Kith & Kin: Billy Reid Shindig

by Lee Carter

Billy Reid, a Southern boy if ever there were, sure knows how to throw a helluva party. Over the weekend in Florence, Alabama, he staged the 8th annual Shindig festival, a laid-back, down-home celebration of fashion, music, food, and friends.

Among the festivities, Jack White and his Third Man record company joined a spirited game of round-robin baseball; The Kills’ Alison Mosshart exhibited new paintings; New York jewelry designer Pamela Love held a frenzied shop-in-shop in the Billy Reid flagship; master chefs John Besh and John Currence dished up the finest Southern eats; and musician John Paul White (formerly of the Grammy-winning The Civil Wars) performed tracks from his new folk album.

And, in a first, Billy Reid presented a runway show apart from his regular NYFW outings. Sporting the in-season, limited-edition collection was a motley collective of friends, customers, musicians, and artists, hailing from places as near and far as Atlanta and Korea, Nashville and Paris. Clearly onto something with Shindig, Reid plans to take the party on the road to Chicago, Charleston, and New Orleans.

Shlomo Lipitz: VP of Programming at City Winery and Israeli National Baseball Team pitcher