J.Crew celebrated new designer Brendon Babenzien with a private concert and even more private dinner.
Welcome to NYLON’s Party Report Card, where we give you the Who, What, Where, Why and When on this week’s hottest parties — plus all the gossip you missed. It’s the inside scoop you need to feel like you were on the invite list. Sorry in advance for the FOMO.
WHAT: J.Crew’s celebration of the Fall 2022 collection, designed by Brendon Babenzien.
WHO: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mia Moretti, Alison Roman, Ella Emhoff, Naomi Fry, Allison Roman
WHERE: Jeans, a soon-to-be opened hot spot by the owners of Superiority Burger and Williamsburg located in — get this — the old Butter location on Lafayette Street, followed by a dinner at Indochine. It really is 2005 all over again.
WHY: To celebrate Brandon Babenzien’s first collection at the helm of J.Crew
THE VIBE: Have you ever wondered what happens when you mix indie sleaze with prep? In Brendon Babenzien’s world, it’s a lot of damn fun. On a night packed with parties, no singular room was perhaps more packed than the basement of Jeans. There was no service and an open bar, which gave it the air of a college frat party back when you still needed to use T9 to text. Often when party invites come armed with a “special performance” tag, you can expect a quick 3 song set where the artist looks miserable and you can barely hear over the clinking of Champagne flutes.
That was not the case here. First off, not a single soul in the audience was having more fun than the one and only Karen O, clearly loving her return to the stage after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ extended hiatus — but the crowd damn near tried. For seven (7!) songs, they screamed the lyrics back to the front woman with such vigor, it’s a wonder how anyone still has their voices today. Riding the post-show high, an even smaller crew headed across the street to Indochine for a private dinner where lychee martinis were as popular as ever. Like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, some things just never get old.
BEST DRESSED: Ava Von Osdol in a temperature-appropriate slip dress (it gets hot at the front of the pit)
OVERHEARD: “I had to choose between this and The Strokes tonight — can you imagine?”