On Thursday evening, Mayor Eric Adams walked into a dining room at Gracie Mansion wearing a bright red blazer with polka-dot elbow patches.
“I just love this color,” he said, continuing, “I just pick out of the closet whatever my mood is.” (He didn’t know where he got the jacket from.)
Mr. Adams was co-hosting the CFDA and Spotify NYFW Kick Off party at his official residence with the designer Thom Browne, and the mayor said his mood was “joyful.”
“I was hanging out with fashion folks,” he said, adding, “which I really, really love.” He was sitting at a table adorned year-round with a white tablecloth, two unlit candles and a decorative soup tureen.
Just beyond the room, about 200 celebrities, fashion designers and media figures were packed tightly into a light-blue ballroom in the mansion. As “Bam Bam” by Sister Nancy and “What It Is” by Doechii played through the speakers, guests turned at an angle to shimmy past other attendees, who included Anna Wintour, Stacey Bendet, Gabriela Hearst, Vera Wang, David Lauren, Jordan Roth, Kathryn Newton and young designers from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.
The night before, Mr. Adams hosted a different event on the other side of Central Park. In his opening remarks at a town hall, he addressed the migrant crisis in New York, saying, “This issue will destroy New York City.”
Asked about the impact of those provocative comments, which have been criticized by immigrant advocacy groups and some Democrats as discriminatory, Mr. Adams emphasized that he was referring to the implications of the situation, not the migrants, but he reiterated a similar message.
“The crisis, not the people, the crisis is undermining the economic strength of our city,” he said. “The people want to come here to work, and their inability to do so, they can’t contribute to the city. We’re about to spend $12 billion. It is going to impact our schools. It’s going to impact our police, it is going to impact our streets, it is going to impact everything in our city.”
“And it is just wrong for New York City residents, taxpayers,” he continued. “We came so far from the pandemic, and now this crisis is undermining everything this city has built and recovered from and it is going to hurt our city.”
But during a speech addressing the attendees, Mr. Adams kept the focus on the fashion industry, its place in the city and the delight he takes in getting dressed, often wearing multiple outfits a day.
“It’s a Shakespearean tragedy,” he said, “to go into a city as beautiful as this and not really absorb every aspect of it, and the individuality of our designs, our fashion, our expression.”
Later that night, across the East River, partyers spread out in the lush Lily Pool Terrace of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for cocktails and a dinner hosted by Parfums Christian Dior to celebrate a limited edition bottle of the L’Or de J’adore perfume with the French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel.
Guests walked around votive candles as the Harlem Chamber Players performed alongside the sound of a water fountain. The crowd included Charlize Theron, the brand’s longtime ambassador, as well as Maye Musk, Alexandra Daddario, Rachel Brosnahan, Meghann Fahy, Stephanie Hsu and Thomas Doherty.
Several of the large abstract beaded flowers in “Jean-Michel Othoniel: The Flowers of Hypnosis,” an exhibit that runs through Oct. 22, emerged from the pond. (The limited-edition L’Or de J’adore bottle, which Mr. Othoniel created, features a miniature model of his sculptures and is sold in select Dior stores and on Dior.com for $15,000.)
Inside the Palm House, customized with cream carpeting and temporary walls, guests ate strawberry beet salad and striped bass. A few bubbling, gold-tower centerpieces, designed by Mr. Othoniel, emitted a special edition of the L’Or de J’adore scent into the room.
This was Mr. Othoniel’s first exhibition with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and a return to the borough after his exhibit with the Brooklyn Museum over a decade ago.
“In my work, I want to bring people back to reality,” Mr. Othoniel said. “I want people to enjoy being in the garden, to be protected by a garden out of the world, to be in a beautiful space where they can escape reality.”
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday night, the Strokes took the rooftop stage at Pier 17 at an event celebrating the 40th anniversary of J. Crew.
As the band opened with their 2001 song “The Modern Age,” many of the 600 attendees walked slowly toward the stage, set against the New York City skyline.
“Probably one of the coolest backgrounds we’ve ever had. Thanks, J.,” Julian Casablancas said. (The first J. Crew store opened nearby at the South Street Seaport in 1983.)
The 90-degree evening with little breeze didn’t stop guests from enjoying the melting ice-sculpture tower filled with oysters, shrimp and little neck clams.
At a time when J. Crew is still bouncing back after filing for bankruptcy protection in 2020 — installing Brendon Babenzien as its men’s creative director in 2021 — the question of whether the brand can be “cool” again, hung in the heavy air.
“Anyone know what the J. stands for?” Mr. Casablancas, who was wearing sunglasses, a sleeveless vest and one fingerless glove, asked the audience.
For about half an hour, the band played their classics, including “Reptilia,” “Last Nite” and “Is This It,” as well as deeper cuts like “Hawaii.” The crowd of guests included Joan Smalls, Diane Keaton, Sadie Sink, Adam Scott, Leon Bridges, Jenna Lyons, Cass Bird, Joshua Jackson and Jodie Turner-Smith.
Near the stage, in the front row, a handful of people danced with their full bodies, while the rest of the crowd head-bobbed tastefully.
At the end of the set, Blake Bensman, who said he had been to about 10 Strokes shows, said the rooftop performance was better than others he had seen.
“I have seen them at music festivals in other cities when they were not feeling it,” Mr. Bensman said, adding: “I thought this was going to be a little paid in and out, but I think they had fun.”
