Conversations in New York City this week have been laced with a tinge of anxiety or excitement for Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals, which the Knicks played in on Wednesday night for the first time since 1999.
The chatter inside Katz’s Delicatessen, on the Lower East Side, was no different as the fashion crowd and associated influencers gathered to celebrate Prada Mode, a traveling culture series organized by the Italian fashion house, which began on Wednesday and will run through Sunday.
During lulls in conversation, attendees checked the basketball score as guests, including the actress Hunter Schafer and the poet Amanda Gorman, were offered pastrami sandwiches and a menu of deli staples by Sam Lawrence, the chef at Bridges in Chinatown.
“I saw tip off, which gave me a bit of the texture of the game,” said the stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. “I have to leave before the night ends to catch the rest of it. I have a feeling New York will turn up tonight.” (She was right. The Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 105-95.)
The first two days of Prada Mode are invite-only events at Hotel Chelsea, where guests will be treated to workshops, music performances and talks. The series will open to the public on Friday with art installations on view at several locations across Manhattan.
This iteration of the cultural series, the program’s 14th, is anchored by an art installation by Hideo Kojima, the Japanese video game designer who created the Metal Gear game franchise, and Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish film director behind “Drive.” The exhibit, which is staged in three rooms on the first floor of Hotel Chelsea, seeks to explore the deep friendship between the artists, despite a language barrier.
“It’s an experience between myself and Hideo, who very much feel that we’re twins,” Refn said on Wednesday. “We have never had a conversation, because we don’t speak each other’s languages, so we’ll never actually communicate with words. We can only communicate through images and music.”
Staging cultural events like readings, providing funding for filmmakers or producing films like Saint Laurent did with “Emilia Pérez,” has become a common way for luxury brands to reach new pockets of would-be shoppers. It has also been a way for brands to maintain relevancy as their target consumers signify taste and status through cultural pursuits. Prada and Miu Miu, another label in its stable, have been leading the charge with literary salons, art installations and their backing of women directors, such as Mona Fastvold and Alice Diop.
Amanda Gorman, the poet and a Prada ambassador, said she was excited to host a panel discussion with Kojima and Refn titled “Therapeutic Decadence” on Thursday. She hoped to center it on “art and activism.”
Toward the back of the deli, Wyatt Oleff, the actor known for his role as Stanley Uris in “It,” danced alone to songs from the ’80s as the events organizers dimmed the lights, and attendees let him savor the spotlight for more than five minutes.
“I feel like people don’t dance anymore,” Oleff said.
Around 9:30 p.m., some guests sneaked out to catch the second half of the N.B.A. finals game as a new shift of influencers, content creators and new media personalities floated into the space.
Grandmaster Flash, a Barbadian-American D.J., stepped behind the booth, signaling the start of the after-party. Ella Emhoff, the artist and stepdaughter of former Vice President Kamala Harris, arrived wearing dark lipstick and mingled, as did Dylan Kelly, a social media creator and former fashion editor who maintained his signature strut indoors.
However, by the end of the night, which wrapped around 2 a.m., the servers, dressed in shiny silver suits, also began to feel the fatigue and were seen leaning against the wall of framed photographs. One was thankful for the sneakers Prada had offered as part of his uniform. Would he be able to keep them?
“I wish,” he said.
Yola Mzizi is a reporter for The Times covering fashion and style.
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