Cleveland fashion designer Drue has already displayed her druewho? line of clothing in a Sundance film, the Rock 'N Wrestling pay-per-view series, and Q-Tip's video for "Vivrant Thing." If she keeps this up, nobody will be asking Drue who?
She admits she started sewing under peculiar circumstances. "I was a bad little girl," laughs Drue, whose real name is Andrea Pope Thompson. "I was on punishment all the time, so I would sit in the house, cutting stuff up and sewing." By 19, Drue was selling prom dresses. Playboy, Coors Light, and the Rock Hall's annual Rock Style have since picked up on her fashions. She brings it all back home Friday with Fire, a debut show of her fall and winter collections at Mirage on the Water.
"People know me for T-shirts and jerseys, but I want to show that I can sew tailored looks," Drue says. She's adding to her line with a variety of suits and sophisticated dresses, and by making uncommon pairings of heavily boned corsetry with denim and corduroy. The fiery fashions are already showing up in clubland. "I get a high when I see a girl out lookin' cute, when she's wearing my design," she says. Fire starts at 5 p.m. at Mirage, 2510 Elm Street. Tickets are $20; call 216-348-1135. -- Melody Caraballo
Earl Gay
Rockies' tea parties are hot and steamy too.
SUN 11/9
Jerry Vieth doesn't care for tea. But pour him a glass of Smirnoff with a lemon twist, and he's ready for My Big Fat Gay Tea Dance every Sunday at the gay bar Rockies. "I'm big, I'm fat, I'm gay," says the 260-pound Vieth, a Rockies regular, who punctuates his words by pounding his finger on the bartop. "You don't want to see this queen on any dance floor." Aw, c'mon, Jerry. That's why DJ Stan works the turntables with classic disco and line-dance music. In merry ol' England, tea is served at four in the afternoon; at Rockies, it's at six. Chalk it up to "GST," Vieth says. "That means Gay Standard Time. We love to be fashionably late." Rockies is at 9208 Detroit Avenue. Admission is free; call 216-961-3115. -- Cris Glaser
