First Lady Dr. Jill Biden Surprised Gabriela Hearst at Her Dance Party with Net-a-Porter

Last September in Paris, when Gabriela Hearst took to the runway for her final bow as the creative force behind Chloé, she did not stifle back tears or offer a sheepish wave to show-goers. Instead, in a moment of immense celebration that had the crowd on their feet, she danced her way down the catwalk flanked by Mangueira, a Samba school from Brazil.

This is all to say that Hearst likes to celebrate her pivotal career moments with this sort of contagious merrymaking, often with a dance party, and that’s why partygoers on Thursday night were invited to welcome an exclusive capsule collection with Net-a-Porter under her eponymous brand weren’t asked to attend just another store cocktail gathering or presentation. Instead, they would have to dance.

Descending down the staircase of the subterranean members club, The Doubles Club, awash in pink and red stripes and usually the site of prim holiday luncheons, one could feel the thud of the speaker’s bass, and as the door swung open, a greeting of disco lights and bouquets bursting with fuchsia peonies that matched the room’s signature geometric carpeting. Shrimp cocktails on ice and many, many pigs in a blanket made the rounds, but in the center of the room stood one tuxedoed waiter serving up vanilla ice cream from a hulking silver chalice to guests including Helena Christensen, Veronica Webb, Net-a-Porter’s Alison Loehnis, Rebecca Hall with husband Morgan Spector, and Bianca Jebbia, dressed in a festive Day of The Dead look.

Holding court throughout was Hearst herself, who, in addition to launching this 34-piece collection with Net-a-Porter, was also celebrating her birthday, and what better present than an appearance from The First Lady? Yes, at 8:30 PM sharp, in a sea of Secret Service security guards, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden arrived with a bouquet of cellophane-wrapped flowers for the birthday girl, and no less than 10 minutes later, she was on her way out. “It’s like the room slowed down,” quipped one party guest. “Did that really just happen?”