I’ve already told you guys that often the best parties in NY are the ones that don’t have formal invitations and you hear about via word of mouth. That was exactly what happened with Chez André.

The non-descript club located in the basement of The Standard East Village which quietly made plans to open Friday night helmed by nightlife baron André Saraiva and hotel impresario André Balazs. If you know anything about these two, you know that Saraiva is the creative director for Le Bain at the Standard while operating Le Baron in Chinatown, Tokyo, London, and Paris. Needless to say, their parties are never to be missed.

Given the fact that it was Fashion Week and Friday night, I did not know what to expect at the door, so in an effort to err on the side of caution, I arrived at 11:30 pm. Two flights down a black and hot pink stairwell later, I arrived at the clubs door.

I was expecting to walk into a nearly empty venue, but what I witnessed was quite the opposite. The party was party going full throttle. Seemingly everyone in New York high society was attending the opening night of this club. Models, photographers, socialites, and celebrities littered the once dark basement of the Standard East Village that had been re-imaged as Andréopolis – one of Saraiva’s main artistic works. The mood was whimsical, excited, and it wasn’t even midnight yet. I quickly approached the bar and ordered one of the house cocktails, which was a sort of Absinthe punch mixed with simple syrup, lime, and cucumber.

In the middle of the dance floor there was a stage set up with drums and guitars. I was expecting a secret performer of sorts. I was half right. The performer was… the crowd! They had set up rock karaoke where people from the crowd would go up and perform from a list of available songs. It was amazing. Nothing better than seeing the NY A-list go up there in front of a bunch of people and sing their hearts out to Sweet Home Alabama.

By 1:30am people were getting really into it and then they announced they would have a special guest doing the last song. All of a sudden Theophilus London jumps onto the stage and starts singing James Brown! Of course, not one to miss a special moment, I jumped on stage and started singing right alongside him. It was pretty amazing. Representation from every major photo outlet was there taking pictures – I’m even fairly certain I spotted French Vogue snapping pictures.

From the stage I had a clear shot of all the guests that were in attendance. I was able to spot Oliver Zahm of Purple Magazine looking effortlessly cool, Johan Lindberg from BLK DNM, Derek Blasberg, Glenn O’Brien, Margharita Missoni, Mia Moretti, Waris Ahluwalia, Brad Goreski and many, many others.

Chez André will be open for approximately 22 days (19 now) so I suggest you start thinking of ways to breach the door. By no means will it be an easy task since they are going to be looking to replicate tonight for the next 3 weeks. However, if you do manage to get in through the door and make it down that dark stairwell, you’ll be rewarded with one of the worlds most exclusive and illusive parties filled to the brim with beautiful people.

DOORMAN