“Try to look hot as f—k!” Philipp Plein shouted from atop a table backstage as his models prepared to strut their stuff in his much-hyped 20th anniversary runway show.
Fast-forward to the afterparty: The German designer was throwing shapes, his girlfriend bounced on his lap with an enormous bare breast poking out of her red sparkly dress, and an ecstatic Paris Hilton writhed to the thumping music in a peekaboo dress.
This is how Plein’s black-tie affair, the most lavish event of New York Fashion Week, drew to a close late Monday night in the former Four Seasons restaurant space.
But just a few days ago, the bash was hanging in the balance. A hyped Kanye West performance fell through after a conman pretending to rep the rapper tricked the fashion house into wiring close to $1 million to an account then absconded with the money, and Plein was desperately trying to find a high-profile replacement.
At the last minute, he landed triple-platinum hip-hop star Lil Pump for the runway and the finale.
“You’re such a f–kin’ ho, I love it,” rapped the tattooed MC, who finally took the stage after 11 p.m. During his short set, he bopped around the stage in elaborate cowboy boots, wearing an eye-catching mix of neon green tartan and leopard. The crowd went wild.
Paris HiltonWireImageHilton filmed his antics on her cellphone. “The brand is about being sexy and confident,” the entrepreneur and DJ, who stars in the new Plein Sport ad campaign, told The Post during the dinner. “We’ve been friends for years and Philipp always tells me that I’m one of his muses.”
The 230 seated guests, who enjoyed a three-course dinner, included Bella Thorne, DJ Rukus and Ming Lee Simmons. The 120 or so standing guests, who were penned in the mezzanine or crammed behind The Grill bar and fed only hors d’oeuvres, also seemed to like it. Luckily, they had an open bar.
Plein presented two lines: his namesake collection of heavily bedazzled and logoed sportswear, and Billionaire, a luxury men’s label that he bought from Flavio Briattore of Formula One fame in 2016.
In some of the best casting of Fashion Week, Billionaire was shown on debonair models in their 50s and 60s. One of them was 66-year-old Mickey Rourke, who relaxed backstage with his tiny dog, Egor.
“I always trip so there’s no use practicing my walk,” the actor and boxer told The Post before the party started. “I can’t walk down stairs and I gotta walk down a set of stairs. My equilibrium is off [from boxing].”
Like Plein, he pulled off his runway feat against all odds.
