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Publicist's Job Is Clothing-Optional

Tribune photo by CHRISTINE DeLESSIO

Angye Fox defended the Swingfest trade show appearance as a means of introducing younger people to the clothing-optional lifestyle.

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By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: January 15, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - Angye Fox wasn't sure she would be comfortable at a nudist resort.

That was four years ago.

Now she is public relations director for the opulent clothing-optional Caliente Resorts off U.S. 41 in Land O' Lakes. The owner of AdSizzle Inc. Marketing & Public Relations in Odessa, Fox obviously enjoyed her initial nudist experience.

"The mind-set of a clothing-optional person is to be embraced," said Fox, 37, a Green Bay, Wis., native. "It's very open-minded and friendly."

Caliente's high profile - it once was featured on "The Simple Life" reality show that starred Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie - makes her one of the most recognizable faces in one of the world's largest nudist communities.

Pasco County is home to at least 14 nudist or clothing-optional resorts or retreats - and about 12,000 "nude votes," state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, estimated last year.

News out of Caliente isn't always light and fun, though.

Last year, the resort withdrew its membership with the American Association for Nude Recreation, which offers lobbying and marketing leverage to member resorts, after the association began investigating rumors of sex parties at Caliente.

Some residents and members also were angry that Fox spoke at Swingfest 2008, an adult trade show in Hollywood, Fla., where she led a workshop promoting the co-existence of swingers and nudists.

To an outsider, nudists complaining about swingers might sound as ridiculous as a homeowners association grumbling about people keeping their grass too short.

But many nudists long have sought to disassociate their lifestyle from scenes out of the X-rated movie "Caligula," which is how many people who have never been to a nudist resort probably assume they live.

Regardless, Fox defended the Swingfest appearance as a means of introducing younger people to the clothing-optional lifestyle, which is imperative if the industry hopes to survive.

She also seemed popular among the staff, members and residents observed at Caliente on a recent weekday.

Doug Allen, a guest relations worker and resident at the resort, said Fox is "terrific." He and his wife, Barbara, have been nudists for about 30 years. Fox "totally gets what Caliente is about, and she represents it in a great way," he said.

In the past year, Caliente has pursued a younger demographic through advertisements in Creative Loafing, a local alternative newspaper, and on a local sports talk radio station, where Fox and Caliente's events and entertainment director, Deb Bowen, have been on-air guests.

The resort also e-mails a weekly newsletter and connects with younger people on MySpace, the social networking site, and is creating national and international media kits with photos, videos and podcasts that people can download and listen to on their computers or iPods.

Theme parties at Caliente are a big draw for many younger people. Last year there was an Arabian Nights event where guests dressed as genies, kings or queens. And there was an "Eyes Wide Shut" party, an homage to the 1999 Stanley Kubrick film with Tom Cruise. Attendees were encouraged to wear masks.

These are the events described by some residents as wild sex parties.

Fox and other Caliente officials say that simply isn't true.

She hopes to establish Caliente as America's first clothing-optional polling site.

Brian Corley, Pasco County's supervisor of elections, doesn't seem to think that will happen soon.

It's way too premature to think about, he said last week. "We don't tailor precincts to specific purposes. It has to be needs-based. The rule of thumb is you don't tinker with precincts unless you have to. I did not commit to anything" with Caliente.

Despite last year's backlash and the odds that Caliente probably won't become America's first clothing-optional voting precinct in 2010, Fox's enthusiasm for nudism and Caliente is unequivocal.

Maybe it's in her roots.

"My father is German, and social nudism originated in Germany," she said. "A lot of us Germans totally get it. My father's jealous because I can be naked right now down in Florida."

Reporter Geoff Fox, who is not related to Angye Fox, can be reached at (813) 779-4613.

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