More like break-a-hip hop.
Seventy-one-year-old former Governor David Paterson strutted his stuff down the catwalk — then gave the audience a scare by breakdancing.
On Wednesday the pol — reputedly an accoplished b-boy in his day — walked in the “Style Across the Aisle” show at the at Surrogate’s Court.
Paterson took the runway throwing one hand up and then the other, before stunning the crowd by bending and putting his hands to the floor and trying to lift his legs.
Undaunted, he gave it another go, kicking one leg higher than the other in a move that looked pretty awesome for a septugenarian.
“How could you tell people you’re blind, Governor Patterson? Look at those moves,” the show’s founder, Skye Ostreicher, said over the mic.
(Paterson is legally blind.)
The dancing governor told Page Six the move was a split-second decision that harkened back to his party days.
“I just thought about it while I was walking down the aisle,” he told us. “When I was younger and they’d take me to parties, when I danced, they’d have three people standing around me in case I fell.”
Paterson says at that time, “I really practiced cartwheels, handstands, walking on my hands and back flips. Now, I can’t do them all, but I just wanted to let the audience know what I used to do.”
Paterson was dressed in a felt suit and leather tie by Harlem-born designer Mel Maxi, telling us his usual style is “classic, elegant.”
“I’ve never seen a leather tie until about three days ago,” he told us.
“I like to dress up when I go out,” he said. “I remember on Fridays when we were kids in grade school, we had Dress Up Day, and all the kids couldn’t stand it. I loved it.”
One pol that was absent was Zohan Mamdani.
Paterson said of the mayoral candidate “I’m not a fan of his policies,” but noted he has done some “cool” stuff like a recent scavenger hunt.
“This is a serious office that has implications at a national level. The world is watching us, and he’s talking about free buses when he doesn’t have control over the MTA,” said Paterson, who has endorsed Eric Adams.
Mamdami’s mayoral rival Andrew Cuomo strode the catwalk in a blue suit by Gina Newman of Bond & Bari Bespoke, showing off the lining, which featured city skyscrapers and icons like Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.
“I’ve been practicing the runway walk in my apartment,” Cuomo quipped at a private fundraiser last week. “It’s not as easy as it looks. The turn at the end of the runway coming back the other way — it’s like a half pirouette — doing that gracefully while opening the jacket to show the lining. It’s difficult, but I have another week to practice.”
Also missing from the action was Mayor Eric Adams.
His rep Todd Shapiro, threw some shade at Cuomo’s participation in the charity event to Page Six earlier this week.
“There is no one who more defines the word fashion in government — from his walk to his talk — than the Mayor. There are some elected officials who still wear suits from the 1970s. As Cuomo walks the catwalk at this event, Mayor Adams will be hosting town hall meetings in the five boroughs,” Shapiro said Tuesday.
Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, former Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Council Majority Leader Amanda Farias, City Council Member Erik Bottcher and Minority Leader Joann Ariola all walked in the show.
The event took place hours after right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk was shot.
Ostreicher touched on divisiveness in final remarks, saying at the end of the show, “We see what’s going on out there: the violence, the protests, people not getting along, just because of politics. I know for a fact that every person here wants to collaborate and work together and reach across the aisle and move New York City forward.”
The ticketed event, sponsored by Uber and Airbnb, benefitted Witness to Mass Incarceration. The organization’s Art of Tailoring program trains in fashion design and business skills.
The post Former Governor David Paterson attempts to breakdance on fashion runway: Video appeared first on Page Six.
