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Books by Frank DeCaro
Click on Photo Image to Order
via amazon.com
Click on Photo Image to Order
via amazon.com
Ask anyone what Cher wore to the Oscars in
1985 and they can describe the Spiderwoman
headdress, the exposed navel, and the looks
on people's faces when she made her
entrance. Ask about Carol Burnett's "Went
green velvet Southern Belle costume made
from drapes--with the curtain rod still
attached. Funny and outrageous, these are
just two of the many costumes Mackie has
indelibly etched into our minds. He has also
dressed such celebrities as Elton John, Bette
Midler, Diana Ross, and RuPaul; designed for
Broadway, Las Vegas, opera, and ballet; and
currently runs a couture business with
licenses for fragrance, fashion accessories,
eyewear, suits, furs, home furnishings, and
collectible Barbie dolls.
This spectacularly bright and colorful book is
as outrageous as Mackie's designs. In addition
to classic photos of marvelous Mackie-clad
superstars of the last three decades, glorious
gatefolds and specially commissioned color
photographs by Gideon Lewin illustrate
Mackie's extraordinary achievements.
Unmistakably Mackie demonstrates how this
seven-time Emmy Award-winning designer
has reached the consciousness of the
American masses and turned them on to a
stylish fantasy that is purely his own.
1985 and they can describe the Spiderwoman
headdress, the exposed navel, and the looks
on people's faces when she made her
entrance. Ask about Carol Burnett's "Went
green velvet Southern Belle costume made
from drapes--with the curtain rod still
attached. Funny and outrageous, these are
just two of the many costumes Mackie has
indelibly etched into our minds. He has also
dressed such celebrities as Elton John, Bette
Midler, Diana Ross, and RuPaul; designed for
Broadway, Las Vegas, opera, and ballet; and
currently runs a couture business with
licenses for fragrance, fashion accessories,
eyewear, suits, furs, home furnishings, and
collectible Barbie dolls.
This spectacularly bright and colorful book is
as outrageous as Mackie's designs. In addition
to classic photos of marvelous Mackie-clad
superstars of the last three decades, glorious
gatefolds and specially commissioned color
photographs by Gideon Lewin illustrate
Mackie's extraordinary achievements.
Unmistakably Mackie demonstrates how this
seven-time Emmy Award-winning designer
has reached the consciousness of the
American masses and turned them on to a
stylish fantasy that is purely his own.
ranging from a mention of the TV series H.R. Pufnstuf
to one of the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of
the Desert, DeCaro's memoir of growing up gay in an
Italian Catholic family in Little Falls, N.J., sweetly and
relationships, a theme that provides the backdrop to
his anecdotal chronicle of childhood tormentors and of
recognizing, accepting and eventually celebrating his
difference.
Ostracized by classmates who knew he was gay before
he did ("I'd always put the 'boy' in 'Flamboyant'") and
an enigma to his loving if somewhat inept parents, a
young DeCaro finds hope in the extravagance of role
models Elton John and Paul Lynde and ensuing
validation in his high-school theater department. All
this is revealed in ironic turns of phrase, deadpan wit
and pinpoint characterization, sparing not his mother:
a "pear shaped bundle of Aqua Net"; his father: "a big
lug who hated only two things in the whole world:
dogs sniffing his crotch, and stepping in chewing
gum"; his live-in grandma: "With upper arms that
hung like parade-float bunting, the constitution of a
battleship, and the salty vocabulary of a sailor on
shore leave"; and not, least of all, himself.
Growing up gay in the suburbs was a trial for DeCaro,
a contributing editor to Martha Stewart Living, yet he
renders the experience with ease and humor in this
laudable memoir.
--Publishers Weekly
to one of the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of
the Desert, DeCaro's memoir of growing up gay in an
Italian Catholic family in Little Falls, N.J., sweetly and
relationships, a theme that provides the backdrop to
his anecdotal chronicle of childhood tormentors and of
recognizing, accepting and eventually celebrating his
difference.
Ostracized by classmates who knew he was gay before
he did ("I'd always put the 'boy' in 'Flamboyant'") and
an enigma to his loving if somewhat inept parents, a
young DeCaro finds hope in the extravagance of role
models Elton John and Paul Lynde and ensuing
validation in his high-school theater department. All
this is revealed in ironic turns of phrase, deadpan wit
and pinpoint characterization, sparing not his mother:
a "pear shaped bundle of Aqua Net"; his father: "a big
lug who hated only two things in the whole world:
dogs sniffing his crotch, and stepping in chewing
gum"; his live-in grandma: "With upper arms that
hung like parade-float bunting, the constitution of a
battleship, and the salty vocabulary of a sailor on
shore leave"; and not, least of all, himself.
Growing up gay in the suburbs was a trial for DeCaro,
a contributing editor to Martha Stewart Living, yet he
renders the experience with ease and humor in this
laudable memoir.
--Publishers Weekly
