Baz Luhrmann Played Bartender at His 2025 Met Gala After-Party, Serving Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and More

Forget crying at the club—at Baz Luhrmann’s party, he’ll jump behind the bar if he feels like it. The ever-theatrical director surprised guests by personally shaking up chilled Bombay Sapphire martinis at 3 am during his post-Met Gala soirée at his own East Village boîte, Monsieur. Why not? He owns the place, after all.

True to its East Village roots, the evening felt less like a conventional after-party and more like a decadent Halloween rave—equal parts glamorous, goth, and a little surreal. Sarah Snook was among the first to arrive, holding court in a candlelit corner wearing a sweeping black velvet gown by anOnlyChild. Luhrmann had just seen his fellow Aussie star in The Picture of Dorian Gray on Broadway days earlier.

Elsewhere in the trinket-filled lounge, Heidi Klum channeled classic St. Mark’s Place cool in a white ribbed tank and leather pants, sipping a beer as Chubby Checker’s “Doing the Twist” pulsed through the speakers. When legendary club kid Dianne Brill heard it, she couldn’t resist the dance floor.

Luhrmann tapped DJ Daisy O Dell for an ambitious six-hour set, reprising her role from Monsieur’s opening night. Her playlist was as eclectic as the fashion in the room—when Toni Basil’s “Mickey” came on, Vetements designer Guram Gvasalia swept a sequin-clad Catherine Martin (Luhrmann’s wife and longtime creative partner) into a gleeful spin across the floor. Not far off, Luhrmann was dancing with Anna Sawai, who had changed into a vintage J’adore Dior baby tee—a look any East Village It girl would covet.

The mood was hazy, secretive, and just smoky enough to feel like a 3 am fever dream. Still, Haider Ackermann looked razor-sharp in a tailored suit as he glided through the crowd. And then, like a sudden burst of paparazzi flash, in came Sabrina Carpenter, Jenna Ortega, Charli XCX, Rosé, Jeremy O. Harris, Natasha Lyonne, and Julia Fox—forming a final wave of post-Gala party-hoppers who clustered around the bar with grilled cheeses in one hand and cigarettes in the other.

Surveying the scene? Dustin Pittman—the nightlife photographer who once captured over 100,000 images of New York’s underground between the ’60s and ’80s, now the author of New York After Dark. One imagines this very night might make it into volume two.

Meanwhile, behind the bar, Baz was still going strong—cocktail shaker in motion as Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” blasted from the speakers. A fitting soundtrack, if ever there was one.