Tales from the Indochine Vault

(NEW YORK) "Indochine is the only place where I could wear an afro wig and pull it off!" exclaimed Linda Fargo last night at Indochine's Bergdorf Goodman party, celebrating its illustrious 25th anniversary and the launch of Rizzoli's Indochine: Stories, Shaken and Stirred edited by Jean-Marc Houmard and Maer Roshan. Fargo's shaken and stirred story not only begs for details, but also encompasses all that is so very Indochine; there is a certain alchemy in the French-Vietnamese eatery that makes anything possible. Thankfully, Fargo elaborated. "I was with Jim Gold before going to a party for the Whitney's 'Summer of Love' event, and I was dressed as something between Foxy Brown and Angela Davis." Have you donned the afro since, Ms. Fargo? "Oh no, no! That was a one-night only affair." Fargo, along with Richard Johnson, Narciso Rodriguez and Veronica Webb hosted the evening, enticing guests to step out on the town for a night of reminiscing with bons amis and attempting to remember those raucous, hazy nights.

Gold corroborated the Bergdorf fashion director's tale. "I can't even remember what costume I was wearing. Everyone who walked in that evening couldn't take their eyes off of Linda. I might has well have been invisible." Indochine owner and editor of the dishy novel, Houmard, dutifully signed books for much of the evening. Johnson motioned towards the weighty hardback as Houmard authographed, and he explained, "I was inebriated during many of these Indochine nights, and so I am so happy to read this book and see evenings that I had forgotten about." Are the memories flooding back now that Johnson sees himself in these photos? "No...not really!" he confessed.

Houmard eventually put down the pen to pause from signing and chat with friends. Fortunately, the owner is used to working amidst carousing. "I am always on the job when I'm at Indochine. I have a good time and enjoy myself, but I've got to keep it in control-always!" While all of the partiers had many unforgettable Indochine stories to recount Houmard, of course, had a novel's worth! What was the biggest bash that ever went down? "It was Grace Coddington's 50th birthday in 1991. That is one of the highlights of all the nights I can remember. Practically every supermodel of the '90s was there, and it was completely glamorous." We're not surprised that a Coddington fête ranked so high!

Admist a group of social butterflies, it seems as if it wouldn't take much to unearth the party girl or boy inside each guest. Webb explained, "Indochine evolves with the party girl in me." Anita Sarko recalled her Indochine DJ days and offered a slice of advice. "The only reason to go out is to get paid or get laid." She paused, adding, "I always got paid!" The evening finally provided a reason to gab about all of Indochine's hot gossip, and Rodriguez explained, "The beauty of Indochine is that everybody has all these dear diary moments, but nobody ever has ever really talked about them!" Well, after last night that embargo has certainly been lifted. And yet, New York's favored haunt will never risk losing its mystique.
EMILY POPP