around town with an icon

21 Abr

Everyone always asks me the same question: why do you LOVE New York so much? And before meeting one authentic New Yorker, then the answer for many years was the cliché one: “Gossip Girl, Sex & The City and of course The Devil Wears Prada”. Back in Mexico, I guess we all look up to the US, dreaming with city lights, affairs in a Mr. Big kinda way, the Runway closet and fabulous friends that drink cosmos on Fifth Avenue. Now thirty something (Gabriel) me can tell that New York City is so much better than the movies if you meet the right person, someone that would turn into a friend and that unconditional friend for me has been the one and only Lauren Levison.

Lauren Levison is everything you would expect from a character in a Gossip Girl book: New York host, front rower and a fashion icon. Yes she is fabulous, yes she eclipsed the moon during this year’s Save Venice ball with a look designed by Gilles Mendel but I also confirmed this Spring that it was written in the stars that eventually we would become soulmates.

Of course we met at a New York Fashion Week show, she was front row at Fendi, I was outside doing street style. I got a repost from her and a instant follow back on Instagram happened. Then a season later the Save Venice ball was hosted again, this one the first one at the Plaza and without LSD as THE hostess. I remembered first being very nervous by having just a press pass for the cocktail hour but the second thing that I would never forget is how Lauren Levison introduced me to her friends and in that hour she transformed the place into a fantasy moment. That magic lasted another six months when she celebrated my birthday with Bronson van Wyck at The Core Club.

After that September to Remember, I found out that a 30 year old wish is still as powerful as kid one. My entire life dreamt with a New York friend and it was in 2022 when I finally met her: Lauren Levison. The rest is history and New York became THAT city thanks to a friend that could turn any room into a movie scene.

Yes, I cried writing this article but anyone who knows Lauren Levison can confirm she is that friend that will always believe in your dreams – and will support them. She is that swan that will not swim away or leave anyone behind, she will lead the way inspiring and if needed, strutting a little slower for another swan to keep up with the pack.