On the way into Narciso Rodriguez tonight, we reflected on last September’s show, where Courtney Love showed up and acted totally squirrelly throughout. “Wouldn’t it be awesome if she showed up again?” we asked, and then laughed at our folly. That would never happen.
Except for the part where it totally did. While the rest of the venue was filled with the usual suspects — Sarah Jessica Parker, who, for someone who has traditionally claimed to dislike the folderol of Fashion Week, has gone out a lot during this one; Narciso-enthusist Claire Danes; and front-row seat-filler extraordinaire Leigh Lezark — Courtney Love waited until the very last minute to burst into the venue, dragging behind her a very young man in a headband. They trotted well past their assigned seats — which were, by the way, the only empty ones left in the house — and strolled practically all the way down the runway to the photographers’ pit before the PR folks managed to wrangle them back into the correct spot, at which point Headband and Leigh Lezark became the bread in a Fidget Sandwich.
First, Courtney leaped out of her seat and dashed across the runway, where she squatted next to someone to talk. They chatted until the PR people came back and asked Courtney to return to her seat, so they could start the show. Which she did, but only after saluting someone else she spotted in another part of the room. At this point, Lezark seemed kind of freaked out to be placed so close to Courtney. You’d think someone who purports to be a D.J., even occasionally, would be sort of stoked to be hanging out with Courtney freaking Love, but Leigh scooted as far away from her seatmate as physically possible and seemed to be doing her utmost to avoid making any sudden movements — or, in fact, any movements at all.
Not so Courtney. Once the lights went down, she began talking to Headband, punctuating their conversation by putting on — and then removing, and then putting on again — her glasses. She did what appeared to be some very vigorous texting. She scratched her head and applied her lipstick and pointed at things. She rummaged in her bag and took cell-phone pictures and made the universal symbol for “crazy” and then the universal symbol for “I’d better zip my lip,” at which point she stopped talking and started texting again. This continued throughout until the very end of the show, at which point she donned her specs for a round of incredibly vigorous applause — apparently it counts more if you look really intelligent doing it? — and then ran backstage.
And from this repeat performance, we have learned two things: (1) watching Courtney Love in real reality is as engrossing as any televised reality show out there, and (2) you cannot stop Courtney Love; you can only hope and pray that some kid in a headband will come along and help contain her — at least long enough to get the show in question on the road.
