Jiving for Juicy

(NEW YORK) To the uninitiated, Thursday's Juicy Couture store opening could have easily been confused for the best episode of MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen. Founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor made a special appearance in Manhattan to celebrate the launch of their brand new flagship, located at 650 5th Avenue.

A receiving line of men with the words Juicy Couture affixed to the backs of their blazers greeted guests as they walked the red carpet. Julie Macklowe, decked out in head to toe Chanel, had an awkward moment on the carpet when a confused publicist announced she was wearing Juicy Couture to the legions of reporters.

Once inside, A-list guests included Abigail Breslin, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sarah Silverman, Molly Sims, Gretchen Mol, Emma Roberts, Jason Lewis, Jessica Szohr, Gina Gershon, Candy Spelling, Noah Baumbach & Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lisa Loeb, Jay McInerney & Anne Hearst, Jake Shears, Dylan Lauren, and Lonneke Engel. In-store entertainment included violinists from Juilliard and ballerinas from the American Ballet Theater and Alvin Ailey.

"You feel the energy in this store. It's positive. It's fun. It's happy," said Harper's Bazaar editor in chief, Glenda Bailey. "It's exactly what we need right now." Fellow EICs Stefano Tonchi of T and Amy Astley of Teen Vogue were also in attendance. The Daily asked Astley, wearing a look from Prada's resort collection, how many items of Juicy Couture she thought graced the pages of her teen mag each month. "I'm sure it's not as many as they'd like, but I would say it's in the dozens."

Martha Stewart, in Loro Piana, was one of the fête's more unexpected guests. "The store is very cute, but I don't think there's anything in here that I could wear. This looks like it could fit my thigh," she said of a pair of Juicy sweatpants.

"I've always liked the Juicy sweatpants for the chicks," said Keenan Thompson of Saturday Night Live. Thompson eschewed Juicy in favor of a pair of black sunglasses and a Kellogg's sweatshirt. "Kellogg is trying to put out different cereals and this sweatshirt is to promote that. It's like the M&M thing. You remember when everyone was wearing the M&M and Pepsi clothing?"

Sandra Bernhard had a long history with the women of Juicy. "I was a model for their first company, Travis Jeans," said Bernard. "They were pregnancy jeans." Far from maternity wear, dozens of teens stomped around the store, eating cupcakes and macaroons off of the store displays. In fact, there was near disaster when a tube full of gumballs crashed to the floor at the feet of two Buckingham palace-dressed men on stilts who were walking by.

The camera phones came out in full force for Blake Lively and Penn Badgely, who were escorted by power flack, Leslie Sloane. Storey Schifter, daughter of Tim and Helen Schifter, and her friends were among the lucky few to take a picture with the Gossip Girl stars, thanks to an introduction by Sloane.

While the party raged on past the bedtime of many a teen attendee, the sentiment was clear: why sleep when you can party with Juicy?

ADAM P. SCHNEIDER