Lessons from our block party on New York's Crosby Street – from what we should be wearing to the tastiest tacos around.

Apologies if we’ve been hammering it home somewhat this week, but, in case you weren’t aware, yesterday was the day that MR PORTER mounted our first ever block party in New York City – a neighbourhood celebration in close association with the most stylish shopfronts on SoHo’s Crosby Street: Jean Shop, Miansai, Fellow Barber and Saturdays NYC. The aim, loosely speaking, was to raise a glass (or two) to summer in one of the world’s greatest cities, bringing together a wide assortment of like-minded brands, great NYC food vendors (including Tacombi, Speedy Romeo and Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream), and, most importantly, great people – from the lattermost category, those joining us included Messrs Kellan Lutz, Johannes Huebl, and Nick Wooster, alongside various MVPs of the On The Town set. With everything that was going on – the party extended from the street, through each brand’s store into their backyards, with activities ranging from an interactive photobooth to a temporary tattoo stand – there was a lot to take in. Here, however, are the key take-homes that we would like to commit to posterity, for all those that weren’t able to come down:

During the party, in the backyard of Mr Eric Goldstein’s rightly venerated denim emporium Jean Shop, guests were invited to tie-dye their own bandanas in a pleasingly bubbling vat of indigo. The impulse here, as is usually the case in these sorts of things, was to go crazy and just really let your heart speak via the medium of elastic bands (which in this case are applied to the folded bandana, pre-dyeing to create the typical tie-dye effect). This, of course, is the wrong impulse – those of us that actually consulted the charming young lady there to offer advice applied elastic bands in simple regular positions on a carefully folded or rolled bandana, and were rewarded with professional-looking symmetrical patterns. Those of us that didn’t were met with scarves that looked worryingly like one of those ink blots psychoanalysts show pyschopaths in films.

It’s hot in New York at the moment. So we got some koozies made to keep the beer – Venice’s House Beer – that little bit cooler. Then they hit Instagram. “I need that Koozie in my life,” remarked one commenter. “How do I get a Koozie/Huggie?” asked another. Could this be the beginning of a new it-product for 2016? Watch this space (or… maybe don’t).

There was no official dress code for the MR PORTER block party. Because, why would there be – it was block party not a masked ball, for goodness sake. Unofficially though, there was a certain point of consistency between many of the outfits on display: Hawaiian shirts. In fact, there were many situations like the above, in which several came into view simultaneously. At which point we began to think “Is this turning into a luau?”

And, additionally, we want it to drive up to our offices (both in London and New York, somehow) every day so we can continue to keep “popping out” to scoop up some of Tacombi’s delicious (and perfectly bite-sized) tacos. Sadly, reality is not likely to be cooperative on this front. In fact, while the New Yorkers on the MR PORTER team can continue to patronise Tacombi with relative ease, those of us in other cities (apart from San Francisco) might have to settle for a more modest, homemade version for the moment – read our piece on how to make Tacombi’s seared fish tacos, if this seems like your fate.

In Fellow Barber’s store, guests were invited to sit down for what the grooming aficionados termed “a quick tidy-up and re-style”. They emerged resplendent, transformed, and evidently rather pleased. Even more impressive than the visual results however, was the speed with which they were accomplished – by our estimate the shopfront got through about 100 haircuts in the four short hours of the party. If only everyone were that efficient, and didn’t just spend all day checking their Instagram feeds, eh?