AS BIG AS THE RITZ:

The Perils of Bling-Bling (LOLA OGUNNAIKE, September 21, 2003, NY Times Magazine)

DRESSED in army green cargo pants and a flouncy white poet's shirt, Derek Khan stood in the study of his modest one-bedroom apartment in West Harlem, showing off a wall of framed photographs, a celebrity-studded monument to the fabled life that was once his.

"Oh, look at me and Pink," he exclaimed, pointing to a picture of himself with the fuchsia-haired rock star. The two were dressed in matching denim Dolce & Gabbana outfits. "That's me with Carlos Santana," he said, "and me with Chelsea Clinton." Pictures of Mr. Khan posed cheek to cheek with Bill and Hillary Clinton rested on two end tables in the living room. "I adore them," he gushed.

And so it went until Mr. Khan was asked about a photo of him presenting a diamond necklace to Aretha Franklin. It was then that his wide grin faded. After a long, heavy pause he said, "It kills me to look at this picture."

That visit took place just days before Sept. 3, when Mr. Khan, a fashion stylist, was sentenced to one and a half to three years in prison on charges of defrauding eight of New York's most prestigious jewelers, including Harry Winston, Graff and Piaget. He had borrowed more than $1.5 million worth of diamond earrings, necklaces and watches on behalf of hip-hop stars and other celebrities to wear to photo shoots and awards shows. Instead, he pawned the gems for cash, he admitted, which he used to support an extravagant lifestyle that included dinners at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant 66 and $1,000 jars of Creme de la Mer skin moisturizer.

Reports of his arrest in March and his guilty plea in June ricocheted through the urban fashion world, where Mr. Khan was one of the chief architects of the look known as ghetto fabulous -- the marriage of street-savvy stars with luxury European fashion labels and diamonds big as gumballs. [...]

Beginning in the mid-90's, he convinced rappers to shed their Timberlands and baggy jeans for Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Harry Winston. "He was instrumental in introducing high fashion to the hip-hop community," said Anne Fahey, director of public relations for Chanel.

"Everybody's talking about bling-bling now," Mr. Khan said, riffling through a Prada shoe box filled with mementos. "Darling, please, I had Salt-N-Pepa in Van Cleef & Arpels in 1996."

So, the Miss America Pageant now has a multiple-choice quiz, kind of like Who Wants to be a Beauty Queen? The questions were so painfully obvious as to border on self-parody, though the Wife was stumped by the bling-bling one. We don't get much bling-blingage in New Hampshire.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 21, 2003 5:05 PM