But I remember going to all these gay clubs and literally the red sea parted. Part of the problem is he was such a big coke addict and so temperamental. Works for me.”ĭid he have a big career? Historically he’s not remembered that way. When I got back to San Francisco, of course, I wanted to move to New York and made a pact to move there in six months. It was crazy, every famous person was there trying to get in. Victor knew that the only way to get in to the opening night was through the back door. Well, that trip happened to be the opening of Studio 54. You must be sick of people asking you about Andy Warhol? So Victor did the casting ’cause he knew all the porn stars and the first day I went there, they were all hanging around the studio. It was even more exciting because at that time Victor was helping Andy to do this series about big dicks and asses. At the same time, he was inspiring Andy Warhol so when I came to New York that week, he had already told Andy about me and took me to the Factory. At that time he was doing all of Halston’s windows, which made him really famous as a display person. We just really got along, I don’t know how. I invited him to stay with me and have the real experience of San Francisco. I never met anybody who arrived with a full set of Vuitton luggage, wearing mirrored sunglasses, looking ultra chic. I never spoke to anyone with a thick South American accent. I had never met anyone who did coke every hour. He had never been to San Francisco so he said he would come and visit me and bring the piece in three months. He was so flattered that some one from the West Coast knew who he was and wanted to buy something. Within the day Victor called me without knowing who I was. The article said he was very “close friends” with Halston so I looked up the Halston store in Manhattan and left a message. I always loved surrealism so I thought, “Here is someone inspired by ’20s and ’30s surrealism bringing it to early ’80s Manhattan, in a fashion context.”Ĭonstantine told me to get ahold of him. People like Diane Vreeland and Halston bought them. He made a major piece called “The Spoon and the Heel”, a very cheap stainless steel spoon you found at Woolworth’s perched on a Chanel heel from some famous women displayed in a Plexiglas box. At that time amongst the fashion set, he was considered a hot artist. I just happened to read L’Uomo Vogue and I just read about Victor Hugo. Spend your money on a new artist.” So he asked me who. One day, he told me he wanted to buy some art and he was interested in either Picasso or Matisse. I was never sure, I think he just drove around all day in his silver Porsche and hung out with me. I had a very rich Greek-American boyfriend, Constantine. No, I was in San Francisco in those days. He was famously photographed at Studio 54 in a jock strap, in a celluloid stripped top carrying a women’s purse. He was Halston’s lover–boyfriend and also a great display person, an artist in his own right and a coke addict. He was a Venezuelan hustler and makeup artist who became a muse to Halston, Andy Warhol and Elsa Peretti. I met up with him to reminisce about his formative years.īenjamin: I came to New York through one friend, Victor Hugo, and I always continually thank him. Warhol passed away a year later and Hugo died in 1993, but Liu still remembers his mentors fondly and remains eternally grateful for the experiences that have shaped him. The trip changed the course of Liu’s life and eventually led to him working for artist Andy Warhol from 1983 to 1986. Fun-loving veteran fashion show and events producer Benjamin Liu came to New York City in 1979 at the invitation of Victor Hugo, a Venezuelan artist with a larger-than-life personality well known throughout the ’70s and ’80s in gay, arts and fashion circles as fashion designer Halston’s lover, muse and window display designer. Hugo was Liu’s tour guide on a rollercoaster ride through the heart of New York City’s most legendary creative period.
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