At 9pm tonight in NYC at the Standard Hotel, owned by Andre Balazs, Target will unveil “dazzling lights, a glowing psychedelic backdrop, dancers spinning in sync to the heartbeat of an original musical score” — all part of the “Target Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular,” its ambitious original production to unveil its fall line. And if past Target events in the city are any indication, the must-see event will attract the regular crop of A- and C-listers. And they’ll all have targets on their backs, lending their celebrity to a brand that thinks little of gay consumers. Should we assume Randi Reitan did not receive an invitation?
We already know some of the collaborators that put the event together: The dancing is choreographed by Los Angeles’ Sir Ryan Heffington; Mel Ottenberg and Sonia Kashuk styled everything; and Sam Spiegel (“aka Squeak E. Clean of the hit-making duo N.A.S.A.”) enlisted a 30-person live orchestra and 10-person chorus to bring his original score to life. If we’re boycotting Target, do we now have to place each of these people, and hotel owner Balzas, on our list of foes? After all, isn’t Balzas lending his hotel to (and getting paid by) Target something akin to San Diego hotelier Doug Manchester contributing to anti-gay causes?
You can watch the event live on Target’s Facebook page, and if you’re bothering to tweet, make sure you spam the hashtag #TGTSpectacular with your favorite links.
Zach
“After all, isn’t Balzas lending his hotel to (and getting paid by) Target something akin to San Diego hotelier Doug Manchester contributing to anti-gay causes?”
A hotel owner lending a hotel/getting paid by Target (which is it, by the way? Is he being paid, or is he lending the venue for free?) being akin to one who directly contributed to bigots in order to defeat a gay-rights measure?
However deplorable Target’s stance has been during this debacle, those are quite the mental gymnastics on your part.
Kev C
Finally, gay men will be as well dressed as low income housewives!
Michael
Queerty, you really need to take your shopping to another dime store. This Target “drama” is getting really stale.
TommyOC
Queerty: Compile a list of stores – one for each of the 50 states will do, I think – of where people can turn to in order to buy their necessities and wares at the same price point that Target offers them.
That would be a much more beneficial use of your time… you can’t tell people to boycott Target and not give them the support to do so, after all.
Just leave WalMart off of that list.