As I approached Alice + Olivia and Paris Hilton's Pride party in Terminal 5, I could hear the buzz of people and music from the street. Inside, it was both a feast for the eyes and a millennial fever dream, and I mean that in the best way.
The first thing most guests did when they entered was to take photos: of the room, of themselves, of the food, or in front of almost every vertical surface in the venue that had been constructed in a walk-through style and repetition photo wall Some were decorated with flowers. Some had neon signs. Others announced a brand or Paris Hilton's collaboration with a brand. One featured a bunch of stuffed animals stapled to a foam board.
The main photo wall served as a backdrop for some famous faces being photographed: Bijou Phillips, Olivia Palermo, Cuba Gooding Jr. and a host of influencers like Jen Selter, Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe, and Aqua Parios. They were all wearing Alice + Olivia, of course.
The rest of the crowd was a wide mix of people you don't normally see partying together. Take the PopUp Bagels activation line as an example. There were two girls in skin-tight, sequined prom dresses, a woman in her 30s carrying a Trader Joe's bag that clearly came from work, two millennial mothers supervising five children who weren't alive when Hilton went rise to fame for the first time and one of the most popular people. queens who had been greeting people at the entrance an hour earlier.
Just below the stage, a swarm of attendees seemed to be searching for the best spot to watch Hilton as she danced to Ty Sunderland's DJ set. Meanwhile, Half Magic was touching up the makeup of a few well-coiffed gay men. Kids ran around with bagels in one hand and a cocktail in the other. A few feet away, a pair of his business-suited parents were making Shake Shack burgers. Girls in party dresses ransacked the fridge full of Poppis, silently shouting “fake news” about claims about the prebiotic soda being actually unhealthy. It was a cornucopia of allies, all under one roof to celebrate Pride and pop.
I saw some children raiding a candy bar and heard two mothers talking about the thrill of seeing Paris perform; they had overheard a security guard moments earlier saying he would be leaving soon. One of the children said to another, with a Swedish yellowfish sausage: “I don't really know who Paris Hilton is. My mother likes it. But I love Swedish fish.
Finally, the room went dark, laser lights bloomed around the room, and all eyes were on the stage. Sunderland's DJ booth had been cleared and the 'High Priestess of Pop' came out with a team of four background dancers. Before his sophomore album Infinity icon — to be released two decades after his first, he performed his single “I'm Free.”
I'm not a music critic, so I won't try to get into the cultural significance or musical ability of the 43-year-old pop star. But technically, I'm qualified to dissect a party, and everyone had as much fun as humanly possible listening to Hilton sing. Smoke machines shot into the air, hands (and phones) rose to the sky. People were singing songs they didn't know existed before tonight. And, dear reader, I know what you're thinking: “What's with the thick bottom dancers? Did they stay dressed?” No, and we were all better for it.
As I was leaving after the performance, I saw Dylan Mulvaney, who was beaming after the show. “I'm into Alice + Olivia, gay people, and Paris Hilton,” Mulvaney tells NYLON. “This is like the night of all nights.”
