GQ Celebrates the Super Bowl With Bode Rec. Fashion Show

On Friday night, celebrities and football stars packed into the cobblestone courtyard of a 19th-century former church at the Hotel Peter & Paul in New Orleans to celebrate Super Bowl LIX weekend, and the newest line from New York label Bode Rec., at the inaugural GQ Bowl fashion show and party.

It was an intimate setting embodying the host city’s distinctive atmosphere of grit, artistry, and carefree bon temps. Guests continuing to attend a hectic stream of back-to-back parties included actor and comedian Pete Davidson, model Taylor Hill, rapper Offset, model Lucky Blue Smith, and influencer Alix Earle and her Miami Dolphins boyfriend, Braxton Berrios.

Will Welch, the global editorial director of GQ and a die-hard Atlanta Falcons fan, said the night celebrated the biggest sporting event of the year while paying tribute to the nostalgia —and future—of the Big Easy.

“So that immediately made me think of Emily Adams Bode Aujla and the Bode project, which is about family history, historical garments, the evolution of American sportswear,” said Welch, wearing a black double-breasted Bode Rec. suit. Bode launched the athletic line last year with a collaboration with Nike, but Friday’s event marked the showing of Bode Rec.’s first runway collection.

Oscar-winning actor Da’Vine Joy Randolph repped her love for the Philadelphia Eagles in a floor-dusting olive leather jacket and matching bustier.

“This is one of my favorite cities. They’re very warm and inviting, and they just know how to have a good time,” said the actor, who added that she’s excited to “pay it forward” and make a new Oscar winner feel special when she takes the stage as a presenter at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Just an hour before the party, guests filed into the cavernous historic church, and the night’s livestream hosts, NFL Live analyst Mina Kimes and Victor Cruz, the former New York Giants wide receiver turned style icon, announced Bode Rec.’s spring 2025 collection. Surprise musical guest Leon Bridges appeared in a Bode navy suede jacket studded with clovers, guitar in hand, to strum the first chords of his melancholic hit “River.”

Bridges serenaded the room as models slipped down the runway under hanging silver stars, wearing military-inspired suits with delicate rope accents and silken sashes, intricately embroidered two-pieces, jackets fringed with tassels, sequin shorts, and knee-high socks. Some carried canvas bags of white flowers, others wore ribbons in their hair, echoing notes of homecoming pageantry. Among the models was New Orleans Saints star running back Alvin Kamara in a blood red fringed suede jacket.

Under the setting sun, guests then paraded down their own runway outside the church—an artificial turf “green” carpet accompanied by GQ Bowl logos made of buttery white flowers—before meandering into a courtyard transformed into a celestial oasis. As the night sky darkened and the music grew louder, they danced to a DJ spinning hip-hop and R&B under hanging stars, disco balls, and crescent moons. They ate New Orleans classics like decadent shrimp and grits and cornbread and jambalaya, also sipping signature cocktails like the Orange Palmer and the GQ marg—or taking straight shots of Glenmorangie’s The Infinita, an 18-year-old single-malt whisky.

The courtyard was crammed by the time Grammy-winning artist SZA arrived surrounded by security and fashionably late, wearing a dress of deconstructed white shirts and white stiletto heels—just two days before she would join Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl halftime show—and grabbing the attention of a group of Bode Rec. models and nearly everyone else.

Bridges said it felt “transcendent” to perform in the restored church, a space with dusty pink plaster walls and floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows. Football has been a through line in Aujla’s designs since her first collection, making this “incredible” timing for her spring 2025 show, she said.

“Bode Rec. really revolves around this theme of how sports and athletic apparel and recreational apparel has affected us as a culture, and how it informs our society today,” said the designer, looking effortlessly elegant in a tailored tuxedo jacket over a sheer black shirt with white embroidered clasps. Aujla, an Atlanta native, added that she, for one, was loving the warm Southern evening and 80% humidity.

The excitement of football’s premier night was also in the air, and guests dressed on a spectrum of sporty to cocktail chic—in minidresses and sports jackets, stilettos and sneakers—with Benito Skinner making perhaps the most explicit nod to football in a mesh jersey and wide-leg brown corduroy pants.

The comedian and actor, who spent time in New Orleans while filming Queer as Folk, had already tried a po’boy (sandwich) and the classic beignet (fried dough) at Café du Monde. He joked that his favorite thing about football is the fashion: “I love the silhouettes.”

The stars were mixed on their allegiances, and rapper Flavor Flav said he was torn between his favorite quarterback, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, and his favorite running back, the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley.

Aside from SZA, the most popular party attendee might just have been the late-arriving Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers truck (one who eats meat must have fried chicken in New Orleans), in front of which not even SZA herself could resist striking a pose.