Beautiful People 2009: Thu Tran

Should I make a pu pu platter pot pie? Or diet-dog Ding Dong dumplings?" This sort of curious cuisine appreciation, more quixotic than culinary, is what Food Party is all about. The online series, which recently premiered its fourth episode on foodparty.tv, is the brainchild of 27-year-old Brooklynite Thu Tran, and a showcase for what she refers to as her "diarrhea of creativity." With a clenched grin and sing-songy monotone, Tran combines a Pee Wee Herman-like faux-naiveté with a hipster smirk as she prepares junk-food–based dinner parties in her psychedelic kitchen. Her kitchen helpers, a deviant band of puppet friends made out of found cardboard and old clothing, include the seven-eyed EPS ("Especially Psychic Spud -- not to be confused with his cousin ESP, Especially Special Potato"), a woebegone ice cream cone and a disaffected dodo bird.

Tran, who graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a degree in glass-blowing, films the series in her Brooklyn apartment with the help of various art-school friends, preprogrammed Casio-tone beats and the most basic of Final Cut Pro effects. The four 30-ish-minute episodes, plus one Christmas special, have garnered Tran a rabid online fan base, as well as the "Out of the Box" award at the 2008 New York Television Festival. And the big guns have taken note -- Tran is in final talks with IFC about bringing the show to the cable network. While other aspects of Food Party's production may shift, one thing has remained constant since the show's inception: "We're constantly asking ourselves, 'Is it WTF enough yet?'"
ALEXIS SWERDLOFF

Thu wears a dress by Manish Arora, ankle boots by DKNY, tights by American Apparel, vintage earrings from Screaming Mimi's, bracelet by H&M and ring by Chanel.

< BACK TO THE BEATUTIFUL PEOPLE 2009 LIST