David LaChapelle, Gigi Hadid, and Jonathan Cheban Bring the Party Back to New York City

“I know you didn’t just cut me,” a young man with Marie Claire magazine connections said to the couple standing directly in front of us in the press line outside Fotografiska New York on Park Avenue. This was a puzzling statement, given that the line hadn’t moved in at least five minutes, and the confused-looking couple had been standing there just as long as we had. New York is back, baby!

As action-packed September, beginning with New York Fashion Week, blooms bright and crisp after the endless, sweaty drudgery of August, so too arrives “Make Believe.” It’s an entire-building takeover exhibition at Fotografiska showcasing the oeuvre of David LaChapelle, a prolific photographer and Warhol mentee whose famed celebrity portraits amount to just a fraction of his provocative, pop-sheened, deeply spiritual output.

Instagram and TikTok Go to War at New York Fashion Week

“The loss and reestablishing of faith, and a huge thread of environmentalism” are themes that persists throughout LaChapelle’s work, Amanda Hajjar, Director of Exhibitions at Fotografiska, told The Daily Beast on Thursday evening. “[LaChapelle] has specifically chosen a lot of artwork and photographs for the show that have required years of planning and meticulous construction and craftsmanship.” LaChapelle declined interviews at the party, but The Daily Beast reached out to the photographer for comment.

Even if you’re not familiar with the name, you know LaChapelle’s work: he’s responsible for the iconic 1999 Britney Spears Rolling Stone cover that introduced her to the world as a teen sex symbol, as well as the album art for Travis Scott’s smash hit Astroworld. But the “Make Believe” standouts are series like Jesus is My Homeboy, a 2003 project that envisions Christ as a fixture on the Lower East Side, and an opulent still life that contrasts early aughts cell phones with lush fruit and flower arrangements and a chipped wine glass.

On Thursday evening, the Park Avenue photography museum threw a party celebrating the exhibition’s debut. The cranky Marie Claire guy was basically the nightlife ostiary: once inside, guests of all ages and states of artful undress (a couple of people were rocking nightgowns) were treated to a kaleidoscope of cosmopolitan types roaming the museums six floors, all of which were packed to the gills with LaChapelle’s hyper-perfect feminine visions, landscapes, religious scenes and intimate portraits.

While descending Fotografiska’s back staircase, I caught a glimpse of model Gigi Hadid through a swiftly closing oak door (no doubt barring entrance to the VIP party). Nicky Hilton, younger sister of Paris, was in attendance, as was Jonathan Cheban, Keeping Up With the Kardashians’s resident FOODGOD and Kim’s intimate friend.

“I’ve been seeing LaChapelle’s stuff for so many years, and it’s so fun to have this in New York and to bring this specific life back to New York,” Cheban, sporting a neck tattoo of a fork, knife and spoon, told The Daily Beast. “New York was really dead a week and a half ago, and this feels like one of the old school events.”

Earlier that afternoon, Queen Elizabeth II had passed away, which I couldn’t resist bringing up when Cheban mentioned he’d just come back from a trip to London (“London was on fire” dining-wise, Cheban reports).

“I was devastated, it’s been a terrible news day,” Cheban said of the queen’s passing. “Long live the king now, I guess!”

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