Turns out, the Carolina Herrera x Frame collaboration looks just as good for a rainy New York night out as it did on the runway in balmy Mexico City last week. A never-ending downpour outside didn’t dampen spirits, as supermodels and actors donned denim ball skirts and colorful cropped jackets from the line and made their way to the sexy surroundings of subterranean club Gaux Gaux at Chez Margaux to celebrate the partnership.
The collaboration was sparked from something Natalie Massenet, Torstensson’s partner, said nonchalantly while the longtime friends were all hanging out on the sofa chez Gordon. “It’s always Natalie,” the Frame co-founder laughed. Gordon added: “Natalie said she had a really great Herrera top and she wished she had the perfect denim to go with it, so we just looked at each other and said, ‘Shall we make some jeans?’”
It was that easy. “If you work with friends, it’s not like working. It was the easiest partnership I’ve ever done—Wes’ vision is so clear and he has such expertise in fabrication,” Tortensson told Vogue. “The thing about denim and jeans is that you have to partner with an expert and Frame is the best. We use denim all the time, but have never done anything like this. As cool as the company looks from the outside, it’s even cooler on the inside. They’re a dream, and the pieces took our Resort show to another level,” Gordon echoed.
Seeing as the partnership was cooked up at home with friends over a cocktail, it was only fitting to properly toast it in an intimate house party-style setting. (Albeit if your digs are the level of the new Meatpacking haunt, Chez Margaux.) Torstensson and Massenet are no strangers to the recently-opened and much buzzed-about hideaway either; they even celebrated their daughter Isabella’s 25th birthday there earlier this month.
Escaping the rain, guests made their way down the red lacquered staircase and into the privacy of the Gaux Gaux room, settling into the maximalist animal print and velvet haven and enjoying the endless plates of fries floating past. Among their pals who came out to party were Sienna Miller—the quintessential double denim muse, with her Calvin Klein underwear peeking out from the low-slung waistband of her Frame menswear jeans—and her boyfriend Oli Green. In looks from the collection, Broadway star Micaela Diamond and Riverdale’s Erinn Westbrook each took the voluminous ‘Celeste’ denim ball skirt out for a spin in a way that was true to their own personal style, showing the versatility of the fun piece that melds the Herrera and Frame codes perfectly. Frame campaign regular Amelia Gray, meanwhile, opted to load up on the belts and go for a tough girl biker boot while parading about in the fire engine red corset-waist mini skirt. “The shrunken jacket has been really popular,” Gordon noted, nodding to Westbrook’s outfit. “There’s nothing like that out there.”
As the cucumber martinis and ginger margaritas continued to flow, the small room looked like a model casting just wrapped somewhere in the building, as runway regulars like Delilah Belle, Vanessa Fuchs, Ari Fournier, Daiane Sodre, Ava Dash, Hiandra Martinez, Lineisy Montero, Sara Grace Wallerstedt, Renata Zandonadi, Juana Burga, and Daria Strokous caught up and gossiped in corners in their hot-hot-hot Frame leather pants and slinky dresses.
The question on everyone’s lips? Will there be more to come from this meeting of the minds? “I’ve never had a more positive reaction from the industry,” Torstensson noted. “Even snooty people! They did not see it coming. You have to be unexpected, but for us, it was expected and easy because it came from a true place.” Gordon volleyed back with a smile, “It’s the best idea we ever had!”