Fun-loving Ivy Getty, who was wearing a tiara to go with her two-tone midi dress from the new range, was tempted to don her own vintage lilac-hued Hervé for the night. It had actually belonged to her late father—a prolific collector of women’s fashion who had left her a sizeable collection of Hervé Léger and Paco Rabanne dresses which she keeps in a warehouse. Meanwhile, Campbell Hunt-Puckett, aka “Pookie,” told Vogue that she still has two of her beloved bandage dresses hanging up in her closet. “I’m always surprised when my girlfriends ask to borrow them, because the dresses are over 10 years old, but they always say that they are the most flattering!”
The Hervé Leger bandage dress is a piece that evokes vivid memories for many. Some people in attendance went into nostalgia-mode as they recalled borrowing one from their mom or big sister—one girl even spoke of slipping into one for her junior homecoming dance. Keller, on DJ duty, noted that she thought bandage dresses were a real “Upper East Side girl thing”—referring to a crew who teamed theirs with Van Cleef jewelry when she was growing up. The look did not appeal to her own mom, the stylist and former Vogue editor Elissa Santissi, she said. But the tides have changed: “I feel like Hervé is cool now,” Keller said.
Ochs, the designer, thinks that one reason for the renewed appeal of the tighter-than-tight silhouette has to do with the pop cultural relevance of brands like Skims. “A few years ago, no one was talking about shapewear, and now, it’s everywhere! We’re doing built-in shapewear, and these girls get it,” she offered.
By the time the party officially ended, most of the fashion week veterans had left the club—it was a school night, after all. Keller was packing up her equipment, handing over to the next DJ readying to take to the stage. However, that didn’t stop the younger crowd from sticking around to dance into the early hours and record TikToks of each other. Some had even ordered bottle service. A duo in their early twenties, who were at their very first fashion week party, said they scoured the rental platform Pickle for vintage bandage dresses upon receiving the invitation. One of them said, proudly, that her grey and black number was the same style worn by Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl season 2, episode 4 The Ex-Files—where she wears the dress to make Dan Humphrey jealous. “I literally couldn’t believe it,” she said, as her friend’s iPhone flash went off while she posed for more pictures.