It’s a few minutes after midnight on the first Monday in May, and Paul Anthony Kelly, dressed in Dior and hot on the heels of attending his first Met Gala, is fired up. The Love Story actor has just walked into the bumping foyer at The Twenty Two, where The GQ Party is already underway, and the night somehow still feels young. “It’s been a whirlwind, and I’m here for it,” he tells me. Tonight, he is manifesting “enjoyment. I’m just along for the ride.”
That’s not entirely true: Kelly is actually co-hosting this joyful manifestation alongside GQ global editorial director Adam Baidawi, Chase Infiniti, Damson Idris, BLACKPINK’s LISA, and GQ global fashion correspondent Samuel Hine. On a night with plenty to do, The GQ Party, presented by Samsung Galaxy and YouTube, offers a particularly vibey room. The walls of the Cafe Zaffri at The Twenty Two New York wear moody floor-to-ceiling burgundy curtains, red blossoms dot each surface, and the centerpiece ring-shaped bar acts as the party’s welcoming center. Tucked into a cozy booth nearby is Olivia Rodrigo, who’s chatting with the painter Chloe Wise. (Later in the evening, Zack Bia would occupy the same table with netizen rapper Yeat.) On the other side of the room, Babyface is holding court at a corner table. Central Cee holds down a corner in a sparkly Chanel beanie.
No surprise that The GQ Party boasts a crowd who know how to dress for fun. Luke Evans, arrives in the Tom of Finland-inspired getup that he made waves with on the steps of the Met (and on the internet). Eager to talk to him about his “leather daddy” moment, I head towards the tunes emanating from The Dare’s DJ booth, where I find Evans—currently starring in the just-opened The Rocky Horror Show revival on Broadway—still clad in his studded, reddish-brown leather set by Palomo Spain. As it turns out, Vogue’s Anna Wintour not only approved but encouraged the ensemble, according to Evans: “She said, ‘Luke has to look sexy.’” Mission accomplished.
Also by the DJ booth is the musician Cai Xukun, a.k.a. Kun, who walked the Met steps dressed in a crimson-streaked Thom Browne suit with a single red contact lens to match. The Chinese singer is, jovially, full of questions: “Can you smoke cigars in here?” (Sadly no.) “Who are all these people?” (Well, there’s Central Cee over there… “Oh, I like him.”) “Where is LISA?” (She’s on her way!)
Everywhere, supermodels and pro athletes mingle with Grammy nominees and newly minted superstars. Around 2 a.m., GQ Party co-host Chase Infiniti, in a silky chartreuse dress, arrives and tells me she “can’t believe” her evening of after-parties is just getting started. Attending the Met Gala, she says, was a “bucket list thing for me, and I’m just so happy I got to actually go.” As she swans into the room, she shouts, “Anyone wanna dance?”