'Party Girl' Will Make You Twirl

“Although Mary (Parker Posey) has little income, she still finds ways to spend her nights at clubs. After being arrested for throwing an illegal rave, she asks her aunt Judy (Sasha von Scherler) for bail money. Judy then finds Mary a job at her library so that Mary can repay her. Initially, Mary finds the job as a clerk boring and stifling, and prefers to get to know a street food vendor (Omar Townsend) whom she likes. However, Mary must refocus her life once she loses her job and apartment.” (IMDb)

“Party Girl was seen as something of an oddity. Contemporary reviewers weren’t quite sure what to make of this strange fairy tale featuring a wild-living, uber-fashionable downtown club kid gone good, trading her vintage designer fashion pieces to study the Dewey Decimal System and become a librarian. (Adding to its unique place in the pop culture canon, it was the first film ever to be released and shown in full on a then-novel piece of technology called the internet.)” (Vogue)

A girl with pink hair complimented my outfit and I complimented her hair while we were in line to get popcorn and we ended up in the same theater. A fabulous blonde ate popcorn in the row in front of me. The rows consisted of recurring fans of Party Girl or new fans, like me. I was hooked as soon as I saw the director's name was Daisy, like how fitting because it's such a cute name to match a cute movie! The day prior is when I stumbled upon the poster of Party Girl with Parker Posey sitting pretty in a neck breaking outfit outside of IFC. I knew this movie was about to change my life and immediately became a movie I had to see. I pulled out my butterfly planner and wrote it down in my to-do’s for the next day.

Party Girl is an Indie/Comedy/Cult & Cunt Classic. It came out on June 9th, 1995, and gave those who chose to indulge in cinema, an hour and thirty four minutes of pure joy. Daisy von Scherler Mayer, the director, had a budget of $14K and had a slay $427K in box office. She based Mary on a mutual friend that fit the description of a girl who loved to party but then ended up working at a library, thanks to her, we have an iconic movie to never stop watching. The same movies are always recycled on any social media timeline that I open, Sleepover with the girls and you’re putting on mean girls? Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking. This is what we should be talking about! Isn’t the 24 year old big city girl more relatable nowadays than revisiting highschool mean girls? I invited the fabulous Jerald, or Juicy J, as I like to call him. Jerald, being the icon socialite that he is, went to the relaunch after party for the movie at Jeans in the East Village and got an iconic picture with Miss Parker Posey herself back in April!

Juicy J with the iconic Parker Posey

This is me in my fabulous outfit to go see Miss Parker Posey in Party Girl photographed by Juicy J<3

The costume design is where I like to start when raving about a movie. I am a very visual person, I need a pretty face in a pretty outfit and a pretty scene. Party Girl delivered! Micheal Clancy, the costume designer for the movie, gave us what all the fashion girls needed. I saw Chanel, Westwood, Gautier, Comme Des Garcons, etc. There were tights, hats, jewelry, accessories galore styled just right. Mary was always wearing the clothes, never the other way around- which is why the ending killed me but we’ll get there. Mary is dressed like every girl in downtown Manhattan, mixing high end with thrifted finds to make a unique outfit that kills.

Clancy, when reminising about making Party Girl on Vogue, talks about how the characters in the movie were familar to him, he knew people that were like Mary and Leo, they were people that were around him when he worked at Area, a popular nightclub back in the day in Manhattan that lasted from 83'-87', the scene was hot, the energy was electric and the outfits were ones that we still reference to this day.

Photos from Vogue

Walls shaking, brain awaking, the tracklist, the music, the absolutely impeccable score! Deee Lite, Madonna, Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club! I felt like I was at the club myself, I couldn’t stop shaking my head and swinging my foot along to the beat. Jerald sent me the playlist that he curated after the movie was over before I could even ask, that’s love. I’ll go ahead and list 3 of my favorites, that are linked to spotify because that’s obviously superior.

• Carnival ‘93- Club Ultimate

• Music Selector is the Soul Reflector- Deee Lite

• Mama Told Me Not To Come - The Wolfgang Press

The music places you right there in 1995, when all these songs were just coming out but feels so modern because of how obsessed we all are with the 90’s. We all listen to house music and dress in a y2k look or vintage designer, regardless, it's always a look that's ready to party. Each song matched the mood and was so right for the moment. Music is everything, music is everywhere, even in our everyday lives we have a score, whether it's the song playing in the coffee shop that you’re getting a chai latte at or at the grocery store, sometimes if you're paying attention, it’ll fit the mood or be comical.

Next, we have the scenes in the movies, how iconic it is to have house parties, how rare. Everyone is a promoter these days and keeps the clubs alive, no one would dare let anyone near their precious closet filled with designer clothing. Every falafel cart scene was my favorite- we love a man who cooks and is a teacher. The montage of her outfits while ordering the same thing, “Can I please get a falafel wrap with hot sauce, a side of baba ganoush, and a seltzer please.” Iconic. The relationship between Mustafa and Mary was something so personal to me. I’ve never been one to download a dating app and I don’t think that will ever change, so I deeply relate to falling in love with a regular character in your life.

The conversation and progression of their everyday relationship was sweet and she let him come to her. Not like most dynamics of the woman being let down by the man, she was a busy girl in her own world, allowing these guys to be graced with her presence, as she should. The scene where Mary went to go visit her lover who worked the door at her favorite club downtown was iconic. He said something she didn’t like and immediately cut him off because she didn’t want to ruin her reputation. “...the whip-smart, hilariously self-obsessed, loose-living firecracker that is Mary.” (Vogue) Mary is so me, I am so Mary.

I didn't intentionally mean to pick The Myth of Sisyphus for my choice of a book to read on my way to the park, but it stuck out to me, as I'm writing my review of Party Girl. When I sat on the bench is when I rememebered Mary's quote, "It's a myth about this guy who had to roll or push this incredibly huge rock up this steep mountain. Every time he would get to the top of this mountain the rock would roll down again. He would watch this and walk back down the mountain and do it all over again." This basically becomes a theme within the movie, where she realizes that she doesn't want to keep pushing the rock up anymore, essentially wanting to become more stable in her life. The "rock"in Mary's life was the one she acquired by spending her energy throwing parties, hoarding clothes, and doing drugs. Living aimlessly amongst her aspirational peers.

I didn't do any research about the plot of the movie, I just knew that I would like it so I let it surprise me. In the beginning, I had so much hope for Mary, I thought she was going to learn the dewey decimal system then become a party planner, it made total sense- the dedication and talent that Mary exuted while learning the system proved that she could easily sustain herself throwing parties. She probably could have made even more money doing what she loved rather than becoming a librarian. I feel like she just gave up - I mean her man, the falafel king, was pursing to be a teacher, was her choosing to be a librarian potentially her way to have a "normal" job like him?

I wonder how the real person, that Mary is based on, feels now, years later. I heard that those who don't chase their dreams regret it later, but what was her dream? Did she fall into the passion of being a librarian because of her aunt and her need to prove her wrong? With her determination to learn the dewy decimal system, she could conquer the world. Was she settling? Are the people who choose the simple life the ones who have it right? I feel the Mary within me and sitting at a desk just isn't in our nature, but I guess I'll never know.

To wrap it up in a pretty little bow, Party Girl enlightens a part within me that absolutely adores the joy in life, a reminder to not take life so seriously but also work for what you want and you will achieve it, go be that librarian girl! (if that's what you want.) I linked the movie trailer for those who aren't familiar. If you haven't watched, I suggest you put it at the tippy top of your watch list and create your own opinion and then comment it down below! Soon you'll be saying he-he-hello to your favorite movie.

Source:

Hess, Liam. “25 Years Later, the Makers of ‘party Girl’ Reflect on the Film’s Enduring Fashion Legacy.” Vogue, 10 June 2020, www.vogue.com/article/party-girl-25th-anniversary-parker-posey.