#RIP: BELOVED FASHION PR MAN, ED FILIPOWSKI

Ed Filipowski, one of the fashion industry’s kindest public relations men, has died. 

Filipowski was the co-chairman with Julie Mannion of KCD Worldwide, a fashion services firm that in its 35-year history has represented the industry’s biggest names like McQueen, Balmain, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Versace and Tom Ford.

Filipowski joined the company in the mid-’80s when it was still Keeble, Cavaco, and Duka, the PR firm named after its founders, the late stylist Kezia Keeble, Paul Cavaco, and the late John Duka.

My own life in New York fashion came about because Kezia & then husband Paul came to Houston as fashion directors of the magazine I just became art director of at age 19. They told me of a job in NYC and I flew to NYC, Cavaco dressed me for the interview at GQ, but I didn’t get it. But it did get me to New York and shortly thereafter, I got a job at Vogue. Not long after, I met Ed. 

According to Vogue,

Keeble hired the 20-something Filipowski when he sent her a bouquet of flowers in a Charivari bag, congratulating her for landing the buzzy boutique as an account. He and Mannion inherited the company after Keeble and Duka died in 1989 and 1990, respectively.

Filipowki’s tenure at KCD coincided with vast changes in the fashion industry, and under his leadership the company established new divisions. Its runway show and event production arm produces shows in New York, London, Milan, and Paris, as well as the CFDA Awards, the Tonys, and the Costume Institute Gala. A digital division was launched in 2010, and an entertainment and technology division followed 2016. A year later Filipowski and Mannion elevated eight senior employees to partners with ownership stakes in the company.

Throughout it all, Ed Filipowski remained a true champion of designers young and established, and a tireless booster for the industry. At each and every fashion show KCD produced—there must’ve been thousands of them—Filipowski stationed himself on the runway, greeting his editorial and retail colleagues by first name before heading backstage where he was just as familiar and friendly with the players, to ensure a flawless production. 

Anna Wintour, Vogue editor in chief and artistic director of Condé Nast said, 

“Anyone who ever had the privilege of working with Ed knew he was far more than a particularly brilliant public relations executive. 

Thanks to his terrific sense of loyalty, he was always able to make kindness and respect central to every single thing he did. Ed became godfather to so many designers over the years, from the great and the good to those who were just starting out—he did so much for our fashion funders—and he treated each and every one of them the same way; totally supportive and unflinchingly honest. I think of the way he stood by John [Galliano] giving him the very best advice, and being a steadfast presence in life. But then Ed was always the first to pick up the phone and ask what he could do to help. And help he always did. For someone who preferred to be behind the scenes, he was at the center of absolutely everything.”

Ed Filipowski was 58. 

See you at the after party…

Filipowski with KCD founder, Kezia Keeble

(via Vogue)

WORLD AIDS DAY: WE'RE STILL FEELING THE LOSS...

You hear gay men of my generation talk about AIDS differently than this current one. It’s as though it doesn’t really exist, it’s a long forgotten ghost and they don’t really want to talk about it. With new drugs, AIDS is thought of as manageable, but I’m here to tell you, people still die from complications. I awoke this morning to the sad news that Timothy Dunleavy, a remarkable creative man I knew mostly through many mutual friends had just passed away. (This news is still fresh and I apologize, if you are getting the news here.) Looking on his Facebook wall for clues as to “what had happened” I came across an article from New York Magazineabout the late fashion writer John Duka, who died in ’87 when it was still a very stigmatizing disease. There had been some recently unearthed controversy about whether Larry Kramer’s character Felix from The Normal Heart, was based on Duka. (Kramer says no.) Duka was married to the the stylist Kezia Keeble, who with her ex-husband, Paul Cavaco, was responsible for getting me to NYC from Texas. Kezia and John married, and he died very shortly thereafter, and then sadly, Kezia died of breast cancer not long after. 

It’s hard to explain all of the connections in any one’s life, but it’s sad to say that AIDS runs through all of ours like thousands of threads that are woven into the fabric of creative communities around the globe. It has hit many others, as well, but it was particularly hard on men of my generation. At one point in the early 90s, I wrote down the names of friends and aquiantances that had died from the disease and it topped 200. I have many friends who are living with it today, and AIDS mostly goes unmentioned, as you assume they are well. But then you hear otherwise, and the memories and scores of memorials all flood back. I’m sorry it’s the case, but AIDS is our WWII, our Vietnam… it is like a war that has never ended. It rages on. Ebola is a terrible disease, but is a tiny blip compared to AIDS. 

As of last year, AIDS has killed nearly 40 million people worldwide (let that number sink in) and an estimated 35 million people are living with HIV, making it one of THE most important global public health issues in recorded human history. Period. And despite recent improved access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs in many parts of the world, it still claims around 2 million lives each year, of which about a quarter of a million are children, btw. I miss my friends still, and whether we remember once a year or not, AIDS is still with us today. In memory of Timothy Dunleavy, my dear pals Juan Botas & Michael “Rags” Raglin, the millions of lives lost in the last 30 years, and those living with it today, here’s to living up to the the theme of this years WORLD AIDS DAY –Getting to Zero. I could post links here to tons of organizations, but if you’re interested, you know how to find them. Sadly, there are way too many.