They were a curious group. Heads turned when they entered a room.

Th e reason for the attention in George’s case was obvious. George Whitman—aka Gigi—was flamboyantly gay.

From his coiffed head to the tips of his stilettos, he caught the eye of every person when he entered a room. Life had been tough for George, growing up in Chicago.

He wasn’t like the other boys and he was frequently knocked about because of it. Outspoken, George learned to defend himself.

George lived with his Nanna after his mother died of a drug overdose when he was just four. While Nanna loved him, she did not understand him.

George loved clothes. It was his dream to design a line of clothes like his heroes Versace and St.

Laurent. So, he bade his Nanna a tearful good-bye he followed her wise advice and headed to New York City.

Gail Anderson was the long-awaited girl. Her father, a doctor, her mother, a nurse, and her three older brothers, Ferris, Markel, and Devin, moved to Arlington Heights where Mrs.

Anderson reveled in being the matriarch of a successful black family. Gail’s family was very protective of her, viewing her as easy pickings for gold diggers.

During her second year at university, she met and soon married Terry. The marriage was a disaster.

Terry was controlling and abusive. Gail left him and headed to New York.

In New York, she met George. She was amused by his outrageous behavior, his larger-than-life attitude and his big dreams.

She became friends with Basil, a budding actor. Shell-shocked by her experience with Terry, she was reluctant to get into a dating relationship with Basil.

Their potential for taking it to the next level was further constrained by the fact that Basil loathed George in particular and gays in general. George asked Gail to go into a partnership with him to form a fashion design business.

They decided that George would operate it out of Gail’s loft and she would occupy his apartment. .