Candy Land: Chris Benz's Warhol-Inspired S/S/ '12 Colleciton

Our Paper NYFW diary contributor, Chris Benz, got his chance to present his Spring/Summer '12 collection yesterday afternoon at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. It may have been hotter than hell due to the greenhouse-like effect of the sun hitting the massive hall windows, but that didn't hinder Benz from bringing the heat with his own Candy Darling-inspired collection's dizzying prints, cotton candy colors, and high hair. "We were all going totally crazy during this summer's heatwave, so, isn't this [atmosphere] just perfect?" the designer laughed. "This season's really based on crazy New Yorkers...Warhol superstars or weird uptown girls going to Coney Island. Like the way we were all feeling during this past summer due to the weather." In regards to his own candy colored pink hair: "It's what the heat'll do to you! I was going insane with the weather and wanted a tattoo. I couldn't decide on what to get, so, I did this instead." Guests included Sophia Bush, Jordin Sparks, Eva Amurri, Johnny Weir, and Nate Berkus, who joked about how he really knows Benz. "Chris and I used to have this weird, sexual, midnight encounter thing going...I kid, I kid. We've known one another for years and this collection is one that I'll be basing at least twenty living rooms on." DJ Mike Nouveau explained the music selections were there to keep the tone 60's cool. "[I'm] doing a lot of [The] Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Roxy Music stuff that goes with the whole Warhol Superstar theme." If
only the air conditioners could've matched the music...

PAPERMAG's Complete Spring 2012 Fashion Coverage