Gradient Mag @ W New York Downtown Hotel and Residences

Mix any magazine release party with V1 Private Jets and the modish W New York Downtown Hotel and Residences, and the product is always a fashionable fete. We should have known better this Tuesday night, as we arrived to the Gradient Magazine launch party in our abysmal work garb, only to find a crowd of impossibly chic party-goers posing for Patrick McMullan on the red carpet. As Annabel Vartanian, Emma Snowdon-Jones, and "Gossip Girl" designer Abigail Lorick, put our outfits to shame with their frothy summer dresses, we are compelled to turn on our heels and head for home. But naturally, we are lured in to the downtown fashion parade, with the Patron sponsored bar persuading us to stay even later for the real fashion show, Michael Frido’s red carpet interviews for "Fame Is TV."

Inside the architecturally appealing space, projectors stream commercials and clips against the sloping white walls (which also happen to provide a perfect backdrop for an impromptu photo shoot with the office camera). The hostesses of the evening, including Sabine Heller (especially radiant in a floor skimming dress), Claw Money, Sky Nellor, Bettina Prentice, Sue Stemp, Antonia Thompson, and Eleanor Ylvisaker, look so ravishing, we have to investigate. “Sue Stemp actually dressed all of the ladies on the host committee for the evening,” Kristian Laliberte says, confirming the origin of their style. Laliberte himself is well dressed in a summery pink blazer, as are Marc Jacobs muses Dion “OJ” Bey and Great Scott McKenzie, and hosts Paul Sevigny, Alvin Valley and Max Snow. Along with this mass of stylish men, Matt Fried, and Barris and Alan Vinogradovi, the trio behind the magazine in question, look dashing as they present Frequency 1 of Gradient Magazine.

Michael Frido

Alex Goldberg and Great Scott McKenzie

Once we are properly intoxicated, we take our Patron Cool Breezes and summery sounding drinks to the street corner to renounce the city’s public drinking laws and continue the festivities. A pregnant and glowing Chessy Wilson arrives, along with Serena Merriman, and photographer Alexis Dahan, who we hear will be photographing another one of our favorites, Lydia Hearst for French Playboy. In the midst of our street side soiree, Michael Frido (Tommy Hilfiger’s nephew) arrives to interview the fashionable crowd for his new TV show “Fame is TV,” debuting in September. I’d rather not admit to my drunken interview by the charismatic Frido, but let’s just say I’m praying that there’s a lot of film left on the cutting room floor. 

Brian McPeck and Paul Sevigny

Nick Haramis, Cayte Grieve, Logan Elsass, and Kristian Laliberte