New York Magazine - USA (2020-03-02)

18 THECUT|MARCH2–15, 2020

a fewyearsago,beforeMatthewSchneier

workedat theCut,wewere colleaguesonthe

fashioncircuit.OnebleakFebruaryafter-

noon,wewerewalkingalong52ndStreetbetween

showsandfoundourselvesinfrontofoneofmid-

centuryNewYork’sdiningtemples,La Grenouille.

“Let’shavea powerlunch!,” I suggested—half-joke,

half-dare—knowingit wasa bitrecklesstoenterthe

golden,floralglowofthebararea,where formore

thanfivedecadestherichandinfluential(notto

mentiontherichandidle)havecloseddealsover

pikequenellesandwhiteBurgundy. Luckilyforour

creditcards and our deadlines, the restaurantwas

closedfor a private event that day. ButI always

wanted to go back, and when Matthew suggestedit

astheplace to shoot New York’s rising powerplayers

forourfashion portfolio, I was happy we’d invented

anexcuse. At the Cut, we try to show offseasonal

fashion in unexpected ways. “Let’s justtake the

moneyand throw a party and photographthat” has

beenmy perennial suggestion for every“Fashion

EDITOR’S LETTER

Follow the Party

OnKuan:MIU

MIUvestandshirt,

at11 E.57thSt.;MAX

MARApolka-dot

vest,at 81 3 Madison

Ave.;OMEGAwatch,

atomegawatches

.com.;FERNANDO

JORGEearrings,at

BergdorfGoodman,

75 4 FifthAve.

Issue” we’ve ever made. I’m happy

to say we finally achieved it, over

lunch, in midtown.

The power lunch these days is

more often than not a to-gosalad

from Pret or Juice Press hooveredat

your desk. But even if power—and

the people who earn and wieldit—

looks different in 2020, whatwould

a mix of the Establishmentandthe

rookies look like? We broughtinthe

new and kept the regulars,andsud-

denly Jeremy O. Harris wasswap-

ping faux fur and war storieswith

the horse breeder and pizzadoyenne

Joan Sbarro as Ralph RucciandAli-

son Roman looked on. Set thestage,

and a place at the table, andconnec-

tions get made in every direction.

Whenever young peopleaskme

what they can do to get aheadin

fashion, I give them the same

advice: Follow the party.Findthe

people you like to have a goodtime

with, because eventually thosewill

be your comrades and collabora-

tors, and the best scenesalways

start there. This issue is fullofNew

York institutions that perpetually

seem up for a good time. Thecrew

of Opening Ceremony givesa look

back at the store on the brinkofits

closing—a space they christened

with a blowout so big it becamea

demolition. Our fair coverlady,

Fran Drescher, is a one-woman

Fellini movie. Molly Fischer lays into the brightorgy

ofpink and brass that defines “millennial aesthetics,”

only to discover an insidious commercialismunder

allthe cheerful neon mantras that tookoverthe

world. And if mantras aren’t your thing,there’s

always the option of bathing naked in infraredlight,

which, as Melissa Dahl explains, mightcure...

almost everything?

If that’s too advanced woo-woo wellnessforyou,

tryone of the candles we commissioned fromartist

Janie Korn, based on fashion directorRebecca

Ramsey’s favorite picks from some of spring’sbest

collections. Somehow, the wax figures, in theirlumpy

finery, capture that feeling of being face-meltingly

drunk on fashion. And if you can’t be at the bigparty,

you can always make your own by slippingintoa

place you don’t quite belong with someoneequally

mischievous. A scene is born.

—StellaBugbee

Photographs by PARI DUKOVIC

STYLING BY DORA FUNG; FASHION ASSISTANCE BY BECKY AKINYODE, JOEL PARADA, NATALIE MATSUDA; HAIR BY NEAL PITTMAN USING ORIBE AND LISA RAQUEL USING RENÉ FURTERER AT SEE MANAGEMENT; MAKEUP BY MARYGENE WALKER USING CHANEL AND ASHLEIGH CIUCCI USING MAC COSMETICS AT SEE MANAGEMENT; TAILORING BY LUCY PAYNE

On Bodmer-Turner:

CHANEL jacket,

at 15 E. 57th St.;

EILEEN FISHER

shirt, at eileenfisher

.co

HE

neimanmarcus.com;

STUART WEITZMAN

shoes, at saks.com.

Simone Bodmer-Turner (right)
and Gia Kuan (below)
at La Grenouille.