How Marc Jacobs, Doja Cat, and Half of Instagram Made Fashion Week ‘Heaven’

The Marc Jacobs Heaven party, a rave-themed New York Fashion Week rager at Elsewhere celebrating the designer’s affordable cool-kid line, felt like a hilariously messy, Pzaz Energy Mist-sponsored, laser light-flooded clout convention for the online-famous and the actually famous. The choice of locale, Bushwick’s semi-mammoth mainstay nightclub, was a stroke of genius.

Heaven, launched by Jacobs in 2020, is a polysexual line of 90s kid catnip: oversized sweaters with a scowling daisy design; hip-hugger cargo miniskirts, etc. The new collection’s campaign, featuring Doja Cat, Charli XCX and Pamela Anderson, features the stars rocking ensembles that’d look perfectly at home in the Crazy Town “Butterfly” video.

On Saturday night, the vibes were evident immediately upon arrival: a tall kid in his early 20s was dashing around, shouting at everyone in line who’d listen that he was on the list. He claimed he was DJing later and that he’d texted Marc, who personally said he could come inside. The door guys were unmoved. “They have to let me in,” another girl huffed, shoving her phone in her friend’s face. “I have 20k followers on Instagram!”

Opener Yaeji serenaded the crowd with a brief breakbeat set. Charli XCX, a.k.a. Bushwick’s Madonna, next took the stage with gigantic teased orange-and-black hair to knock out “Vroom Vroom” and “Boys” with ease before garage revivalist PinkPantheress sailed through her most popular songs.

Then things started to go off the rails. As the crowd packed with beautiful influencers got increasingly drunk, Doja Cat’s stage time devolved into chaos almost as soon as it began, due, she said, to the fact that she and her team had been sent the wrong tracks. “I wish I could do a Twitter poll and give everyone what they wanted,” she said sadly, also admitting that she hadn’t rehearsed in months. Enclosed in the VIP booth, Charli XCX looked quietly aghast.

In between multiple starts and stops, Doja played classic tracks like “Pretty Rave Girl” and apologized repeatedly, but pulled it off in the end: “Wanna do ‘Get Into it (Yuh)’ and just get the fuck out of here?” The crowd cheered.

By the time Canadian phenom Kaytranada got behind the turntables, all bets were off: a blonde girl in a whale tail thong bum-rushed the stage twice and had to be confined to a corner by security guards.

Amongst the confusion, the night had a clear high point: “Welcome to New York!” English transplant PinkPantheress yelled as “Just for Me” began to play. “I love Taylor Swift.”

Sergio Hudson

Sergio Hudson’s latest collection falls in the third year he’s presented at New York Fashion Week, and in that brief span of time, the bold, spirited sensibility of Hudson’s going-out jumpsuits and CEO-appropriate belted greatcoats have caught the eye of Michelle Obama and Kendall Jenner alike. Hudson’s latest collection is an exercise in 80s supermodel bombast, from the campy olive green minidresses to the ultra-teased updos.

The designer was clearly most inspired by the power suit, though: pointed shoulder padding, prominent lapels and subtly flared trousers in an array of jewel-toned hues would look equally appropriate on Ashley Darby, a cast member from the Real Housewives of Potomac who happened to be in the audience, or on one of the dozens of anatomically perfect TikTok “creators” who were animatedly networking as we queued to take our seats. Helen Holmes

Theo Wargo/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows

Private Policy

Private Policy presented a collection that was so many things to so many different groups of people. The brand has been shifting their focus toward gender fluidity, which was evidenced by silhouettes of hoodies and T-shirts that easily translated to either men, women, or non-binary models. This season, they also featured a plus size model on their runways. Their commitment to gender fluidity couldn’t have been better evidenced than by a post-runway finale performance by “RuPaul’s Drag Race Thailand” star Pangina Heals. It was a runway show where there really was a little something for everybody. Kristopher Fraser