‘Michael’ Star Laura Harrier Brought Serious Style to YSL Beauty’s Star-Studded New York Takeover

YSL Beauty has spent the past several years turning its Block Party series into one of the more talked-about experiential marketing plays in the beauty world, transforming ordinary city blocks into pop-up celebrations built around new product launches. The brand kicked off this latest run with a London stop at Rough Trade East in early September, and it has now brought that same energy stateside for a New York edition of the event.

The New York Block Party took place on Saturday, September 19, at La Esquina, the SoHo taqueria situated at the corner of Kenmare and Lafayette, transforming the downtown spot into what the brand described as a living communications campaign meant to embed itself directly into local culture. The event centered on two new product launches, the Black Opium Pink Glaze fragrance and the Make Me Blush Cream Lifted Glow cream blush, both aimed at giving YSL Beauty’s core Black Opium franchise a fresh, playful update.

Laura Harrier photographed at the YSL Beauty Block Party in New York. 📷 pic.twitter.com/IP9Je0a9B9

— Cinethology (@thecinethology) September 20, 2026

Among the crowd of cultural tastemakers gathered for the celebration was actress Laura Harrier, who serves as one of YSL Beauty’s U.S. makeup ambassadors alongside model Amelia Gray. New photos of Harrier from the event have been circulating online, with the account Cinethology sharing fresh images of her look from the party.

Laura Harrier stuns for London Fashion Week. 📷 pic.twitter.com/yCncQQ2hJT

— Cinethology (@thecinethology) September 18, 2026

The guest list extended well beyond Harrier and Gray, pulling in a genuinely eclectic mix of names from music, sports and entertainment. Teyana Taylor, Lauryn Hill, Emmy Rossum, Mark Ronson and NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns with his wife Jordyn Woods all made appearances, reflecting the brand’s stated goal of bringing together the people who shape and influence New York’s cultural scene rather than sticking to a traditional red carpet crowd.

Harrier’s involvement with YSL Beauty fits neatly alongside her broader profile as an actress best known for playing Liz Allan opposite Tom Holland in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’ a role that first introduced her to a massive mainstream audience nearly a decade ago. Since then, she has built out a steady career across film and television while also becoming a recognizable face in the fashion and beauty space, making her a natural fit for a brand ambassador role tied to a high-visibility campaign like this one.

The Block Party format itself has become something of a signature move for YSL Beauty, leaning into hyper-local activations rather than more conventional launch events, and the strategy appears to be paying off in terms of star power and social media attention. Pairing a downtown New York taqueria with a guest list spanning music legends like Lauryn Hill and current NBA stars gives the event a cross-generational, cross-industry appeal that a standard product unveiling rarely manages to pull off.

With the London and New York stops now both in the books, it remains to be seen whether YSL Beauty plans to extend the Block Party series to additional cities as it continues pushing the Black Opium Pink Glaze launch further into the cultural conversation. For now, the New York edition has already generated plenty of buzz, with Harrier’s appearance serving as just one piece of a much larger celebrity-studded rollout for the brand’s newest fragrance.

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