The Cold Magazine threw a Paris Fashion Week SS27 party at Soho House Paris with underground collective United Freaks (“Liquid youth. Lived, unfiltered”) and “that girl on the mic” content creator Emma Winder. Hundreds of our readers flooded the members’ club, ushered in by the duo Batyoust and Junkrish. Here’s what went down.
“Fashion Week nightlife can get predictable,” says United Freaks, which is run by Leonardo Luglio, Eve Chen and Ilan Kantorowicz. “We wanted something more United Freaks: younger, looser, less polished. After linking Paris and London with Borough in June, this was a way to keep that exchange moving. The French have irony, the British have troisième degré. Everyone could take themselves a little less seriously.”
The smoking terrace was packed, the air was warm, and inside was a crowd spinning to the beat of the artists Sid Simons, POL, Lipstains and Electroclashed. “Everyone was dancing on the dancefloor which I crave,” says Winder. “A lot of people are so stiff or scared to let loose but I say f*ck it.” Winder is a 1970s-inspired YouTuber-turned-TikToker-turned-Journalist who brings bags of energy to the function. “I’ve got the hosting bug now and I want to go bigger!!”
The highlight of the week, she says, is seeing old friends and new faces. “PFW I find is the only fashion week where everyone pops out. The unexpected cameos is what keeps me excited every season. Usually it’s not even at shows or parties, it’s in the streets. So don’t be on bad terms with anyone and in Paris during fashion week… You might run into them.”
Batyoust x Junkrish is the Paris duo of Batyst Roussel and Jaz Tazi, two party hosts working where music, fashion and nightlife meet. The cult resto-bar L’Area in Bastille is their stomping round. Tight-knit and in sync, they build nights that feel less like parties and more like cultural rendezvous. “We make sure it’s worth being in: the music, the people, the details. We’d rather produce a night people remember than one they just attended, and we do it together, down to the last detail.”
United Freaks continues: “The line-up stayed close to home: Sid Simons, POL, Lipstains and Electroclashed, moving from rock into electroclash. At one point, boys with turned-up polo collars and loose ties were dancing to Lipstains next to Sphaèros, a goth beatnik and underground Paris icon, under the red velvet of a private members’ club. Slightly absurd, very United Freaks.”
Regarding picking Emma as host, they say: “The first time we met Emma was backstage at La Station, in a room of pale lights, worn leather couches and leather jackets. She had come straight from Soho House in a nightgown and a long white feather scarf. A year later, we were there with Cold Magazine for Fashion Week, and having her host made sense.
“Friends bring friends, someone brings a band, someone else brings a stranger. By the end, nobody quite belongs to the same scene. Maybe fashion needs a little less staging the 99% at République, more worlds colliding, and more fun.”
