BOB DYLAN IN THE LAND OF MORE IS MORE: A Southeast Asian fashion caper
Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Lara Croft Concert Raider
Jacket: AXARA Paris (Saigon)
Backpack: Osprey (R.E.I., Boise)
Turquoise jeans: Russian Market (Phnom Penh)
In April of this year, my Phnom Penh buddy and I bought sapphires, got our hair did, and boarded a night bus bound for Ho Chi Minh City. My editor at the Southeast Asia Globe had charged me with covering a historic first: finally, a Bob Dylan concert in post-war Vietnam. Because my friend knew a restaurateur who was hosting Dylan, there were even whispers that we might get to meet the Thin Man himself.
Photo by John Idaho
We spent the weekend stalking Dylan. When we weren’t attempting to order sushi backstage (and being thrown out as politely and chivalrously as I’ve ever been booted out of anywhere), we gorged on Vietnamese street food delicacies from rickety-tick plastic chairs and got our nails shellacked in three Abstract Expressionist layers. (In Southeast Asia, when it comes to fashion, more is more.)
We should have bought her durian
It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Bling)
Nails: District 1 (Saigon)
Blue and green sapphire rings: Central Market (Phnom Penh)
Stalk break
Anime-inspired haircut: De Gran salon (Phnom Penh)
Tiger’s eye bracelet: Central Market (Phnom Penh)
When we finally caught a glimpse of Dylan, it was as he ascended the stage in his black suit jacket with gold buttons, tuxedo trousers with satin piping, a pink shirt with a bolo tie, and a white wide-brimmed hat that acted like a visual magnet.
Bob Dylan LIVE IN SAIGON (Photo: Reuters)
But even the formidable shadow cast by the hat’s brim couldn’t disguise Dylan’s incredible, craggy visage: he looked like a Rembrandt, a face out of deep time. A face, smiling frequently with a punch of old man swagger, apparently having a very good time of it in the city formerly known as Saigon.
Onsie: mansion (The Emporium, Bangkok)
Green sapphire earrings: Central Market (Phnom Penh)
Boo: V. Boots
At the end of Dylan’s 18-song set, as the Vietnamese fashionistas scattered for nightcaps and the die-hards slowly lowered the softly glowing screens of their iPhones, there was only one thing left to do:
Photos by V. Boots & Kim Yum Grub
