The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of Joe Boxer

摘要

Nicholas graham loves to create a spectacle. Like the time he dressed up as the queen of England, suspended himself by a crane 100 feet above Times Square, and tossed boxer shorts attached to bagels to the crowd below Or when he flew 200 magazine editors from New York to Iceland for a fashion show that featured a model singing the Icelandic national anthem while wearing an outsize mirrored bustier and towering white Viking horns. When the local crowd unexpectedly stood up, sang along, and wept with patriotic pride, Graham was in heaven―it made the moment far more surreal than anything he could have planned. Graham's title is chief underpants officer of Joe Boxer, the company he founded in his San Francisco loft in 1985 when his career as a punk-rock singer was going nowhere. A tall 44-year-old man with a rebellious spike of blond cockatoo hair, Graham always looks like he just woke up―forever running his hands through his hair, yawning, and fumbling for a cigarette. When not performing, Graham is soft-spoken and even a bit shy, though he also has a knack for one-liners that let him keep up with friends like Robin Williams, exemplified by his motto for the Joe Boxer car entered in the 2001 Indianapolis 500: "No skid marks."