The third day of fashion week kicked off at The Gramercy Park Hotel where Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig hosted an afternoon cocktail party to debut their partnership with shopping search engine, ShopStyle. The capsule collection of jackets, blouses, and accessories (available September 9th) brought out a slew of Marchesa fans including Meghan Markle, known to most as Rachel Zane from the (unexpectedly) successful USA Network series, Suits. Markle said, “Today’s event was my favorite because I got to see some familiar faces, but also connect with ladies like Olivia [Palermo]. Truth be told, we seem to have a mutual girl crush.”
Next came Gwen Stefani’s return to the fashion world under her label L.A.M.B. After a brief hiatus, which was devoted to raising her kids and creating music, Stefani came back with a clear plan of action, clean simple looks, instead of the over-wrought conceptions of her design past.
Down on Wall Street, business commuters and gawker fans alike stopped to take in the spectacle created by Pharrell and friends at 23 Wall St. The jack of all trades turned out for his seasonal reveal of his collaboration of RAW for The Oceans created by G-Star RAW to benefit Parley For The Oceans in fighting the plastic pollution across the globe. “Denim is one of the most cherished fabrics on Earth – and one of the most traditional,” Williams said of the various denim-centric items created with G-Star on display for the evening, “With RAW for the Oceans, we have created the next generation.”
Further uptown, The Daily Front Row hosted its twice annual blowout of style stars at The Fashion Media Awards at The Park Hyatt, and the result was nothing short of epic. Claire Danes, Naomi Campbell, Tom Ford (who flew to New York specifically for the event), Dakota Fanning, Christy Turlington, and Kate Upton all sat in the audience to pay homage to the industry titans. The ceremony was co-hosted by Gigi Hadid and industry veteran Joe Zee. Best of all, reality television star-cum-model Kendall Jenner paid homage to Love Magazine editor Katie Grand, who was the first to spot Jenner’s star power beyond the family name. “At my first Love [Magazine] shoot I realized how amazing the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief [Katie Grand] is at presenting fashion in a cool way, and always manages to make it fun,” Jenner said of her fashion fairy godmother.
The crowd then raced one block over to The Plaza Hotel where Harper’s Bazaar’s event celebrated Icons by Carine Roitfeld, powered by Infor and Samsung Galaxy. Donatella and Allegra Versace, Editor Glenda Bailey and cover star Emma Ferrer the Hilfigers, the Koons, Karlie Kloss and Kate Upton, joined the crowd to cheer the highlight of the evening, Lady Gaga’s performance. Playing hot jazz hits to riotous applause, her set was a nod towards her upcoming album, Cheek to Cheek, created with NYC fixture Tony Bennett. The vibe was pure jazz bar and the set included a rendition of Sonny & Cher’s Bang Bang!
Before the after parties commenced, those interested in concerning themselves with the actual dollars and cents of fashion stopped into an unassuming venue on 31st street between 10th and 11th avenue where Neiman Marcus announced their plans to open their first Manhattan outpost as the epicenter of Hudson Yards development. The upcoming store’s construction space, slated for completion in 2018, was tactfully visible from the venue. Needless to say, the announcement answered many a prayer across the designer-hungry Upper East Side.
Later into the evening, the 90s rap trend set by Ja Rule on Thursday continued on at Lil’ Kim’s epic performance at Up&Down hosted by Milk Studios. The always well-heeled female rapper had not been seen by many members of the fashion set since her timely incarceration performance at the Marc Jacobs after-party in 2006. This included Joe Jonas, Richard Chai, and J.Crew’s President and Executive Creative Director, Jenna Lyons, who cut a rug next to Lil’ Kim. Meanwhile, across the bridge, Rick Ross delighted a pack of young New Yorkers at the Magnises fashion week fête where tons of twenty-something packed into a Brooklyn warehouse space for a private performance by the portly rap star.
All pictures: Patrick McMullan and Zachary Weiss