Envy Man Magazine Online

Christopher Ciccone is the gay man so many of us would kill to be. He is a designer and artist, a creative director, and a music and talent manager. Being a man of diverse talents who splits his time between Miami and Los Angeles working in music, fashion, photography and art, he has achieved success in many different arenas and still pushes himself creatively.

He spent most of the 1980s and early 90s as a behind-thescenes creative force with his sister, creating and directing some of her live concert shows and designing and decorating her homes. They became the pinnacle of success and we all took notice, but more on her later.

Ciccone’s work over twenty-plus years has naturally led him to his newest venture, Basura Boy clothing. It’s an innovative line of t-shirts and tanks that is spiritually based. The graphics feature designs related to Buddhism, Hinduism and Kabbalah.

“This was started just for fun,” Ciccone says from his home in Miami. I was designing a condominium development and one of my colleagues, James Fry, was embroidering towels for the project, and I was joking around that a funny line of clothing would be Basura Blanca (White Trash). When we started looking into it more seriously, we discovered the name was trademarked, so we changed it to Boy. My partner, Denise Lavey, really came to the table and agreed to do the illustrations, and it just came together quickly from there. Initially, I really had no interest but the response has been great and I began to truly enjoy it.”

The line is quirky in design and offers something for everyone. Ciccone purposely avoided the trendy skullcap-tattoo-motorcycle style that has been popular for years in order for the product to be “relevant” for the wearer for years.

And how did they come to incorporate Kabbalah with Hinduism and Buddhism? “I have been into Kabbalah for a few years,” Ciccone said. “My sister gave me a book and it grew from there.”

So just who is the sister? Ever hear of Madonna?

“Madonna did get me into Kabbalah, and initially I was fully resisting it,” Ciccone admits. “I still consider myself a Catholic boy. I lived in Los Angeles for ten years and I needed to get out. You start to think you are the best and that the world revolves around you and that can be very insidious. If you are not some egomaniac, people can think there is something wrong with you. Kabbalah was instrumental in opening my eyes and reminding me that there was a whole world out there. It was not about parties and photo opportunities. It was a relief to remember that. I don’t practice as intensely as Madonna does, but I do my own thing. I don’t preach it to anyone or deny it.”

Reflecting on twenty years as a creative artist, you can hear the wonder and pride in Ciccone’s voice of the work he has done. He never started off with a set plan on what he was going to do, but he obviously was interested in trying anything once.

“When my sister got married in the 80s [to Sean Penn] they asked me to pick stuff out for their NYC apartment. I don’t have any formal education in designing, I just knew what we liked and it grew from there. I’m not much of a business man. It’s a part of my brain that does not function properly. I only passed math in high school because my teacher was my godfather and he didn’t want to fail me,” Ciccone recalls with a laugh.

“I worked with Madonna for almost 20 years. I was one of her dancers, then directed and designed the Blond Ambition and The Girlie Show tours. It was the only life I knew. After so much time together, I had to find something else. My moving on is what kept our relationship as friends tight. We were living together. I was with her all the time. It was oddly like a marriage. I think that time period represents some of our best work ever; I am incredibly proud of what we did together. I don’t live her life and I don’t require the same things she does.”

Ciccone remembers growing up as a gay man and just always feeling different. In college in Michigan he started to come out in his senior year. He was studying anthropology, but dropped out to move to New York City to become a dancer. “I was the middle of eight children and I had a tendency to take a corner and watch. From a young age I realized I never needed to be in front; I prefer being behind the scenes taking pride in putting it all together.”

Reflecting on his experiences, he discusses the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles. “You will sit for Shabbat with Demi Moore and Britney Spears and start thinking to yourself ‘this is a little odd.’ I am still involved in their children’s program there. They take children at risk—this is the last stop before kids are separated, soon to be foster kids. The city of LA helps. They asked me to come up with an art or photography program for the kids. You got to see the way people change the way they look at the world. Their view was not happy. Being able to be involved in that was really very special and rewarding.”

So does the single, hot gay man look to have a family of his own some day? “I have thought about the family and kids thing. I’m not sure I would make a good father. I don’t know that artists do make good parents, my sister has surprised me. I spent most of my life knowing I wasn’t able to have children. All of those preconceived notions have changed. Now I have friends who are gay couples with many children and I think about it sometimes. Ultimately, I have a hard time sitting still. I go where the work is. To be a good parent, you need to focus on the children. Who knows.”

Ciccone begins to openly discuss a gay couple he knows who hired a surrogate and now have twins. “It’s so beautiful to see them all together. It’s nice to see gay people with families. Gay families are often the ones we are forced to create when we are cut off from our own. Now I see gay couples able to make their own families. A friend of mine who is 23, his parents just legally disowned him. It’s upsetting and wrong.”

So what is next for this talented, single, amazing man? First up is a movie about a female bullfighter; a script that Ciccone wrote. He is also working in music management with a talented young singer/songwriter named Julien. He reflects on the changes in the music industry from all he had seen and learned over the past twenty years while he was one of his sister’s backup dancers. “They want the full project now. It’s very difficult to get that done now. But this guy is so talented I believe he is destined to make it.”

Also on the horizon is his traveling photography collection, “Booty Collection.” All the pictures are Polaroid shots of his friends’ butts blown up in size and not retouched. The show recently left San Francisco and he is working to bring it to New York and Los Angeles. He is quick to state that it is not risqué, just friends doing everyday tasks.

Through it all, Christopher Ciccone remains unfazed by all that he has done. He is approachable and amazingly open. All at once he is candid, creative, bold, assertive and focused on his goals. There is no need to revisit the past for him. He looks to the future to see what new projects he can create. No matter what he tries. no matter the risk . . . he is single-minded in focusing on the creative to ake it a success. I guess it runs in the family. For more information, log on to basuraboy.com

by: jtravis