There was nary a slider nor a cupcake in sight at the party for fashion guru Simon Doonan’s newest book, Gay Men Don’t Get Fat, hosted at the W Washington D.C.’s Altitude Ballroom on Wednesday night. With a menu inspired by the tongue-in-cheek diet guide, 75 V.I.P. guests sipped on "Skinny Boy” cocktails—that’s vodka, champagne, and strawberry lemonade—and nibbled on passed hors d'oeuvres like chicken skewers, spicy pineapple bites, and sushi.
"The gayest thing you can serve is sushi," said Doonan, creative ambassador at large for Barneys New York, during the V.I.P. hour. "If you think about it, you're taking big, sloppy bits of fish and turning them into little bon bons."
The hot pink and floral book jacket for the book, a play on Mireille Guiliano's bestseller, French Women Don't Get Fat, also served as inspiration for the evening’s decor. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom added furniture in eye-popping pink, from plastic pink armchairs to pink quilted bars with backdrops made from 24 feet of live flowers from H. Bloom. For book signings at the 6 p.m. V.I.P. reception and the 7 p.m. public party with 100 guests, Doonan sat at a glass desk on a raised platform, behind a frame designed to imitate a Barneys window. DJ Shea Van Horn played a mix of groovy French tunes and songs by Grace Jones and Petula Clark for the V.I.P. hour, transitioning to pop songs by artists like Robyn during the public reception.
The D.C. book party was part of the W Washington D.C.’s Happenings series. “We are here to highlight the W’s passion points, and one of their passion points is fashion," said BrandLinkDC's Jayne Sandman, who produced the event. "Obviously Simon is a fashion icon. And he loves the W, as he’ll tell you."