A Saturday Night Shimmy at Colman Domingo’s Pre-Met Gala Party

Reported by Vogue.

The dress code was three words: "Put That Sh*t On." Colman Domingo's second annual pre-Met Gala party at Manhattan's Faena Hotel in West Chelsea left absolutely zero room for hedging. No quiet luxury, no tasteful neutrals — just full commitment to the maximalist bit, enforced by the host himself, who greeted every arriving guest with an embrace and a spin onto the dance floor.

Domingo's own look set the standard. He wore a feathered jacket and matching halter blouson handcrafted by Mexico City-based designer Patricio Campillo — a piece that, according to Vogue, took 20 days of six-days-a-week labor to complete, with rooster feathers sewn on individually. "We needed it to be perfect," Campillo said. Emma Thynn Weymouth answered the feather brief with a white gown trailing a full ten feet behind her. The room got the memo.

Phones Down, Volume Up

Upon arrival, every guest's camera lens got a gold sticker — branded "Xo Colman" — which meant the evening existed, gloriously, mostly off the record. Natasha Lyonne, Alessandro Michele, Haider Ackermann, Marc Jacobs and husband Char Defrancesco, Eva Chen, and Evan Mosseri were among those freed from the performance of documentation. Don Julio Tequila's signature cocktail for the night, called The Catwalk, gave the dance floor its energy — and its name gave guests like Meghan Fahy, Leo Woodall, Nina Dobrev, Gabrielle Union, Heidi Klum, and Coco Rocha the excuse to treat it exactly as advertised. DJs Spinderella and Lina kept the room moving before Jacob Lusk took the stage and belted out Bennie & The Jets to a crowd of people who were, for once, fully present.

Domingo toasted to art, community, and the power of a room full of the right people. "Tonight I want you all to meet a new person," he told the crowd, "because through this community and connection with one another, you have the power to change the world." Next on his agenda: a sci-fi thriller directed by Steven Spielberg — who, reportedly, may have been somewhere in that very building.

In a fashion landscape that keeps flirting with restraint, Colman Domingo's party was a full-throated argument that dressing up — really dressing up — is still one of the best things you can do with a Saturday night.

Read the original at Vogue.