Who

With Richie Rich, ex-cowboy Traver Rains is the co-founder of the trash-chic fashion label Heatherette.

Backstory

The cowboy thing is legit: Rains was raised in the small town of Simms, Montana and his father was Lennard Rains, a former star on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit who became a breeder, trainer, and judge. Traver competed in horse shows as a kid and won 100 titles in his younger years. (We haven't seen the medals on his mantle, but we'll take his word for it.) After earning a degree from SMU in Texas, he moved to New York and took a job as a horseback-riding instructor at New York's Chelsea Piers. He says he first met Richie Rich when he taught club maven Susanne Bartsch's son how to ride and Richie was promoting parties for Bartsch. The two started dating, and eventually went into the fashion business together. Their big break came in 1999 when Rich attended a party wearing a leather number he'd designed; a buyer for Patricia Field ordered 20 pieces immediately, one of which landed in the hands of Foxy Brown, who invited the duo to design her outfits for the MTV Video Music Awards. Heatherette soon bagged a slew of celebrity clients, including Lil' Kim, Gwen Stefani, and Britney Spears, as well as initial financing from Diandra Douglas, the ex-wife of actor Michael Douglas.

Of note

When Heatherette first launched it was hard to tell if Rains and Rich were trying to build a brand, or just bent on amusing the city's fashionistas with their ultra-kitsch shows starring the likes of tranny pinup Amanda Lepore. But even if the endeavor began as all fun and games (and plenty of sequined assless chaps), it quickly turned into a business. In 2005 Norman and Bruce Weisfeld, the duo behind FUBU and Coogi, invested $6 million into Heatherette, and the line expanded with some marginally less outré designs for customers of Bloomingdale's and Henri Bendel and a junior line of sparkly unicorn-festooned hoodies and rainbow tank tops in the Macy's kids' department. Yet Heatherette may be now be nearing the end of the line. They skipped Fashion Week in Spring 2008 amid rumors of tensions with their backers, and there have been reports of a fall-out between Rich and Rains, too.

Personal

The more low-key and behind-the-scenes member of the Heatherette duo, Rains lives in Chelsea.