Narciso Rodriguez’s front rows usually consist of a rotating cast of well-known fans. You can always count on a Jessica Seinfeld or a Julianna Margulies, sometimes a Rachel Weisz.
On Tuesday, though, an array of heavy hitters took in his spring show: Amy Schumer, Jessica Alba, Academy Award nominee Laura Linney and Kate Upton. Seinfeld, of course, was there, too.
Alba first bought the designer when she was a wisp of a starlet coming up in Hollywood. “I bought the dress off the rack and I wore it to some award show when I was 19. It was the first time I wore a body-con dress and I felt like a lady and sexy, the first time I felt both those things at the same time,” she said. She’s been wearing Rodriguez ever since.
Before heading to a taping of “Watch What Happens Live” with Andy Cohen, Alba was at the Gramercy Park Hotel’s rooftop for some post-show drinks, still accompanied by some of her fellow front-rowers, including Upton and, yes, Seinfeld.
Though each of the actresses commands her own legions of devoted fans — Linney’s still cry she should have won an Oscar for “You Can Count on Me” — it seems no one is as universally popular at the moment quite like Schumer. She’s got a hit movie in “Trainwreck,” she’s selling out headlining comedy tours, and she’s even gotten political, stumping for gun control with cousin Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. Linney gushed about her “completely refreshing honesty.” Alba, for one, was sorry she had to fly back to the West Coast on Thursday and would miss Schumer open for Madonna on her “Rebel Heart” tour at Madison Square Garden.
“I’d rather stay here and watch Madonna and Amy Schumer. That sounds like the best night of my life,” she said.
Schumer, for her part, offered this preview of the show: “It’s, like, setups and punch lines.” So maybe Alba’s not missing much. But the comic, who also saw Zac Posen on Monday, did sneak in the perfect crack about New York Fashion Week: “It’s a really good time of the year to support all your friends and also lose all of your self-esteem.”