Now in its third year, Gold House’s Gold Gala has quickly become a centerpiece when it comes to celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It is one of those events where people ask “Why wasn’t I invited?” as much as someone asks “Why were they invited?” That said, Gold Gala has solidified itself as the hot ticket in celebrating Asian American excellence. It goes beyond the entertainment of it all and focuses on the strides in representation the AAPI community has made across all sectors. It’s part TED Talk/part music fest/part awards ceremony — all AAPI fabulousness.
This year the ceremony was held on May 11, 2024, Regina King honored acting legend Lucy Liu as one of the recipients of the Gold Legend Award. Other Gold Legend honorees included former Top Chef host and Glitter star Padma Lakshmi; Korea-based BTS mogul Bang Si-Hyu and trailblazing Indian filmmaker Karan Johar.
Cynthia Erivo was honored with the Gold Ally award by Wicked director Jon M. Chu and her co-star Michelle Yeoh while Saweetie was given the inaugural Billboard Gold Music award before performing for Moana actor Auli’i Cravalho took the stage to help honor Maui wildfire first responders and Sanrio icon Hello Kitty received the Gold Generation award. Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and the cast of the Emmy-winning Netflix series as well as The Sympathizer star Hoa Xuande and content creator Valkyrae were also honored.
AAPI Olympians represented at the gala including Kristi Yamaguchi, Chloe Kim, Apolo Anton Ohno, Maia and Alex Shibutani, and Paralympian Scout Bassett. They helped celebrate 2022 Gold Medal Olympians Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Madison Chock, and Evan Bates ahead of the Paris Olympics.
On top of all that, newly crowned RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Nymphia Wind brought her banana realness to the ball performing at the afterparty and Steve Aoki got the crowd dancing well past my bedtime.
For the most part, I enjoy going to these huge galas and awards ceremonies. It’s fun and gives a sense of community… but one of the main reasons I love going to these events is because I get to dress up and turn a lewk.
I’ve always loved fashion. I used to teach journalism at a fashion school and was neck deep in the fashion industry around the time when New York Fashion Week still took place at the tents in Bryant Park and Peter Som was the creative director for Bill Blass. It was when Rodarte and Proenza Schouler were hitting their stride. I was specifically obsessed with the Antwerp Six at the time and I remember being obsessed with Alexander McQueen‘s final runway show where he debuted Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance“ as alien-like Atlantis looks stomped down the runway in the infamous armadillo shoe. And who can forget the super-secret Tom Ford fashion show of 2011 with Beyoncé, Julianne Moore, and Lauren Hutton that marked his return to womenswear after leading the charge at Gucci and YSL?
So I know a couple of things about fashion. Also, I just love looking fancy and working with my stylist Mark Paul Barro, and designer/artist Anjia Jalac to create something.
Now, I am very aware I’m not a red carpet queen. I am not famous. I ain’t Zendaya, but I do feel like MP and Anjia are my Law Roaches but the world isn’t asking “OMG WHAT IS DINO GOING TO WEAR TO GOLD GALA?” I am not delusional. I am perfectly aware of my reach. I also know that I am not a front-facing camera gal who forces you to pay attention to every look that I turn. I dress up because it is fun as hell — and these outfits are just a gift to myself and another form of self-expression and a way for me to take up space. It’s all for me and I just want to look sickening.
I worked with MP (who used to work for Rihanna’s Savage Fenty) for the first Gold Gala in 2022 and then the Unforgettable Gala in the same year.
Things started to get serious for the 2023 Gold Gala when I and MP started to collaborate on a lewk. I was obnoxious and sent him a mood board a month ahead of the gala and said “I want a lewk that defines what the Philippines would like if it was never colonized.”
MP wanted to use a barong and Filipino textiles to create a train moment a la Dior SS Menswear 2020. He sent me this photo.
This is when we started to work with Anjia (who helped with Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE tour when it came to L.A.). We used a Black barong and Anjia created a scarf/train or “scrain” that was connected to the barong and gave a sense of movement and drama.
I worked with MP again for Unforgettable 2023 and this time, I wanted to serve “manong era” realness.
Inspired partly by watching Bernard Badion’s Monkeys, which is set in San Joaquin County during the 1930s and focuses on a group of Filipino farm workers, I told MP that I wanted to combine Larry Itliong farmer worker/West Coast Filipino immigrant 1930s swag with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? villainy.
I love a mood board so I sent MP these:
From this, MP helped me turn out this lewk. I am normally not a hat person, but MP made me believe.
For Gold Gala 2024, the first thing I thought of was leather.
Enter Touko Valio Laaksonen… a.k.a. Tom of Finland.
The Finnish artist rose to fame with hyper-homoerotic art that amplified what is now known as queer leather daddy culture. in the late 20th century, Tom of Finland images became wildly popular, exaggerating leather-clad masculinity with bulging muscles and crotches. It was unapologetic and to this day remains influential in the world of queer art.
Working with MP, we wanted to continue my pre-colonial Philippines vibe from last year’s “barong scrain” but I wanted to make it aggressively queer with Tom of Finland energy. Again, I sent another mood board to MP and Anjia.
MP came back to me and immediately wanted to do another custom piece. He suggested that we buy a leather trench and Anjia would hand paint pre-colonial script and symbols on the back.
I was immediately convinced and I suggested using symbols and baybayin script I had compiled in my research — specifically from artist Ayla Roda and her book “The Painted People”. We used traditional tattoo, pottery and textile motifs that were found throughout groups in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. In general, it represents nature and duality.
What makes it even better is that MP respects my budget and works with pieces he knows I already have. For instance, I have continued to wear the hell out of the vegan leather pants he purchased for the first Gold Gala. I also used the harness from the first Unforgettable Gala while buying new riding boots that made me achieve that “leather kuya” lewk I was envisioning — and Anjia’s painting on the back is insanely amazing.
It’s basically leather slut in the front and cultural empowerment from the back.
I feel like my Gold Gala lewk is only a big deal to me — and that’s all that matters. It’s not just a “look at me! look at me!” moment. Although I absolutely enjoy the minimal attention, I actually wanted it to have some sort of cultural significance. I also looked sickening and you couldn’t tell me shit.
