The New York Post
January 29th, 1998
http://www.nypostonline.com/entertainment/3278.htm

MANHATTAN DOES "THE FULL MONTY'!

By Julia Chaplin "OK! Here's Adam and Andrew, showing off some of that old-fashioned fruit salad!" The bawdy voice was that of drag-queen emcee "Cookie," who was standing center stage at Saturday night's civilian strip-down, "Foxy," held at Avenue A's red-hot Velvet club. While Cookie maintained her cool as the two buddies' buttons and buckles began to fly, Andrew's girlfriend looked dangerously close to fainting. This wasn't, after all, his ordinary nightclub routine. The amateur spectacle, held at the East Village club, makes "Boogie Nights" look like "Barney," "The Full Monty" like "Party of Five." And besides becoming a big draw for local club kids and others from the downtown set, upstairs neighbors, so to speak, are beginning to head in for a karaoke-like go at it.
At Velvet, clubgoers slap purple, counterfeit "Foxy" dollars on the most deserving of dancers, and $100 is awarded to the winner. In the past few weeks that has included a threadbare, 73-year-old exhibitionist and a comely Thanksgiving hostess who performed a cunning stunt with a turkey drumstick. It may seem like extreme sorts, but, like it or not, "the stripper next door" trend has moved into the neighborhood, creating major exhibition spaces all over the place. OF course, it was bound to trickle down. From the White House to the movie house, everything (and -one) is being exposed. And everybody seems to want a closer look. According to three local gadget carriers, sales of binoculars and telescopes are going through the roof (and into strangers' unsuspecting bedrooms). But don't call it smutty. "The idea for Foxy was to create a vibe where people can strip away their inhibitions - literally," explains )Mario Diaz, who co-promotes Foxy. Elsewhere, on the music-video channels - where many trends "take off," so to speak - the harem-like boudoir has become the set of choice for recent clips by scantily-clad chanteuses like )Mariah Carey, Jewel, Fiona Apple, Mary K. Blige, Lil' Kim and )Lisa Loeb, among others.
And going against fashion forecasting predictions, last season's transparent slip dresses are remaining out of the undergarment closet and on the slick SoHo streets. Indeed, they seem to have multiplied - in spring colors, no less - on the racks of fashion-maven hostels like )Mui Mui and )Tracy Feith. What's more, from cool )Gucci to chic )Chanel, bikinis and one-pieces continue to be modeled closely after sexy lingerie - the teensier the better. WHO - or what - else is "showing"? Well, babies. That is, Manhattan parents are turning into brazen urban marsupials, letting their littlest tag along from bars to boutiques, instead of leaving them home with the nanny. "Young, downtown women are wearing them, carrying them, and breast-feeding them - openly," observes trend-setter )Steven Alan, the hipster boutique owner, who can't keep his baby-doll briefs (in little-girl pinks and blues) on his SoHo shelves. Lose that ferret, andthat feather boa, he advises. "Babies are back as the latest intimate accessory."
Want a closer look? The new and completely sold-out )Tides hotel in South Beach, Miami - New York's unofficial sixth borough - has equipped each room with its own telescope, providing a lurid view of the tantalizing beach and Ocean Drive proceedings below. In the trendy enclave, it's become the ultimate hotel option, spawning Peeping Tom parties with the young-and-scantily-clad set. THERE'S no telling how far the Emperor's New Clothes fascination will go.

Consider the recent epidemic of "homecam" Internet sites - not to be confused with out-and-out porn sites - in which showy domestic types erect camcorders in their living rooms, bedrooms, even bathrooms, and let them run all day long, catching, Warhol-style, every step of the way, no matter how sultry or humdrum. The uncensored visages are then posted on the Internet as fast as technology will allow (every two minutes) for the whole web world to see.

Singer-songwriter )Ana Voog, the woman behind a surprisingly popular web site - )anacam.com - hasn't paused the four video cameras situated in her tiny Minneapolis apartment since she launched her site last August. A typical day in Voog's world depicts the blond dilettante vacuuming in biker boots, puffing up her collection of stuffed animals, napping on her couch and generally getting frisky, jumping over furniture in nothing but blue paint and angel wings. Voog says her self-described "weird and unpredictable" personality is what keeps a purported 700,000 visitors a day coming back for more. (Dozens of guys with names like "Peeping Moe" have set up photo archives of their favorite Ana moments.) "I'm very open about sex and nudity," Voog says. "I thought that if I let people into my life and showed them what it was like, it would help demystify sexual objectification and people could act normal." But Voog says her site is about much more than sex. It also includes, among other things, analyses of her dreams, vital statistics on the circumference of her neck and ankles and a mail-order kiosk that sells Ana T-shirts, mouse pads and her upcoming CD release. But she admits that her "intimacy" strategy has backfired. "What's happened is the more I give of myself the more of a mystery I've become." AND, in fact, the flesh-baring trend seems to have frustrated some as much as it's liberated others. Like )Dave Navarro, the exhibitionistic, multi-pierced and -tattooed guitarist of the )Red Hot Chili Peppers and )Jane's Addiction. Explaining that he was "unfulfilled" by the cyber encounters he's had with Voog, Navarro tells Cool Hunter: "It's like starving and being served a wonderful photo of a pizza." His theory about baring it all? "The easiest place to hide is in the wide open."

But those who dochoose to reveal themselves in public may want to take a hard glance at )David Sedaris' book ")'Naked." In the best-selling collection, the New York-based writer and resident cynic points out the ultimate flaw of many nudist colonies, the catalyst for the au naturellook: They're overloaded with bodies that shouldn't ever see the light of day.

By Julia Chaplin