She is the definition of good vibrations,” Katy Perry said at Stella McCartney’s fashion presentation and party in Los Angeles last night. “Really, Stella, her work is so phenomenal, but she is such a good vibe.” Perry wore a cherry-red, one-shouldered Stella McCartney gown and gushed about the designer after mingling with Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson.
“It’s just always fun, that’s why we come, because it’s not work,” Perry said. “The clothes are so great, they’re just so architectural this season, and it’s just a big fat get together where we can be ourselves, conversate, and meet again. I’m on the road so I’m not able to go to a lot of these things, so it’s fun for me tonight.”
McCartney threw a star-studded “Stellabration” to unveil her autumn/winter 2018 collection, hosted at the Hollywood music venue S.I.R Studios. A neon Time’s Up sign welcomed guests inside, showing support for the women’s initiative. “Celebrities with regular people peppered in,” was how one guest described the milieu. You couldn’t move through the party without bumping into, say, Kate Mara or Rashida Jones, who sweetly shared a booth with her dad, Quincy Jones. We spotted Amber Valletta in an asymmetrical pink ensemble, Paris Jackson with an excellent red fanny pack, and Christina Aguilera wearing a beret with dark sunglasses. David Lynch and David Hockney were there, as were Ed Ruscha and, in a corner, Ringo Starr — no big deal.
The party felt like a music festival, with pizza slices served in boxes emblazoned with Stella’s visage, vegan empanadas, tiny spicy tamales, and mini churros. Models posed among music equipment and old Pac Man machines in various rooms throughout the cavernous space. They flanked a center stage during performances by the likes of Grimes and St. Vincent, swaying in the designer’s gold lamé gowns and orange leopard-print knits.
An extensive music lineup included a set by Beck (supported by the ultratalented Compton Kidz Club Choir), but the true musical highlight was McCartney’s dad Paul, who joined a leather-jacket-clad Beatles cover band onstage to sing “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Helter Skelter.” He and the Dr. Pepper Jaded Hearts Club whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
“My favorite part [of the night] was kissing my lovely baby, who is called Stella,” McCartney told the Cut after his cameo. “[Stella] is a wonderful, talented, hardworking mother of four, who runs a fashion empire. We don’t know how she does it, but she does. And I love her.”
At the evening’s host, Stella floated among her stylish guests and appeared to be having the best time. Wearing an elegant black mini-dress with voluminous sleeves, she greeted friends and thanked the cover band, shimmying and enjoying the fruits of her labor. “Stellaaaa-brate good times, come on!” she quipped. What was her highlight of the evening? “I think my father, getting up and rocking out. I mean, hell!”
