“Bombshell Is Tits Up”: A Dispatch from the Opening of Ethan James Green’s Bombshell

Ethan James Green, the master of glamorous portraiture who most recently shot Lady Gaga for the October cover of Vogue, spent the last year putting together Bombshell, a series of black and white photographs that subverts the idea of the typical bombshell by taking a more bespoke approach to sex appeal and femininity. At the opening of the show last night on the Lower East Side, many of Green’s bombshell muses were in attendance, from Hari Nef to Interview‘s own Fashion Director Dara, who gathered some of Green’s friends and contemporaries to ask find out what makes a bombshell—and when to wig and not to wig.

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DARA: There’s really hot bartenders for the after party.

ETHAN JAMES GREEN: They’re like hot Italian bartenders, Giovanni.

DARA: Do you think they’re gay?

GREEN: And somebody else.

CAROLINE KELLEY: Definitely.

GREEN: This is dangerous territory.

DARA: Oh, my goodness. Newly single Ethan James Green at his Bombshell opening. What bombshell news. 

KELLEY: It’s a whole vibe.

DARA: But okay, wait, what’s your vibe right now? What have you been noticing? What has excited you? Are people gagging? What’s the tea here?

GREEN: I’m just glad it’s full. I don’t know, people came.

DARA: People did, people are here.

GREEN: People showed up.

DARA: There are a lot of people here.

GREEN: Yeah.

DARA: More and more and more, wow.

GREEN: I know.

DARA: I keep seeing more people. Hi, Drake Carr.

DRAKE CARR: Hi, Dara.

DARA: What do you think about the Bombshell?

CARR: Oh, it’s beautiful. Really inspiring. A lot of gorgeous girls.

DARA:  Okay, what is your opinion on: To wig or not to wig?

CARR: Depends on the head.

DARA: Okay, depends on the head. Did you help organize this whole situation?

KELLEY: Most definitely.

DARA: Most definitely. How was the organization? Was Ethan a headache during it?

KELLEY: Oh, no, no, no.

DARA: Oh, he was actually kind of cool?

KELLEY: Ethan’s a diva. He’s a bombshell. He loves the bombshells, but he’s not a pain.

DARA: Breaking news, Ethan’s not a pain.

KELLEY: Hi.

GREEN: Do you know Dara?

RAYA: I can hear you from downstairs.

DARA: I’m sure. French bombshell, Raya just crash-landed into the opening. How is she?

RAYA: Oh, she’s good, baby. She’s ready. She’s ready to sweat in New York City.

DARA: It’s very hot. Matthew Domescek, how do you feel about the bombshells?

MATTHEW DOMESCEK: I’m blown away by the beauty.

GREEN: Are you going to the show?

DARA: Yes, we need to go. We need to run to the Women’s History Museum Show, so let’s find everybody. We’re going to gather the girls and we’re going to head to the show. Oh, my god. Lucas Wilson, creator of Bombshells! This is for Interview magazine. 

LUCAS WILSON: Hi, Interview.

DARA: Interview asks, what makes someone a good wig wearer?

WILSON: Somebody with a small head. It’s about the fit of the wig, right?

DARA: Okay, so the less hair under the wig, the better?

WILSON: Well, not necessarily, but just somebody that fits all proportions, all sizes. But then also, fuck it. Who cares? Just throw on any of it.

DARA: Would you say that I am difficult to put a wig on?

WILSON: Not at all.

DARA: Thank you. That’s what I like to hear. What’s your favorite memory of Bombshell?

WILSON: Oh, my god. Upstate, I was really mad–

DARA: Going upstate. Eating at the diner with–

WILSON: Eating at the diner with wigs on just being on that family’s property.

DARA: With a dog.

WILSON: Everybody was naked.

DARA: It was a little seedy.

WILSON: Yeah, it was bad.

DARA: It was really bad.

WILSON: I think that’s the essence and the spirit of the book, right? Like, a little DIY.

DARA: How can one bring “bombshell” into their own life?

WILSON: You tell me. You’re the bombshell. I’m merely a–

DARA: A fluffer.

WILSON: A fluffer, thank you. That’s the word I was looking for.

DARA: Hello, Chuy.

CHUY: Hello.

DARA: What makes a bombshell?

CHUY: Sensuality and conviction.

DARA: Word.

CHUY: And a general hotness.

DARA: General hotness. Hello, fellow bombshell Cruz Valdez. Okay, wait. What makes you feel sexy?

CRUZ VALDEZ: Excellent question, Dara. I was going to say a body part, but–

DARA: Oh, go ahead.

VALDEZ: My pussy.

DARA: Yes. As a new owner of pussy, how is it to have your pre-pussy body on a wall for all to consume?

VALDEZ: Shout out to her. We love her, and I’m glad she’s canonized in such a beautiful way.

DARA: Wait, can you tell me about your Hinge experiences, uploading a photo from the Bombshell project onto your dating profiles?

VALDEZ: You got to give them a taste of the glamor, but not too much. You don’t want to overload them, because then you become inaccessible, right? And given that it’s on the printed page, that’s a nice touch as well. It’s a conversation starter, clearly.

DARA: Oh! Just crash-landed from Paris, France, Lyas is here at the Bombshell opening. What makes you feel sexy?

LYAS: Bonjour. What makes me feel sexy is a little silly hat.

DARA: Can you tell us about the little silly hat that you’re wearing? I don’t think it’s very little.

LYAS: It’s by this brand called–

DARA: Kokin.

LYAS: Exactly, and it’s velvet and it has this little thing that you can–

DARA: Too much about you, not enough about the bombshells. Taylore Scarabelli, senior editor of Interview Magazine. What makes a bombshell?

TAYLORE SCARABELLI: What makes a bombshell? I think a woman who’s confident. A woman who’s willing to experiment with her looks, and a woman who knows how to have fun.

DARA: Period. Are you having fun tonight?

SCARABELLI: Of course, I’m in my Sneex. How could I not be having fun?

DARA: You’re wearing the most comfortable new heel of this generation. These sneakers were created by the inventor of Spanx.

SCARABELLI: Yes.

LYAS: What is Spanx?

DARA: Spanx, like the shapewear. Like what Skims was before Skims. Oh, my God. Wait, you’re a bombshell. Eugenia Melian, writer, former agent to majors. What makes a bombshell?

EUGENIA MELIAN: Bombshell is tits up. 

DARA: Can you tell us about the amazing zebra coat you’re wearing in the bombshell book?

MELIAN: It was a 1968 Christian Dior coat made for a woman, to measure, because her parents were very rich and they bought it for her. But she couldn’t wear it because it was May 1968, during the student revolution. She had a Black boyfriend, and the only time she wore the coat in the street, everybody started screaming at her saying, “You colonialist, bitch. Release our Black man.” So she put the coat back into a cupboard and sold it 40 years later to Sotheby’s. I bought it and I bumped into her at a party where she came crying to me saying, “That’s my coat. That’s my coat.” She told me the whole story. Then I was sitting at Yves Saint Laurent’s last haute couture show in the front row and behind me there was some man talking. “Oh, my god, le manteau, le manteau. (The coat, the coat).” So I turned around and I said, “What are you saying about the coat?” He said, “We made that coat.” I said, “What do you mean we made that coat?” And he said, “I used to work for Christian Dior Couture, and I made that coat.”

DARA: The power of fashion. And now you’re wearing it naked in the woods for Ethan James Green.

MELIAN: Oh, wait. I may be a bit drunk, and I’m telling you this, but that’s going to be your coat.

DARA: She gives me her old amazing couture. Every good thing I own is from this person right here.

MELIAN: Yeah, that’s going to be your coat.

DARA: I love this person right here.

MELIAN: It’s a beautiful, beautiful piece.