While New York has been filled with parties all week, they’ve all been relatively tame affairs: the kind that have you home moisturized and hydrated by 11 p.m.
On Thursday, Mert Alas changed that, taking over the penthouse apartment at The Manner hotel in SoHo for a party with Seventy One gin.
The invitation called for guests to dress “dangerously chic,” which translated into sharp suits for the many chiseled gentlemen in the crowd and sheer sparkly numbers with visible underwear for some brave ladies. One guest opted for nothing but silver body paint from the waist up.
The two-story apartment spilled out onto the private roof terrace, where gin cocktails were of course on steady supply and trays of arancini and tofu-topped sticky rice circulated. If you weren’t smoking a cigarette, you stood out: trays of them were on offer, and the terrace was littered with ashtrays.
Around 11:20 p.m., Suki Waterhouse led partner Robert Pattinson through the crowd, taking him over to greet Jordan Barrett and Alas. Pattinson was dressed down in a leather jacket and baseball hat; after Waterhouse introduced him to Amanda Lepore, the pair were on their way out by 11:30.
Robert Pattinson and Suki Waterhouse
Alyssa Greenberg/WWD
The crowd parted to reveal an all-black German shepherd (apparently it’s a recessive gene) named Cash, who was being hoisted into the air by his owner. Dua Lipa remixes and Stardust’s hit “Music Sounds Better With You” inspired some dancefloor makeouts and impassioned dancing, as Alas himself took photos of models Candice Swanepoel and Joan Smalls on his iPhone.
Just before midnight the Kering party crowd started to arrive: Dakota Johnson came first, still dressed in her lacy sheer gown from the Kering party, followed soon by Ariana DeBose. Cash, meanwhile, was being led out. At least someone has a bedtime.
The scene at Mert Alas Seventy One Gin party.
Alyssa Greenberg/WWD