’s for my heart.” Asked whether the president’s immigration policies bother him as a person who came to the United States from another country, he said, “President Trump make it very clear that he’s against illegal immigrants. I’m a legal immigrant! I’m Asian! I’m an openly gay man! And the family couldn’t be more supportive!”
Rudy Giuliani did not return multiple requests for comment, so how the experience may have influenced his personal style remains a mystery. But he reflected to Page Six, “I’m not very good with fashion. I try. I was just at my tailor today. I would maybe wear navy-blue suits 60 percent of the time, then sometimes gray or black. So when I want to feel like I’m going out, I want to feel like Ronald Reagan [so] I wear a brown suit.” Uninspired!
