Guests were already marveling at the space when Parker Posey breezed through in a Gucci faux fur, pink moon-shaped glasses, and pistachio satin Roger Vivier slippers. For decades, Posey has influenced how New Yorkers dress, but thanks to her scene-stealing turn as a Lorazepam-sipping matriarch on The White Lotus, she’s found herself squarely in the fashion zeitgeist once again.
“I’ve got a stylist now! Her name is Leith [Clark]. It’s a different game than it was when I started out. It’s so fast-moving. But I’m here for the ride, and I’m loving it,” Posey told Vogue.
“Style gets me out the door,” she added, adjusting the scarf-like necktie of her silky bronze Palmer Harding gown. “I like thinking of other characters. This dress is kind of Esmerelda, kind of genie—bewitchy and playful. It reminds me of someone who might introduce a mystery night on 1970s television.”
Surveying the crowd, Posey reflected on her grandmother’s love of boutiques and the way she’d come home to recreate what she’d seen. “The style and fashion now is speaking to me in a way that feels personal,” she said. Fresh off her first-ever Fashion Month appearances—front row at Gucci and Valentino and, more importantly, tearing up the dance floor at the after-parties—Posey is fully on board with Printemps’ experiential, European approach.
“It’s all so thought-out. We need anything that brings that European vibe to the city—a place for people to mingle. And I love Gregory Gourdet. I have his cookbooks and I’ve made his smashcakes,” she said, referring to the venture’s lauded culinary director.
Gourdet, dressed in a berry-colored velvet suit, oversaw the festivities as the party carried on towards 11 p.m. Salon Vert, the 32-seat raw bar, and the ultra-elegant Champagne bar—tucked within the spa and beauty area—buzzed with executives, publicists, stylists, and editors sipping bubbles. Upstairs, Noah Cyrus performed a set of her chart-topping tracks, while DJ and actress Francesca Keller spun downstairs. “I think this place is definitely going to fill the Barney’s-sized hole in my heart,” one guest enthused.
Exploring the veritable labyrinth of luxury—past the couture salon displaying Jean Paul Gaultier and Yves Saint Laurent treasures, the jewel-box bathrooms, and down the spiral staircase—guests eventually arrived at the storied Red Room. Once the reception room for Irving Trust and Bank Company, its 33-foot-high ceilings and gilded red-and-gold mosaic mural by Hildreth Meière earned it landmark status last year. Now, it houses Printemps’ jaw-dropping shoe selection.
The old Manhattan saying goes, “Scatter my ashes at…” Well, you know the rest. But after last night, the appropriate addendum might be: reincarnate us as an Amex Black Card–wielding V.I.C. at Printemps.
