“You’re all beautiful!” As the clock ticks toward 2 a.m. ET, FKA Twigs is standing on the bar at The Standard’s Boom Boom Room, peering out onto a sea of guests who are celebrating the first Monday in May (May 6), otherwise known as the day of the Met Gala.
“You’re all living your lives in this weird world being yourself, and I think that’s enough,” the singer said.
By now you already know that the Met Gala is the cultural happening of the calendar year — a night as fashionable as it is hyped. But if the party of the year occurs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it’s the afterparties that feature even more head-turning moments. And the Meatpacking District’s Boom Boom Room is known for being the epicenter of the chaotic cool that follows the annual bash.
Sporting my best hand-me-down jacket and polished (Windexed) shoes, I ventured to scope out the scene. What I found was a space adorned with massive towers of fresh flowers (the theme of the party was “The Garden of Time,” after all), and a cavalcade of guests in plant-inspired outfits trickling in around midnight amid an effervescent odor of lilacs.
Columbia Records labelmates Lil Nas X and Camila Cabello came in hand-in-hand, the former rocking long leather shorts, the latter in a full-on leather dress.
After stopping to greet the party’s host, Twigs, they posed seductively for the camera and were gone just as quickly as they arrived. It was a big day for Cabello, who reportedly wore a 15-pound dress that boasted 250,000 crystals earlier in the night. She also nabbed the attention to announce the details for her new album C,XOXO, which drops June 28.
Among the starry crowd at The Standard were an array of names from Sam Smith to Moses Sumney, as well as Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, who held court sitting in a corner that looked out over the skyline near the penthouse space’s entrance. (I briefly considered asking for a discount on Prime). Elsewhere, A$AP Ferg, Lourdes Leon and Tony Award-winner Alex Newell were spotted.
Revelers were rushing in and out as the 2024 party scene proved to be a busy one: Usher threw a “Secret Garden”-themed bash at the Times Square Edition which wooed the likes of Ne-Yo, while Mr. Halftime himself later headed to an after-hours bash hosted by Richie Akiva at the chic members-only space Casa Cipriani, where the likes of Cardi B (who hosted her own afters), Offset, Doja Cat and Teyana Taylor were spotted.
Meanwhile, Apres hosted a bash with a guest list that included Bad Bunny, Lana Del Rey, Charli XCX and Jaden Smith. At an afterparty thrown by Stella McCartney, Rita Ora and Shakira made the guest list at the Upper East Side’s Casa Cruz.
Back inside the Boom Boom Room, the space celebrated its 25th anniversary of Met Gala parties, with FKA Twigs joining a stacked history (Lizzo, Cardi B and Katy Perry all hosted their own soirées over the years at the space). And lest we forget, it was in an elevator at this party exactly 10 years ago that the famed skirmish which inspired Beyonce’s Lemonade took place. So, yes, this venue is historic.
“The Boom Boom Room for the Met Gala afters is the spot to be, and it’s where it’s always been,” said New York City-based DJ and producer Ty Sunderland, who flew in from Lisbon earlier in the day. “I had to, because it’s one of the biggest nights in New York City to go out.”
To mark the occasion, Twigs used the opportunity to preview two as-of-yet unreleased tracks. “Would you mind if I played a couple of songs for you tonight?” she teased to cheers from the audience. “I’m up here like it’s a performance, it’s not,” she quickly clarified from atop the bar. “I’m just sharing it with you.” While her last full release was the 2022 mixtape Caprisongs, Twigs last released an album in the form of 2019’s Magdalene.
Accompanied by British DJ and producer Koreless (“he’s the best”), Twigs bobbed her head as a pulsating beat blasted through the space, crooning lyrics like “call me up” and singing along to the chorus.
“This is my gift to you,” she said into the microphone. “Thank you for following me, thank you for supporting me. You all mean the world.” It must have been whiplash for the singer, who just last week was in front of a very different microphone: speaking to the U.S. Senate about the dangers of AI.
By 3 a.m. ET, the 2024 iteration of the bash was officially coming to a close; the only guests left being tipsy stragglers, members of FKA Twigs’ team and Boom employees.
At that point, petals from aforementioned fresh flowers were on the floor and the cleanup had begun. As I made my way down the elevator, gawkers were outside on the street below. Now across the city, and the fashion world, the question inevitably turns to: What’s the plan for next year?
