Even though I had waited far too long in the rain, soaking my dress and taking my hair from voluminous to frizzy, I was eager to enter Refinery29’s 29Rooms party Thursday night.
Though Marc Jacobs’ party—arguably the most buzzed about social event of New York Fashion Week—was occurring at the same time, I had more eagerly anticipated the chance to explore the 29Rooms, “an interactive funhouse celebrating style & culture.” Oh, and maybe snag a selfie with Drew Barrymore, Zoe Kravitz, and Alexa Chung, the hostesses for the evening.
For better or for worse (and probably the former), the closest to a celebrity that this riffraff muckraker found herself near was two of the Angulo brothers featured in this year’s Sundance hit documentary. The Wolfpack.
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They were also waiting for the shuttle to the party in Greenpoint when I heard a tan blonde girl in a black cut-out jumpsuit squeal “Oh my god, you’re those guys!”
I would intermittently hear her coo, “So, you’re bicoastal?” and wail “Where are my friends?” when she climbed on the bus.
These remarks only confirmed my initial suspicion she was probably determined to sleep with them.
Unfortunately, I lost track of the blonde girl when I get off the bus, and we all beelined for the party. After playing the press card and offering to sell my first-born, I was taken inside and secured my chance to explore the 29Rooms art installations.
Props to Refinery29 for actually doing something innovative with a massive warehouse space in Brooklyn rather than hoping a DJ and free Shake Shack would suffice a crowd fueled by Red Bull, cocaine, and a desire to be seen.
While many of the rooms left me and my friend Katie shrugging our shoulders, there were some stand-out spaces.
Particularly striking among the 29 rooms we explored were the The Youth and the Girls Room. The former room was plastered with photographs taken by Danielle Levitt of teens from all walks of life. Videos of 12-to-16 year olds discussing their views on sexuality and love were the perfect, thoughtful accompaniment.
The latter room was designed by Petra Collins, the artist famous for defying the pubic hair ban on Instagram.
The space was modeled like a girl’s bathroom with a functioning bathtub. A shelf filled with all the lotions, potions, bras, and meds that girls take to beautify, protect, and define themselves cluttered together in a moving mess.
Maybe if my friend and I had been less soaked with rain and more soaked with liquor, we would have enjoyed the 29Rooms more. “We should have gone to happy hour,” I heard someone muse wistfully in the hallway, which captured my thoughts to a tee.
Still, I left the 29Rooms happy to have a bit of art and creativity at a NYFW party, instead of just vodka and Mali.
