“Interview” Celebrates 50 Years—and Toasts to 50 More

“Going Out” is a column celebrating the legacy of our founder, Andy Warhol. Long ago, in the disco ball-refracted days of The Factory, Warhol’s Interview chronicled the comings and goings of the downtown scene, spotlighting its ever-eccentric populace in their favorite dimly lit haunts. This week, Mark Burger watched from inside Indochine–the legendary downtown fixture (and one of Warhol’s favorite spots)–as the glitterati of Interview past and present celebrated the magazine’s 50th anniversary.

Fifty years ago, Andy Warhol founded a film magazine called inter/VIEW with the journalist John Wilcock. In the decades that followed, Interview grew to encompass not just film news, but stories featuring the most exciting artists, musicians, writers, politicians, drag queens, and cartoon phenomenons of the day. The magazine pulled together faces and figures across space and time, capturing teen actors on the brink of superstardom–like Leonardo DiCaprio and Winona Ryder–to established icons meditating on their legacy as they anticipate their next move–like Cate Blanchett and Kanye West. Interview has paired together the most enchanting (and sometimes polarizing) individuals in the zeitgeist–from RuPaul and Judge Judy, to Kim Kardashian and Janet Mock, to Eminem and Elton John–giving them a tape recorder and watching to see what happens. In many ways, Interview has either introduced, elevated, or danced along with these characters, as pop culture’s eagle-eyed crystal ball.

Coinciding with the release of Assouline’s new monograph documenting the magazine’s storied legacy, the celebration of Interview‘s 50th anniversary began at Nordstrom’s new midtown Manhattan flagship store, where, five floors up, a fleet of waiters dressed in white wigs and black glasses served hors d’oeuvres to visitors as Donna Summer played in the background. Guests could also enjoy bite-sized grilled cheeses and tomato soup combos (Campbell’s, of course), peruse Assouline’s Interview monograph (available to purchase at your nearest Nordstrom), and also take home a one-of-a-kind silkscreen t-shirt. After, friends, writers, and readers of Interview past and present kept the party going at a dinner sponsored by Nordstrom at the historic Indochine, the onetime haunt of Warhol, Basquiat, and co. Photographer Rochelle Brock, armed with a Polaroid camera, captured the festivities throughout the night, where playwright wunderkind Jeremy O. Harris and supermodel Alek Wek brushed shoulders with the endlessly provocative performance artist Christeene and legendary photographer Ellen von Unwerth. Indochine’s iconic phone booth was reupholstered in aluminum foil, decorated with Nordstrom shopping bags, and topped with a gleaming neon sign. Past Interview contributors and tastemakers, like Christopher Makos and Bob Colacello, mingled amidst nightlife queen Ladyfag and über socialite Nicky Hilton Rothschild, while photographers Ethan James Green and Cruz Valdez posed for pictures with stylist and model Dara Allen and artist Martine Guittierez. Alex Assouline and Jen Brill flitted between tables, as models Grace Hartzel, Hanne Gaby, Jacquelyn Jablonski and David Alexander Flinn parked inside the half-moon booths, tied together in conversation. In between courses and speeches, writer and actor Julio Torres and actress and club kid Sophia Lamar posed for portraits, and “Cousin Greg” Nicholas Braun and singer Moses Sumney smiled against Indochine’s trademark banana leaf wallpaper. All in all, it was a shimmering affair, with each guest raising a glass to toast fifty years of Interview–and fifty more.