The Curious Life and Strange Death of a Fashion Insider - The New York Times

The Curious Life and Strange Death of a Fashion Insider - The New York Times: Gathered%20that%20evening%20were%20senior%20public%20relations%20executives%20from%20Balenciaga%2C%20Max%20Mara%2C%20Louis%20Vuitton%20and%20Herm%E8s%3B%20agency%20heads%3B%20modeling%20scouts%3B%20top%20stylists%3B%20and%20fashion%20editors%20seldom%20voluntarily%20seen%20together%20in%20one%20place.%20Seasoned%20fashion%20observers%20were%20there%2C%20too%3A%20Booth%20Moore%2C%20the%20West%20Coast%20executive%20editor%20of%20Women%u2019s%20Wear%20Daily%2C%20and%20Robin%20Givhan%2C%20the%20critic-at-large%20at%20The%20Washington%20Post.%0A%0AThough%20the%20tone%20of%20the%20evening%20was%20inevitably%20rueful%2C%20there%20was%20also%20levity%2C%20and%20when%20Nate%20Hinton%2C%20once%20referred%20to%20in%20The%20New%20York%20Times%20as%20the%20most%20powerful%20Black%20public%20relations%20executive%20in%20fashion%2C%20spoke%20about%20collaborating%20with%20Mr.%20Nguyen%20on%20a%20men%u2019s%20wear%20shoot%20for%20Flaunt%2C%20it%20was%20with%20a%20laugh.%20%u201CThat%20shoot%20almost%20got%20me%20fired%2C%u201D%20he%20said.%0A%0AIn%20those%20days%20Mr.%20Hinton%20worked%20as%20a%20fledgling%20publicist%20handling%20men%u2019s%20wear%20at%20Prada.%20%u201CThere%20was%20a%20collection%20that%20was%20all%20bright%20colors%2C%u201D%20he%20said.%20%u201CLong%20called%20and%20said%3A%20%u2018We%u2019re%20going%20to%20shoot%20this%20all%20on%20Black%20guys.They%u2019re%20the%20only%20ones%20that%20will%20look%20good%20in%20the%20clothes.%u2019%u201D%0A%0AThe%20resulting%20pictorial%2C%20gorgeously%20shot%20on%20stoops%20in%20Harlem%2C%20covered%20more%20than%2012%20pages%20of%20the%20magazine%20and%20was%20in%20many%20ways%20typical%20of%20Mr.%20Nguyen%u2019s%20vision%20for%20fashion%2C%20one%20in%20which%20inclusivity%20was%20no%20gimmick%20or%20revisionist%20editorial%20strategy.%20%u201CI%20was%20so%20excited%2C%u201D%20Mr.%20Hinton%20said.%20%u201CBut%20when%20I%20showed%20it%20to%20corporate%2C%20the%20reaction%20was%2C%20%u2018You%20didn%u2019t%20get%20permission%20for%20this.%u2019%u201D%20Still%2C%20as%20he%20said%20later%20by%20phone%2C%20%u201CI%20don%u2019t%20regret%20doing%20it%20at%20all.%u201D%0AImage%0A%0AMr.%20Nguyen%20in%20his%20early%20days%20in%20fashion.%20Credit...via%20Dao%20Nguyen%0A%0AIn%20June%20of%20this%20year%2C%20Mr.%20Nguyen%20began%20emailing%20friends%20to%20announce%20that%20he%u2019d%20been%20working%20toward%20completion%20of%20a%20book%20about%20the%20%u201990s%2C%20years%20he%20considered%20a%20golden%20age.%20He%20included%20a%2064-page%20PDF%20document%20illustrated%20with%20images%20from%20his%20fashion%20shoots%2C%20show%20invitations%2C%20programs%20and%20assorted%20ephemera%20collected%20over%20the%20years.%20If%20his%20cancer%20had%20progressed%2C%20he%20refrained%20from%20mentioning%20it%20even%20to%20his%20daily%20correspondents.%20And%20yet%2C%20they%20said%2C%20there%20were%20signs.%0A%u201CHe%20suddenly%20started%20sending%20all%20these%20random%20things%2C%u201D%20Ms.%20Graham%20said.%20%u201CYou%u2019d%20get%20a%20copy%20of%20Bill%20Owens%u2019s%20%u2018Suburbia%u2019%20with%20a%20little%20note%2C%20%u2018I%20want%20you%20to%20have%20this.%u2019%u201D%0A%0AOther%20friends%20received%20messages%20indicating%20that%20he%u2019d%20made%20a%20will%20directing%20that%20his%20estate%20go%20to%20what%20he%20called%20%u201Cmy%20real%20family%2C%20which%20is%20my%20friends%20in%20fashion.%u201D%20In%20mid-September%20he%20posted%20to%20his%20Instagram%20account%20an%20Italian%20adage%20that%20translated%20as%20%u201Call%20beautiful%20things%20must%20come%20to%20an%20end.%u201D%0A%0ABy%20then%2C%20and%20without%20anyone%u2019s%20knowledge%2C%20Mr.%20Nguyen%20had%20begun%20emptying%20his%20apartment%2C%20which%2C%20according%20to%20sources%20close%20to%20his%20family%2C%20was%20empty%20of%20all%20but%20two%20knapsacks%20filled%20with%20clothing%20at%20the%20time%20of%20his%20death.%0A%0A%u201CThere%20were%20so%20many%20people%20who%20loved%20Long%2C%u201D%20said%20Ms.%20Moore%2C%20who%20joined%20Ms.%20Givhan%20as%20an%20organizer%20of%20her%20late%20friend%u2019s%20memorial.%20%u201CHe%20was%20a%20force%20you%20couldn%u2019t%20turn%20down.%u201D%0A%0AIn%20the%20week%20before%20his%20suicide%2C%20Mr.%20Nguyen%20was%20found%20wandering%20dazed%20on%20the%20High%20Line%20and%20briefly%20jailed%20before%20being%20transferred%20to%20a%20nearby%20hospital.%20Somehow%2C%20in%20the%20confusion%2C%20he%20lost%20his%20phone.%20%u201CI%20thought%20it%20must%20mean%20something%20that%20he%20didn%u2019t%20want%20a%20new%20phone%2C%u201D%20Ms.%20Graham%20said.%0AYet%20visiting%20Mr.%20Nguyen%20with%20Daniel%20Motta%20Mello%2C%20the%20head%20of%20public%20relations%20for%20Balenciaga%20USA%2C%20at%20NYU%20Langone%20Health%20Ms.%20Graham%20found%20him%20determinedly%20buoyant%2C%20insistent%20that%20nothing%20serious%20was%20amiss.%0A%0A%u201CI%20brought%20him%20a%20New%20York%20sweatshirt%20because%20he%20said%20he%20was%20cold%2C%u201D%20Ms.%20Graham%20said.%20%u201CAnd%20when%20I%20went%20to%20leave%2C%20he%20asked%20me%20to%20give%20him%20the%20VogueWorld%20tote%20I%20brought%20it%20in.%u201D%0A%0AThat%20with%20his%20death%20Mr.%20Nguyen%20leaves%20behind%20unsolvable%20riddles%20is%20perhaps%20to%20be%20expected.%20Such%2C%20according%20to%20experts%2C%20is%20the%20nature%20of%20suicide.%20%u201CThere%20is%20only%20one%20person%20who%20can%20answer%20the%20questions%2C%u201D%20said%20Jane%20G.%20Tillman%2C%20a%20psychoanalyst%20and%20suicide%20researcher%20at%20the%20Austen%20Riggs%20Center%2C%20a%20psychiatric%20treatment%20center%20in%20Stockbridge%2C%20Mass.%20%u201CAnd%20that%20person%20is%20gone.%u201D%0A%0AIt%20may%20be%20inevitable%2C%20too%2C%20that%20the%20grief%20of%20the%20friends%20gathered%20to%20celebrate%20Mr.%20Nguyen%u2019s%20life%20was%20tainted%20by%20a%20deep%20sense%20of%20betrayal.%20%u201CIt%20was%20as%20if%20he%20put%20us%20all%20on%20blast%20that%20we%20knew%u201D%20he%u2019d%20been%20diagnosed%20with%20a%20terminal%20illness%2C%20Ms.%20Moore%20said.%20%u201CAnd%20then%2C%20when%20he%20killed%20himself%2C%20it%20seemed%20like%2C%20%u2018Oh%20my%20God%2C%20where%20were%20his%20friends%3F%u2019%u201D%0A