Wednesday, March 19, 2008

What made Kylie dance on the table? How the singer's proving she can do without her 'gay husband' and mentor

Three hours earlier the applause had been rapturous and her performance immaculate as Kylie Minogue was named Best International Female Artist at the Brit Awards.

Even as her delicate frame was swept aloft by Dr Who star David Tennant, who presented her with the Brit, Kylie had kept her composure.

Now, in the throb of Movida nightclub in London's West End, it was a rather different story. Kylie was doing something most un-Kylie – knocking back champagne with friends and dancing on the tables. She was having a ball.
What made Kylie dance on the table? How the singer's proving she can do without her 'gay husband' and mentor

Table dancing! A rare glimpse of typically self-controlled Kylie Minogue as she partied the night away after scooping Best International Female at the Brit awards last month

For somebody whose persona is usually so rigidly controlled, it was a rare glimpse of Kylie the woman rather than Kylie the brand.

This was a Kylie we didn't usually see. But it may well be that this "private" exuberance was always intended to find its way into the Press – and to deliver a very clear message to one man, Will Baker, a message that said unmistakably: "Look how I'm thriving without you."

Will's absence from that party last month was as notable as it was intriguing. Barely a few months ago it would have been unthinkable.
What made Kylie dance on the table? How the singer's proving she can do without her 'gay husband' and mentor

Kylie looking a little worse for wear towards the end of the post-Brits party

His name may not be familiar to any but the most ardent of Kylie's fans, but Will is her most enduringly significant other. It is no exaggeration to say that he created Kylie – or at least the version of her that millions have come to love, applaud and buy into.

For the best part of 15 years he has overseen every aspect of her styling.

It was Will who put her in the tiny gold hotpants that caused such a sensation when she sang Spinning Around.

It was Will who dressed her up like a show pony with ostrich feathers on her head and persuaded her into the rib-crushing corsetry that gave her a 16in waist.

It was Will who took the pop starlet and turned her into the ultimate Showgirl.

In short, it was Will who made her what we thought she always was.
What made Kylie dance on the table? How the singer's proving she can do without her 'gay husband' and mentor

Good times: Kylie with Will Baker, her 'gay husband' and mentor, last October, before their relationship cooled off

He calls her "Dear" and goes under the grand title of creative director. She says that they are "soulmates" and calls him her "gay husband". He is a giggling consort and acolyte occupying that strange territory between friend and staff – omnipresent, until now.

Will's absence from Kylie's Brit triumph was not the first indication that all is not what it was between them. Just two weeks earlier, Will had been notable by his absence when she launched her Kylie At Home bed linen.

That, says one well-placed source, was how Kylie had wanted it: "She wanted to show she could do it alone."

Kylie's desire for a rethink has been influenced by two looming events: the beginning of a gruelling European tour and her 40th birthday on May 28. It is a landmark birthday for any woman but, given her health scares and heartaches, it is little wonder if the prospect should affect Kylie more than most.
What made Kylie dance on the table? How the singer's proving she can do without her 'gay husband' and mentor

Girls next door: Kylie was joined at the high-spirited party by fellow ex-Neighbours star-turned singer Natalie Imbruglia, who recently split from husband Daniel Johns

Of course she looks fabulous. But while just getting there is cause for celebration, the reality is that Kylie at 40 will be on the same treadmill of performance and travel that she has toiled on for all her adult life – and no closer to finding fulfilment out of the spotlight.

According to one close to both: "Will has been such a support, but when two people spend too much time together there can be tension – and there has been tension. They have been spending a lot less time together recently."

Certainly Will and Kylie seem keen to establish their mutual independence.

For Will, 34, that means reminding people that he has a degree and that it is in theology, not fashion. It means establishing his own company – with the tongue-in-cheek name Never Trust A Stylist – and launching his own range of men's underwear.

And he is making it clear that Kylie is not his only celebrity client.

For Kylie it means launching products and celebrating success with a certain forced confidence. And for both it means letting their intense personal relationship cool to a workable professional pairing.

Whatever the simmering tensions, Will must fulfil his contractual obligation as creative director on Kylie's European tour.
What made Kylie dance on the table? How the singer's proving she can do without her 'gay husband' and mentor

Stage Diva Kylie steals the show with an immaculate performce of her new single Wow at the Brits

He has been liaising with Dolce & Gabbana over designs for the show which will, no doubt, be spectacular. But according to one source: "After being so close for so long, it is now very much just a professional relationship."

It is all a world away from the closeness which, at its peak, saw Kylie become so dependent on Will that he was the first person she called, outside her family, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

It is a relationship that blossomed from unlikely beginnings.

Will was raised in Wilmslow, Cheshire, the eldest of two children born to Graham and Alison Jane Baker.

His parents split when he was ten and he and his sister, Georgie, went to live with their mother who soon remarried. His father, too, remarried and today lives in a stone-built cottage on the outskirts of affluent Alderley Edge, Cheshire, with wife Hazel.

According to Graham: "Will is very bright, creative and I suppose you could say flamboyant. As a boy he was Dr Who mad and did a lot of dressing up."

He won a place at Manchester Grammar where he was quickly singled out as being "cool".
What made Kylie dance on the table? How the singer's proving she can do without her 'gay husband' and mentor

Kylie was rumoured to be back with ex Olivier Martinez on the promise of marriage after they hooked up in Paris earlier this year

His friends called him "Joan" after his icon Joan Collins. But when it came to university it was theology rather than fashion or design that attracted him, though he was drawn to it as much for the art as the religious aspects.

His father explained: "He is very interested in religion, but not in a church-going kind of way. For example, he'll go to Turkey to look at mosques or take a holiday elsewhere to visit temples.2

For Will, religious imagery and pop culture make natural bedfellows. He has said: "I don't mean to be crass, but a huge part of religion is about image-making and so is pop music."

Perhaps it was this unusual approach to styling that caught Kylie's attention when, in 1993, she and Will met.

He came to London to study at King's College and took a Saturday job at Vivienne Westwood's store in Mayfair. Working there, he saw stylists come and go, borrowing clothes for photoshoots and videos. The thought occurred that he could do that – perhaps rather well.

Kylie has always had a strong gay following, and it was as an unashamed fan that 19-year-old Will contacted Kylie's then record label, deConstruction, and asked if she needed a stylist.

It turned out that Kylie was abroad. Will left his name, number and the details of the shop, never really expecting to hear any more.

Three weeks later Kylie walked into the store. Will recalled: "I leaped from behind the counter and bombarded her with ideas and persuaded her to go for a coffee. She probably thought I was mad."
What made Kylie dance on the table? How the singer's proving she can do without her 'gay husband' and mentor

Kylie spotted leaving Martinez’ flat earlier this year as she takes dog Sheba for a stroll

She scribbled her number on a napkin, signing it "Miss K", and told Will to keep in touch.

He did and soon found himself charged with dressing Kylie for a photoshoot. He raided an old boyfriend's punk-era wardrobe for costumes. Kylie loved it, and she became Will's muse and obsession.

In 1998, Will was tasked with styling his first Kylie tour, Intimate And Live. It was a massive, high-camp success, with Will painstakingly sticking sequins and glitter on to all of Kylie's costumes.

In 2000, the real breakthrough came when Will found a 50p pair of second-hand hotpants and convinced Kylie that her pert rear was her best feature.

But even then the closeness that would often see them squealing and giggling at some private joke was not without its dark side. And the tensions that have now bubbled over were, perhaps, merely deferred from years earlier.

In 2005, in the middle of her Showgirl – The Greatest Hits tour, Will abruptly quit after being elevated to creative director and best friend. Both he and Kylie insisted that there was no falling out.

Today Will's father alleges that it was due to Kylie's manager, Terry Blamey, trying to keep a tight reign on her budget.

Mr Baker claims: "Will and Kylie never had a row. Will had done a lot of work on something and didn't want to be out of pocket. Terry had other ideas about how much it should cost."

But for Will, it seems there was an element of professional frustration, too. He said: "We had to do a greatest-hits album and it was so mind-numbingly not creative it finished us off. I just had a holiday and didn't go back."

Perhaps that would have been a natural time to reposition the friendship. But life intervened.

Kylie called Will to tell him she had breast cancer. And, he said, "the world ended".

He travelled to Australia to be with her throughout her treatment, their difficulties set to one side. It was Will's idea to make White Diamond, the documentary film of Kylie's triumphant Showgirl – The Homecoming tour, post-cancer. It was an intense experience for both.

"As executive producer, Will spent six months with Kylie all day, every day," said an insider.

"She didn't want the world to see some of what Will showed and they had disagreements over that."

Even at the film's West End premiere last October there were tensions between the two. Chatting to journalists, Will commented on Kylie's on-off relationship with French actor Olivier Martinez, reportedly leaving Kylie furious at the indiscretion.

Will once described Kylie as "the perfect canvas for my fantasies". She giggled back that "everybody needs a Willie".

But today Will's ambitions extend beyond dressing his "Dear".

And as she approaches 40, who would blame Kylie if she were to reassess just what – and who – she needs in her life and decides that her days of providing a surface for somebody's fantasies are numbered?

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