In the fall of 2002, Brian Reyes–one of the principal designers of the Michael Kors men’s line at the time–and I went to Tara Subkoff’s Imitation of Christ Spring 2003 fashion show at the Maurice Villenchy showroom in midtown Manhattan.

It was Brian’s invitation and  more his scene than mine.  The show was something I had never seen before.   Laird Borelli, writing for Vogue magazine’s Style.com, observed:

Like all IOC events, the spring show, billed as a ‘retrospective,’ was more about performance art and cultural theory than clothes. On the ground floor, topless models in very abbreviated shorts pranced around while pushing shiny vacuum cleaners (very David LaChapelle meets Vanessa Beecroft).  They were flanked by vitrines filled with grass and live butterflies, and downstairs the Black Dice played cacophonous instrumental music as art videos and tapes of old IOC shows flickered on the walls.

A commentary on the hothouse worlds of art and fashion? A metaphor for the separation between viewer and viewed (a well-worn IOC theme)?

Even by digital photography’s low standards in 2002, my camera was cheap.  But I had it with me and took some shots.  In January 2007 I uploaded four of the images, which are available via Wikimedia Commons for re-use.

They got me into some hot water.  It would be the first time I experienced an emotive, negative reaction to an image of mine.  Wikipedia editor Chris77xyz wrote not one, but two very, very long diatribes against me over the Subkoff show.   Just about every bad supposition a person could make about another person was made.  Some of my later subject matter would go on to be  far more controversial than images like the one above, but here are a few highlights from Chris:

“With all due respect for Wikipedia’s guidelines of decorum, this Shankbone guy is simply a careerist scumbag who is using Wikipedia to further his budding photography career in case he fails out of the law school he supposedly attends.”

“What does that person have to gain? In Shankbone’s case, the answer is: If these nudie pics of his are taken down, he loses his little patch of real estate on the web which serves as a resumé, while he posits himself here as some sort of sub-Larry Flynt anti-censorship crusader.”

Whereas I saw the artistic merit in the show, Chris only saw the breasts.  Despite its low quality, the one above has remained on the Public nudity article.  There are very few Creative Commons images of nudity used in fashion by a big name, particularly with artistic merit that was covered by multiple reliable sources.

Chris77xyz stopped editing Wikipedia shortly after the row with me in April 2007.  Crusaders tend to burn out quickly on the site.  My public photography would go on for another two years.