(Photo: Lorenzo Santini/Wire Image)

Did David LaChapelle wear a burka to the opening of his new show? Among the usual suspects at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery on September 12—hipsters, twins in fright makeup, Amanda Lepore—were two people in burkas, and LaChapelle himself never showed his face. “Auguries of Innocence” includes references to the crisis in the Middle East, and LaChapelle apparently decided to attend in costume. “He didn’t want to be mobbed,” said an inside source. “It was a way to observe people looking at the show without being seen.” Fred Torres, LaChapelle’s business partner, denies it. “He was not in a burka,” Torres said.

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Andrew M. Goldstein
• Table of Contents: Sep 29, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!