Looking for a gorgeous event gown that comes in under $600?
Alice + Olivia creative director Stacey Bendet has got you.
“Women want to get dressed up but they also don’t want to spend $10,000 to go to a party,” she told Alexa at her star-studded fashion presentation in the Meatpacking District.
“I think what has happened is a lot of the designers who do evening started pricing things at a place that was just too expensive to be a reality,” explained the designer. “I really try to make our evening wear affordable and it has a lot of value in all the detail.”
The theme of her spring collection is “The Hotel of Imagination.” “I wanted to transport everyone to another time,” said Bendet, whose favorite hotel in the world is Villa TreVille in Positano, Italy, the clifftop resort overlooking the Amalfi Coast where Madonna celebrated her 66th birthday with family and Jennifer Lopez stayed this summer.
“The clothes this season have an old-to-modern couture, like cinched waists and full skirts,” she continued. “Really elegant, but done in these modern and fun whimsical prints and embroideries.”
Bendet’s guests, who included Tiffany Haddish, Olivia Culpo and Sophia Culpo, Paris Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Ava Philippe, Brooks Nader, Bijou Phillips and Paris, Kathy and Nicky Hilton, circled the space admiring the fashion, which was presented on models posing in elaborate vignettes. Isan Elba DJ’d the bash, including tunes from Paris Hilton’s new album, “Bad Bitch Academy,” in her mix.
From a striped sequin minidress and a sparkly caped pink gown to the romantic yellow maxi with a giant hip-height bow, Bendet let her imagination run wild.
Transgender social media personality and actress Dylan Mulvaney, whose one-woman show “F*GHAG” premiered this summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, rocked the brand’s sparkly black minidress with a feathered hem and matching gloves. “I feel like it’s very Great Gatsby,” she said.
“I wear Stacey’s stuff so often, for so many events, because it kind of gives Audrey Hepburn,” said the TikTok star. “Audrey is one of my style icons for sure, but I’ve gotten a little edgier recently. I feel like Julia Fox recently has been a total icon for me, and I also think Dolly Parton if I want to get a little country.”
In the market for Dolly-worthy sequin hotpants?
Bendet has those, too.