La Fête has the hardest door in Paris right now. At the heart of it is Issak Dessaux, an animated, Bundchen-locked, six-packed actor and TikToker who happens to be the doorman. Within a year, he's become something of a Sven/Ludwig figure. His and the club's notoriety has led HBO Max France to make a TikTok depicting Dessaux letting Pennywise skip the line to promote IT: Welcome to Derry.
People make moodboards and fitchecks asking if a sequined skirt over jeans will get them in, in a way that echoes the internet's fascination with Berghain. Dessaux likes when people dress like him. He claims he doesn't like black or white shirts, but will inevitably let in a group of tall laughing boys in smart black blazers. It's hard to know exactly what the rules are, but the main focus of a doorman, especially for a club that plays feel-good 80s tracks and house music, is to protect and curate a room of people who want to sing and dance till 6 am. The problem is, at the end of a three hour line in the freezing cold, it's hard for most people to still be sparkly eyed when they reach the front.
Most recently, a TikToker with 3.4 million followers posted a two-part video about being turned away. Support poured in, as did French commentary about American entitlement. It's hard to feel good when you're outside the club.
