Down a half-lit cobbled street, somewhere near London’s Green Park and the epileptic lights of Piccadilly Circus, lies members club–cum-nightclub 5 Hertford Street and Loulou’s. Hidden by the blanket of a small market by day, by night—and especially on this night in particular—it tells a different story. The party’s theme was Tokyo decadence, courtesy of long-term collaborators Miu Miu and Love magazine.
Marching past a sea of black cabs, guests turned a corner to enter via the club’s elusive back entrance and navigated their way through crowds of supermodels, editors, and pop stars. Flame-haired supermodel Karen Elson, fresh from closing Giles Deacon’s show, leaned up against a pile of red scaffolding as DJ Chelsea Leyland sneaked. The paparazzi surrounded a Gucci-clad Harry Styles. Down the steep red velvet stairs past TV screens showing Japanese game shows, singer Paloma Faith slipped out of the Tokyo emoticon-themed photo booth. Behind a hidden curtain, a secret bar and tables housed mock VIP rooms: Milliner Stephen Jones, in a top hat and tails, air-kissed his way around one table, as model Poppy Delevingne, arm in arm with sister Cara, took the helm of another table—with Alexa Chung on one side and Burberry model and Miu Miu–wearing Clara Paget opposite her—and took the role of table jester and entertainer.
Those who dared come up for air found themselves in the ornate-tiled, greenhouse-style conservatory, with pink-haired Lily Allen shrieking with laughter in a Little House on the Prairie ruffled blouse by the party hosts. Guests who managed to find the loos were greeted by a gaggle of Japanese girls in pussy-bow blouses and pigtails—and under their arms? Not a Fendi baguette, but gray cats with silk-scarf leashes.
Every now and again a stream of high-pitched giggles would streak past guests—blink and you’ll miss them. These weren’t just your run-of-the-mill waitresses. Harajuku girls, dystopian Tokyo fancy dress, and the entirety of Love magazine’s latest issue—all in a rabbit-hole labyrinth underneath Mayfair? You wouldn’t expect anything less from a magazine that moonlights as London’s bible of cool.
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