Behind every great influencer is a bigger Plus One.
As fabulous parties and glamorous events make a comeback in a post-Covid world, being selected to fill the Plus One space with an invite is now a coveted position that many are clamoring to secure.
But getting into Sydney’s VIP B team is competitive.
“Don’t meet your Plus One,” warned socialite and influencer Suzan Mutesi as she ducked out of the rain at the launch of Asian fusion bar Lulu at The Rocks on Wednesday night.
“Sometimes you run into Plus Ones who are trying to sabotage you. Sometimes you run into people who only think about themselves.”
Her Plus One for the night was Dylan Mahoney, an actor and model she met through author and wellness influencer Andi Lew. Since then, he has become his regular right-hand man at events over the past year. But only because he passed the initiation period.
“I try them,” Suzan declared of all her Plus Ones, or “patsies.”
“Before Dylan, I had bad experiences. People who sabotaged my friendships, embarrassed me or, if you’re going to a high-end event, don’t know how to behave. They ask for too many pictures of real celebrities and they’re embarrassing. I’ve been around hardcore Hollywood celebrities. I’ve been around Delta (Goodrem). Don’t be overwhelming and drown her with your obsession with her!”
Being a Plus One is a privilege that comes with duties and expectations. Suzan said it was a fine art to be able to juggle many tasks, such as helping film the content she posts to her 1.2 million Instagram followers, picking out outfits and making sure she’s generally comfortable.
“If I’m crying and I don’t look good, if I look like shit, can they tell me I look like shit and I have to change my outfit?” she said “I want them to tell me that the dress doesn’t look good. We check all this. I send Dylan all my dresses. “
For the Bar Lulu launch, she wore a Honey Birdette bra as a top and a Ksubi blazer. Dylan thought the ensemble was too spicy, but Suze wore it anyway. “I told her, ‘It’s not about you, baby.’
Then his phone started vibrating. It was Dylan calling from inside the bar, checking to see if he was okay.
“When I need him, he’s not hard to find. When I need him, he’ll pick up my calls,” she said.
“I know a lot of influencers who take their work very seriously, they don’t mess around with their Plus Ones. It’s very critical who you wear as a Plus One.”
He is right. Just ask James Devlin, the waiter on the Channel 10 reality show First dates Australia.
“They have to know how to hold a camera, they have to know how to film you taking paparazzi pictures,” said the Briton, who burst onto the Sydney social scene a few months ago after his brief stint on television.
I was sitting in a rain-splattered igloo dome in front of Bar Lulu, overlooking the Opera House. Her Plus One for the night, a former fellow waitress, danced nearby.
“G…L…A…M…O…R…OUS,” Fergie’s voice purred over the speakers as the DJ played a remix of her 2006 hit, glamorous.
“They have to be a personality and know how to talk to people,” James said of potential Plus Ones. “And they have to be handsome. Look where you are, it’s full of beautiful people! And that’s not me being shallow.”
James said he had his Plus Ones on rotation.
“It’s a different world that they’re not used to,” he said.
“[At parties] They have the Plus One’s corner and all the Plus Ones are together. Plus Ones are sometimes more interesting to talk to because they have normal muggle jobs. They are real people.”
And it looks like muggles would be easy to spot the next night at a party to celebrate Tia Maria’s cold beer and matcha spirits. “Two of a kind” was the motto of the event.
“It’s a Plus One event,” James explained. “You have to take your Plus One and they have to wear green and you have to wear black.”
It was hard not to imagine all the Plus Ones huddled in the Plus One corner, looking like very glamorous and grateful Kermits.
James’ understanding of the them-us dress code at the Tia Maria event wasn’t entirely accurate, but he wasn’t the only one who felt the need to separate himself from the VIP B members.
“I’m the main person, I’m not the Plus One,” @TomGayUSA was quick to clarify when asked about the guests. We were inside Bar Lulu and he had just explained how he had recently launched “the world’s largest inflatable theme park”.
With 10,600 followers on Instagram, he is also an actor and lists the latest news Thor delivery to his biography on social networks. (“There’s a scene where Natalie Portman is getting ready to steal Thor’s hammer and I’m the main focus in the center of the scene, probably for a good 20 seconds,” he said.)
For the Bar Lulu party, she brought along fellow influencer Shirin Heidari as her Plus One.
“You can’t pick a friend at random,” he said. “You can’t bring your best friend from high school because your best friend won’t understand how to stand in front of the cameras and not be too crazy.”
She said she would be bringing social media personality Carla From Bankstown as her Plus One to the ‘Tina Marie’ liquor event.
“Sometimes you get better and live your best life,” he shrugged.
The following night, as many of the same faces flooded Darlinghurst’s Noir nightclub for Tia Maria’s party, Merisa Chandra arrived with the ultimate Plus One: her very own personal photographer.
It had been a busy day for Merisa. He works three jobs (“retail, promotional events, and my content”), lives in a shared house with four roommates, and, like many other guests, had just come from another event at Solera Bar for the underwear brand Nia & Rose. By his side at both parties was the photographer Ella Calvina, who has done some business to be a Plus One professional.
Armed with a studio-quality camera and portable LED light, Ella followed Merisa around the club, filming content and preparing shots like a one-woman reality TV team. As Merisa danced sexy to the Client Liaison DJ set with fellow influencer Tati Baumjohann (whom she had only met a week ago at a different event), Ella dutifully pointed the camera and circled her targets like a law enforcement agent. ‘army with an eye for style. The other guests drinking matcha-tinis struggled to get out of his way.
“YOU PLUS ONE IS TWICE THE FUN,” screamed the slogan under the Tia Maria neon sign.
It was Ella’s third event of the day, and when the clock struck 10pm, she was about to clock 20 hours at work. At his rate of $175 an hour, do the math.
Still, not everyone sees the need to pay for their Plus One.
“Where the hell is Dylan?” Suzan looked around at the crowd at Bar Lulu as her Plus One ran into the restaurant to return the phone he had been tasked with carrying. “Don’t make me look for you like that!”
She was just kidding…kind of. The couple’s relationship is one of trust and has become a true friendship. There is only one time Dylan has dropped the ball as Suzan’s Plus One.
It was at a party a few weeks ago. He got distracted talking to someone. Suzan said she then confronted the ex Married at first sight contestant Nasser Sultan, who physically lifted her up in front of the photographers.
“He told me, ‘I failed you,'” Suzan said of Dylan’s remorse. “And that’s raw.”
Since then, all has been forgiven.
As the rain fell and the bar dried, Ubers were ordered and influencers had their Plus Ones collect their belongings. Suzan waited for Dylan to say goodbye to Marcel Bredenbals, a chiseled model-actor-influencer with bleached hair and brown eyebrows.
“Dylan doesn’t know how to say goodbye,” she said. “He needs to know when the party’s over.”
And when the party finally ended, it soon escalated again.
“I gave it to you. I don’t have my phone. Can you check your pockets? I gave you my phone. I left it in your back pocket,” Suzan angrily whispered to Dylan in the back seat of the Uber
“And I say I gave it back to you,” he replied.
“You didn’t,” she snapped over the rhythmic noises of the windshield wipers. “F*ck me, fuck me, fuck me.”
A tense back and forth continued over who left the phone where. Seconds later, the Uber pulled up and Dylan was running through the rain to locate the phone in the restaurant.
After all, it’s the only thing more valuable to an influencer than the perfect Plus One.
Twitter, Facebook: @hellojamesweir
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