OH, WHAT A NIGHT!
With festive gatherings on hiatus, we asked some of our favourite party people to share their most memorable revels
‘Never miss a party,’ F Scott Fitzgerald once advised. ‘Good for the nerves, like celery.’ We couldn’t agree more, and yet the writer’s pearl of wisdom jars slightly at this point in time – his Twenties were infinitely more roaring than ours have been thus far. Instead of a storm of embossed invitations, elegant e-vites and enticing impromptu shindigs, we have a pandemic, and so we are staying in. We must have sympathy for Warhol types, who suffer from what the artist called ‘Social Disease’, an affliction that could only be soothed by painting the town red. But for others who are susceptible to festive-season fatigue, this year’s enforced sabbatical from socialising presents a rare opportunity to batten down the hatches, lower the kitchen lighting and dance our way through December at home. As the Flash! editor of this magazine, I am bereft at the lacklustre state of this holiday season; still, going cold turkey from Christmas get-togethers for one year might be exactly what is needed to revive our collective appetite for going out.
In the meantime, we should take heart from Britain’s long and healthy history of partying – a pursuit we enthusiastically return to time and again, through adversity, war, poverty or plague, and one that transcends class, race, age and gender. From druidic ceremonies and mediaeval carousing to raves, discos and club culture – not to mention tea dances at the Savoy, open-air fêtes champêtres, blacktie banquets, cocktail soirées and costume balls – it has been at the heart of our nation since time immemorial.
The fashion world has long excelled at after-dark occasions in spectacular venues, including museums and moored ships. Most coveted are invitations to designers’ homes: the suppers the late Azzedine Alaïa held in his Paris apartment until 2016 were legendary, and the parties thrown by Ganni’s Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup are a highlight of Copenhagen fashion week. In London, Alex Eagle’s Soho loft is the haunt of the capital’s most stylish women, and Molly Goddard often makes her shows part-catwalk, part-dinner party.
Perhaps we ought to take a leaf out of their books, and embrace the art of having fun at home. This party season may not hum with glamorous high jinks, but Covid can’t cancel Christmas entirely. So, pick a dress, open the fizz, put on a playlist and peruse our contributors’ memories of merrymaking on the following pages… then turn up the volume and make some of your own. charlotte brook