· By Tarleton Walmsley
Garden Party Guest List: A person, living or deceased, real or imagined, that always has an invite to our Party.
Like most of you, I'm hooked on The Staircase, a true crime series currently on HBO. Parker Posey stars as Freda Black, the assistant to the DA, and as usual she is brilliant. So when I came across this interview with Parker earlier in the week, I officially fell back in love with her all over again. Especially because she painted her stairwell in psychedelic stripes as an ode to color theorist William Tapley, and wears iridescent eyeshadow for the interview. So naturally, I knew it was time to revisit an all-time favorite Parker Posey movie.
Ah yes, you know the one. 1995's cult classic Party Girl, in which Posey stars as Mary, a professional party enthusiast turned librarian. And if you haven't seen it, stop right here and find a way to watch it immediately. It's funny, the outfits are truly an inspiration, and the nod to 90s rave culture makes me wish I'd been a little older than 12 so I could take it in for myself. And then of course there's Parker Posey, who turns the role of Mary into an absolute art form. Truly, I cannot imagine anyone else bringing the same level of sass, quirkiness, and playfulness to Mary's character.
Mary is a free spirit, filling her days dancing at clubs and throwing house parties. Eventually she's arrested for throwing an underground rave and must turn to her godmother Judy for bail money. Judy hooks Mary up with a job as a clerk at the library so Mary can begin to pay Judy back. At first, Mary has no excitement for this new career path, but after partaking in a smoke sesh, Mary is inspired to learn how to use the Dewey Decimal System and eventually becomes serious about library science. Rave culture and librarians...it's definitely why Mary makes the ultimate Garden Party Guest.
If Mary Garden Partied (duh, she def Garden Parties), we know she'd love these products:
Kate Corn Vinyl Pouch- It's a vinyl neon pouch, need we say more? Ok, we will. These pouches are so perfectly colorful and bright that they'd pair exquisitely with Mary's eclectic style and vintage couture pieces. Handmade in Kate Corn's LA Studio, we imagine Mary could hold her library card here just as easily as her stash.
Kierra Boyd Bong Earrings- Statement earrings are an important part of Mary's party lewks, and of course she needs these Bong Earrings as resident Party Girl. They're so cute, and definitely have a bit of 90s nostalgia to them as well. And the statement? Well..you know...💨
Mycelium Wassonii- Obviously a book had to make the list, in honor of Mary's chosen career path. But this isn't just any book, it's a book about the lives and trips of R. Gordon and Valentina Wasson, the pioneering scientist couple responsible for popularizing the use of psychedelic mushrooms in the US. Something tells me Mary would enjoy reading this one;)
