CHELSEA — Cuba Gooding Jr. did a smashing job of fitting in with the fashion crowd.
The Oscar award-winning actor looked the part, arriving well-accessorized at the Kenneth Cole show Thursday night in Chelsea. And his most important accompaniment? Dark sunglasses worn inside, like like Vogue’s Anna Wintour.
However, Gooding's reasoning for donning the shades indoors was protection — and a little vanity. “I’ve been sitting here for three minutes, and look at all these lights,” he said, gesturing to the camera crews shining bright bulbs on him. “I’m older now, so I don’t like my squint look on my eyes.”
The Kenneth Cole show marked the first ever attended by "Saturday Night Live" alum Rachel Dratch, who attended as Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson’s date. “Please print that I turned Cheyenne,” Dratch joked of the openly gay stage star. “He has fun events to go to,” she continued, as “Preppy Handbook” author Lisa Birnbach approached the two.
“It’s so nice to see you and meet you,” Dratch told the etiquette expert. “We’re Twitter friends.”
“Now you can follow me,” Birnbach replied.
“I do. Oh, you mean literally follow you?” Dratch shot back, starting to walk in the direction of Birnbach.
Supermodel and TV host Heidi Klum also took in the show, in advance of her own “Project Runway” collection premiere Friday morning.
“It’s my designers' big day,” she explained of the competitors in the long-running reality series. “It’s their moment. They’ve been working very hard for this.”
Unfortunately, the coming snowstorm derailed Klum’s plans for the weekend — flying home to her children in California. And while she could probably get out on a private plane, the fashion mogul won't be boarding a Gulfstream anytime soon.
“I don’t like private planes. They scare me,” Klum admitted. “I like to fly commercial and be with people rather than sitting in a little thing all by myself.” If you say so.
What's in a name? Actress Christina Ricci threw us for a loop at the Richard Chai LOVE show Thursday at the tents at Lincoln Center, in answering the question of her label's provenance.
“It’s Richie’s," she said of her Chai number, perhaps noting our confused look. “We’re friends, so that’s how I know him."
