The Sullivan Party
Last Thursday night, on the eve of fashion week, the Sullivan sisters launched their brand at Sovereign House, located in an area in the Lower East Side that is now unfortunately gauche to name in any kind of article. As guests began to trickle in, I took a lap around the space. There was a flattering, almost painterly quality to the lighting, and the gothic font of Fritz Lang’s Die Nibelungen, flickered on the far wall.
The theme of the party was “downtown black tie”, which I noted had resulted in a range of looks. I saw a couple that looked like they were attending some sort of old money TikTok wedding. A rather Lynchian seven-foot-tall man in a tie and suit vest posed next to a boy in a Buena Vista Social Club t-shirt. A guy with a waxed mustache pulled out a pipe in the back garden, creating a compelling contrast with the girls in Sandy Liang bows, and low-rise mini skirts.
I chatted with Elena Sullivan, who was warm and eager to discuss the generation of Sullivan’s vision from the sisters’ shared home/studio in Miami. Elena then gracefully excused herself when a friend handed her a bouquet of pink roses. As I wandered towards the bar, I saw that she had placed the bouquet next to the largest bowl of Hestia cigarettes I had ever seen. The Hestias were gone by the end of the night, along with the seed oil-free tortilla chips, in equally generous bowls. Around eleven, one of the hosts, Salomé (@pariahthedoll), waltzed in, accompanied by Anna Khachiyan, sending the e-girls and gays into a buzz. Salomé’s presence was pretty ephemeral, however (I heard she had mass in the morning).
When I spoke with Eva Sullivan later, she told me that the goal of Sullivan as a brand was to materialize the concentric circles that women move in on the internet. Eva described her desire for young women to have the ability to signal a shared aesthetic and cultural vision to each other through elegant, high-quality clothing. Sullivan aims to provide just that, at a better price point than something akin to the Row, and with far greater longevity than a Brandy Melville baby tee. We then proceeded to take a mirror selfie in a distorted full-length mirror that made my arms look super long and slender.
As I sipped my second grapefruit white claw, I saw that one sister’s account, @bimbofolklore had reposted a tweet from Salomé: “i am going to heal all of america's problems (by hosting a fashion week party for hot skinny girls and fat ugly men)”. All jokes aside, I would say that there was something to her plan. I even saw a few people making out.
Juliette Jeffers is an essayist, poet, and lifestyle columnist for Delude Magazine.