Baby, this is Keke Palmer, and PAPER. The iconic actress graced the most recent cover of PAPER, in which the Hollywood starlet was dolled up like a real Miss Congeniality babe. The Williejane-photographed shoot may have been all things beauty and grace in theme, but the celebrations were big-time city-slicker glam. Hosted at Cathédrale, New York City’s hotspot celebrated for its buzzing downtown crowd and exciting French Mediterranean dining, the evening bounced with celebration, conversation, and laughter.
Emphasis on the laughter. This was Keke's night, and the guest list was an eclectic mix of her closest friends and family, including faces from childhood, her castmates, and even her mom. Among them was Taylour Paige, her co-star in her most recent film, I Love Boosters, alongside friends Skylar Marshai, Brittney Winbush, and Shema Love. Other guests included Tiffani Singleton, Chee Smalls, Bevy Smith, Scot Louie, Dr. Michelle Henry, and Deandre Brown. Sharing food, drinks, and dessert, it was a true family-and-friends affair, all of them united in celebrating our newest cover star.
The venue was simply ethereal. Big florals filled the space alongside large-scale prints of Keke’s PAPER cover. PAPER President Jason Ve raised a toast to celebrate the night. "Each and every one of you is the reason why we have nights like this to be able to celebrate community," he said. "When I think about dinners, it's intimate, it's family, it's friends. It's the community lifting all of us."
La Roche-Posay’s Emanuella Louis also toasted to Keke and her collaboration with the dermatological skincare brand, congratulating her on her newest title as the brand's first-ever Chief La Roche-Posay Officer. She pointed to what drew the brand to Keke in the first place. "Our decision to work with Keke really came from her sincerity and her genuine relatability in the way she shared her journey around her skin and hyperpigmentation," she said.
Keke offered touching closing remarks of her own, thanking both PAPER and La Roche-Posay as co-hosts of the evening. "I'm so grateful for the community that surrounds me," she said, pointing to guests at the dinner she has known since she was 12.
"We all know what it feels like to try to survive inside of systems that aren't made for us. If you're not whatever the archetype is they're saying it is, then you gotta figure out a way to survive. Whatever way you choose to survive, that's your way. And nobody can tell you what you should do or how you should change. It's your own experience."
She added, "In this chapter of my life, I'm really grateful to know how to embody the joy that I've been projecting for all these years to get through."
The night made sure that joy didn't stop at the door. As it turns out, there is such a thing as a free dinner, if it runs with skincare. La Roche-Posay Mela B3 skincare products were sent home with everyone in attendance. But the sweetest send-off was Keke herself, signing prints of her shoot on cute postcards for every guest at the table.
Photography by: Jamie Pearl
