Like a VIRGO

This month, our columnist DEREK C. BLASBERG talks to poet CLEO WADE and reality icon NICOLE RICHIE about the mysteries of the ZODIAC, the power of the INVISIBLE, and why having a VOICE starts with being a good LISTENER

I was born in Missouri, which is affectionately known as the "Show-Me" state. Such Midwestern skepticism has its origins in a banquet speech from the late 1800s delivered by a congressman who decried eloquence and demanded proof. Perhaps that's why I've been incredulous about ephemeral rituals like crystal healing, saging, and, yes, even the zodiac. You're going to base your whole life around the way some stars millions of light-years away were aligned the day you were born? Really?

Yet I'm such a big fan of Cleo Wade, the author and poet, and Nicole Richie, the actress and reality icon, that I found myself traveling to L.A. earlier this fall for Virgo Fest, which is how the duo refer to the annual dance party they throw to celebrate their September birthdays. I may not have known my star sign until I moved to New York when I was 18 (turns out I'm a Taurus), and I still readily judge people who let their horoscope influence their decisions, but 24 hours after Cleo and Nicole's gathering, I was convinced of one thing: Virgos know how to party.

Cleo picked me up at a friend's house in a party bus, a tequila shot in hand. It was already bumping with a mix of old pals of hers from when she was growing up in New Orleans and new ones she has made working with the Democratic Party on voting initiatives. (The T-shirt Cleo designed in 2020 for then-VP-candidate Kamala Harris, which proclaimed "The First but Not the Last," was back in rotation after Harris announced her presidential run this year.)

We drove to a club in West Hollywood where the dance floor was hot from the second we walked in. Classic '90s hip-hop was on the speakers, and an endless stream of grilled cheeses came out of the kitchen. And what a crew: Only Cleo and Nicole could bring together senior members of the DNC's strategy team with Paris Hilton, Natasha Lyonne, and Beyoncé's stylist Shiona Turini around a single table-with bottle service.