Before it was a Trader Joe’s, it was Palladium. Before it was a shopping mall and gym, it was Limelight. Before it was a WeWork, it was Arena. These were nightclubs that were integral in making New York what it was in the 1980s and ‘90s, a haven for young and often queer artists, creatives, and outcasts who eventually took over the world. Their faces were painted for the gods, and their outré ensembles were one of a kind. They eventually became known as the Club Kids, and they lived in a world where queerness wasn’t something to hide, but to celebrate.
They became the party-goers, event producers, influencers, and tastemakers who defined a generation of cool in New York, names like Susanne Bartsch, James St. James, Amanda Lepore, and RuPaul among them. No one had seen anything like them before, with their glitter, their wigs, their sky-high platform boots, their piercings, their patent leather, and their powerful command of attention.
As people took inspiration from Club Kid looks, attitude, and lifestyle, their influence soon spread, not just through New York but on the international stage, in fashion, film, television, books, movies, design, art, and more. Designers like Calvin Klein and Jean Paul Gaultier, artists like David LaChapelle, and musicians like Elton John all found muses in the Club Kid world. And Club Kid influence is everywhere in culture today, anywhere there’s self-promotion and documentation (Instagram), promotion of queer aesthetics (Moschino, Christopher John Rodgers), or fluid representations of gender.
During the Club Kid era, the artist, designer, and writer Walt Cassidy was better known as Waltpaper, and in his new book New York: Club Kids, he brings together a magnificently designed and assembled history of the New York Club Kid’s golden era, captured in his own words, images, and ephemera. The book is not just a chronicle of a time but of a spirit, one that created community, fostered creativity, and provided a home for so many when they had none.
them. spoke with Cassidy via email about the Club Kids’ influence on culture, how the community affected his artwork, the future of queer nightlife, and more.
