Sunday night, TELFAR hosted a monumental party at The Well, 272 Meserole Street, Brooklyn, in celebration of his new unisex-uniform for fast food chain White Castle’s nearly 400 locations and 10,000 team members nationwide! The original party venue at White Castle in LeFrak City, Queens — where the designer was born, raised and lives to this day, was shut down by the NYPD 72 Hours ahead of the celebration, despite 6 months of planning and proper permitting leading up to.
The party last night was a show of solidarity as thousands of TELFAR’s fans showed up, showing their commitment to the charity this event went towards, and captured the surreal spirit of TELFAR’s past New York Fashion Week Afterparties at the White Castle in Times Square that have become legends of New York nightlife.
Venus X, Total Freedom, Joseph Labeija DJed sets for the night, followed by a duet between Dev Hynes (of Blood Orange) with Brooklyn-based R&B chanteuse Ian Isiah. The party finished with a surprise performance by Cam’ron and Akinyele to over a thousand fashion-fans!
From Liberia to Lefrak to Paris; from White Castle customer to their uniform-designer; from the heart of Queens to the runways of New York Fashion Week — and now as a finalist in the coveted Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund — TELFAR is a quintessentially American story.
To share this narrative, Telfar has designed a limited edition Capsule Collection with White Castle which debuted at the event (now available atShop.Telfar.Net) and 100% of White Castle Proceeds goes to the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights – Liberty and Justice fund to bail minors off of Rikers Island. The collection of nine stylish streetwear staples features the Telfar X White Castle mash-up logo and celebrates the communities that call White Castle their own: the Bronx, Bushwick, East New York, Harlem, and LeFrak City Queens.
A ZIP-CODE shirt style (featuring the Zip Code of the White Castle near Telfar’s home he grew up in) is available exclusively at the White Castle restaurant in LeFrak City, Queens — and can be purchased straight off the menu and comes in a customized Crave Case! White Castle will be rolling out 6 more Zip Code shirts nationally locations in Detroit, Chicago, St Louis and Columbus Ohio.
Guests included Telfar Clemens, Babak Radboy, Jamie Richardson (White Castle), Avena Gallagher, Cam’ron, Venus X, Dev Hynes, Alec Reinsten (Despot), Ian Isiah, Ashland Mines (Total Freedom), Joseph Labeija, Stuart Comer (MoMA), Piper Marshall (Curator, Mary Boone), Torey Thorton (Artist), Marcelo Krasilic (Photographer), Daniela Latilia (Performance Artist), Corey Walsh (Artist), Pati Hertling (Curator), K8 Hardy (Artist), Tschabala Self (Artist), Lizzi Bougatsos, (Artist) Raul Lopez (LUAR), David Moses (Vaquera), Claire Sully (Vaquera), Esther Gauntlett & Jenny Cheng(Gauntlett Cheng), Alex Wiederin (Buero New York), Ruth Gruca (MADE), Becca McCharen-Tran (Chromat), Felix Burrichter (Pin-Up), Torraine Futurum, Joseph ‘Gitoo’ Wright, Julia Fox, Hanne Gaby Odiel, Luke Gilford, Lola Kirke (Actress), Zoe Kestan, Matheus Lima, Haley Wollens, Paloma Elsesser, Niki Takesh, Richie Shazam, Madeline Poole, Gia Garison, Sarah Abney, Charlotte Kidd, Jude Liana, Camilla Venturini, Crystal Moselle, and more.