A bit of summer rain didn’t deter a gaggle of young stars and New York scenesters from enjoying the fifth annual Summer Party on the High Line, a do hosted by fashion brand Coach and fundraising group Friends of the High Line. The elevated park on Manhattan’s West Side plays host to a series of annual events championed by the organization, which raises 98 per cent of the High Line’s annual budget by drawing philanthropic heavyweights, big brands and gen-next givers to the unique space. All the proceeds of the fete, underwritten by Coach, go directly toward the upkeep of the park and its year-round public programs.
During the event, I spotted Coach CEO Victor Luis chatting with royal-turned-wrap-dress innovator Diane von Furstenberg; she has been integral to the development of the High Line and, more broadly, the regeneration of New York’s Lower West Side, where her hybrid retail/living space is located. The party was also staged partly on the Diller–von Furstenberg Sundeck, a High Line space named for the designer and her media executive husband, Barry Diller.
The party continued into the evening as guests – some wearing headbands made of flowers – ate ice cream, played croquet, danced to DJ Sam French’s tunes and posed for cameras (both of the professional and personal variety) as the sun set over the Hudson River. In attendance (and primarily dressed by Coach) were actors Kate Bosworth, Chloë Grace Moretz and Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka; models Chloe Nørgaard, Dylan Penn and Suki Waterhouse; bloggers Natalie Joos and Style Bubble’s Susie Lau; singer-songwriter Sophie Auster and her boyfriend, photographer Zac Sebastian; artist Thierry Guetta (also known as Mr. Brainwash); milliner Gigi Burris; Harlem’s Studio Museum curator Thelma Golden; stylists Logan Horne and Keegan Singh; Coach creative director Stuart Vevers; event host committee members including Julia Alschuler (daughter of HR&A Advisors chairman John), socialite Serena Marron, Eric and Noah Wunsch, and Bernard Lagrange of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; Friends of the HighLine co-founder and executive director Robert Hammond; and vice-president of planning and design Adam Ganser.
