Prabal Gurung’s NYFW After-Party Brought the Fashion Pack to Times Square

Prabal Gurung always attracts a merry band of loyalists. They turn to him for expertly tailored power suiting and shimmering, dramatic evening wear, all in beautiful bursts of color. His showing earlier in the day on Roosevelt Island was certainly no exception. They also turn to him for a great night out on the town, and such was the scene on Friday night at Hard Rock Hotel New York’s Times Square rooftop, where an evening billed as a “post-show dance party” unfolded.

With a forecast calling for spots of rain throughout the day and night, one may have expected a slight dip in attendance, but there would be no raining on this parade. “I looked at the weather app before the show, and normally I don’t stress out, but we were having an outdoor show, so I was really stressed,” Gurung told us. “I was going through the final model lineup and asked if the models wanted an umbrella or wanted to take off the shoes, and Anne V, who opened the show for us, said, ‘Babes, your job is to make the clothes, and you did it. Our job is to wear it and walk the runway, and we’re going to do it in heels, without the umbrella, rain or shine,’ so now, after that, I see models as our athletes. They could see the stress on my face, but they were cheering me on, and it really emotional.”

With the unmistakable neon lights of Times Square reflecting from the streets below, fashion-favored DJs Mia Moretti and Mazurbate provided the musical stylings, while libations were left to Wander + Ivy and Johnnie Walker. The designer himself, wearing his soon-to-be-signature tinted eyewear, did not remain ensconced in a banquette. To the contrary, he could be found circulating the room or cutting a rug on the dance floor, surrounded by said loyalists, including Awkwafina, Tiffany Haddish, Simon Kim, Andrew Kwon, Ezra William, Patrick Ta, Felicia Quaning, and Tina Leung, who styled this season’s show, though it was Sarah Hyland who truly kicked off the party by accidentally spilling a drink onto the dance floor, sending everyone into a tizzy of hoots and cheers.

“I chose to have a show on Roosevelt Island at Four Freedoms Park because I wanted people to see it, and chose to have the party in Times Square because it is the heart of New York,” Gurung told us. “We, as New Yorkers, are so snobbish about it, but it really is so magical. The whole collection, honestly, is about the celebration of the spirit of New York. In a time where other parts of the country question our identity, I think it’s important to celebrate New York even more.”