AFTER ANDY WARHOL’S DEATH IN 1987, there was a void. The iconic artist had commandeered the New York scene for his own devices for decades—and when he died, there was a short window of opportunity for someone else to step up and into the spotlight. Enter the Club Kids, a rag-tag band of misfits with oversized, personally crafted personas and outrageous looks, their moniker minted in a 1988 New York magazine cover story.
You know their names: Lady Bunny, RuPaul, Amanda Lepore, and more. Unofficially helmed by club promoter Michael Alig and bouncing around nightlife hotspots like Pyramid, Aria, The Tunnel, and Limelight, the group represented a seminal moment in culture, notably encapsulated in the 2003 film Party Monster. Walt Cassidy, an artist and jewelry designer then known as Waltpaper,…
