(NEW YORK) Girls fanatics, rejoice: the show’s sophomore episodes look like they’re going to be as rollicking, sometimes riotously funny, often unnervingly relatable as the first season, thanks to last night’s world premiere hosted by HBO and the Cinema Society at the NYU Skirball Center. Besides the cast—including jill-of-all-trades wunderkind Lena Dunham, who showed up in a Valentino jumpsuit for the occasion—the screening and afterparty were teeming with a diverse slew including the likes of Steve Buscemi, Mamie Gummer, Michael Stipe, Solange Knowles, Zoe Kravitz, Hilary Rhoda, Questlove, Nas, Stephanie March, and Natasha Lyonne. As for the designer set: Zac Posen, Cynthia Rowley, Alice & Olivia’s Stacey Bendet, Diane von Furstenberg (photo opp-ing with Felicity Huffman, who attended with hubby William H. Macy). Editrix turnout included Teen Vogue’s Amy Astley, T’s Deborah Needleman, Tina Brown, and Joanna Coles.
“I didn’t have as lurid a life when I was in my twenties. I wasn’t as crazy as they are!” recounted Rachel Dratch, who’s got a case of the Dunham girl crush effect. To wit, the pint-sized comedienne’s dream afternoon with Dunham: “God, I would probably just be worshipping at her feet. Then we’d have a milkshake or something. I admire her so much, it’s like she’s older than me—but really, she’s, like, half my age.” You’re not alone in that admiration camp, Rachel!
As for the blokes of Girls? “Oh, they’re attractive, but they seem like attractive people you would not want to date,” Dratch said with a slight shake of the head. But they’d be friendship-worthy, according to one of those dater-be-wary dudes, Alex Karpovsky, who plays the virginity-taking, kinda-paramour of Zosia Mamet’s quick-talking small screen alter ego. “Sure, I’d hang out with them,” said Karpovsky. “A lot of them are really smart, funny, and vulnerable in a way I’m able to relate to.”
Interestingly enough, it turns out exec producer Jenni Konner most relates to one of the show’s lads. “I would be [Karpovsky’s character] Ray: older, not necessarily wiser, and opinionated.” Who better to ask for Girls drinking game instructions than one of the folks with a producers’ bird’s eye view of the whole process and story arc—without further ado, Konner’s pointers for imbibing avec the show. “[Drink when] people say ‘thank you,’ as the other person doesn’t necessarily realizing they’re being insulted. Also, people pronouncing other peoples’ names wrong.” Pencil that one into your weekend plans rightthissecond—all the better (or worse?) if you’re a Girls newbie in need of a full first season viewing session.
Fun fact about Konner, for all you Tracy Anderson acolytes out there: “Jenni is a genius, dear friend of mine, and a client—I adore her!” Anderson raved to your Daily. “Jenni is an A++ client of the Tracy Anderson Method. She’s a rockstar; she’s, like, Gwyneth status.” Talk about a major compliment of the physique variety, non?
Beyond bods and onto fashion, Jemima Kirke, the quirky and no-bullshit ethereal free spirt of the show’s main character quartet, goes sans stylist (and wears threads from her mom’s retooled vintage line, Geminola, as was the case last eve). Apparently, calamity can definitely ensure après-red carpet, with or without a professional on hand. “If I realize I have an hour before I have to be somewhere that I don’t know what I’m wearing, the whole room starts to look like a bomb has hit it,” Kirke confessed. Fashion week plans may be up in the air for Kirke still, but there’s a longtime chum whose runway she’ll definitely be paying a visit to. “I go to see Zac Posen—he’s an old friend of mine. In high school, he used to make dresses for the girls he liked—but he would use Velcro instead of a zipper.”
Costume designer Jenn Rogien got the Times’ “Sunday Styles” treatment last weekend, and her reaction was, well, giddy. “I was beside myself all morning long that day—I couldn’t concentrate for even a moment. I didn’t even know it was going to be in print. I might’ve spent an hour or so running between bodegas and picking up copies.”
It’s not Girls that’s gotten castmate Andrew Rannells upping the fashion ante, but rather the dapperness of his character on a different show currently on-air having an effect on his style prowess. “I’m learning about all of that stuff because of my wardrobe on The New Normal—I’m learning who Marc Jacobs and Vivienne Westwood are. It’s bad. In my real life, I’m more of a J.Crew shopper—I don’t really do the high-end thing,” explained the Hugo Boss-donning actor.
For the masses that descended on Capitale for the tricked-out afterparty, a walk over a massive faux Brooklyn Bridge marked the path towards buffets blanketing the massive room’s parameter. Broiled salmon three ways, anyone, or a carved-steak station, perhaps? Carbo-loading on a cream-sauced pasta bar, hitting up a dumpling-dappled Asian fusion spread, or retrieving a Baked by Melissa cupcake from a gigantic gumball machine were all options as well. For the swag-loving set, there were customizable Havaianas flip flops or on-site manis to be had. And, of course, libations to be consumed, though that likely goes without saying.
ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV
