Yerin Ha Hosts Gold House’s Lunar New Year Celebration, Bringing Cultural Abundance to the Opening of New York Fashion Week

 

On a brisk February 12 evening, as New York inched toward Fashion Week frenzy, something rarer than a front-row seat unfolded in Chinatown.

At Chinese Tuxedo and Opera House at Chinese Tuxedo on historic Doyers Street, actor Yerin Ha co-hosted Gold House’s inaugural Lunar New Year Gold celebration—an evening that doubled as an unofficial but undeniable kickoff to New York Fashion Week.

Yerin Ha’s groundbreaking role as Sophie Baek in the acclaimed fourth season of the Shondaland series.  

More than 200 cultural leaders, tastemakers, and industry power players packed the space. But this wasn’t just another velvet-rope gathering. It was a statement.

For the first time, a holiday celebrated by billions worldwide was brought to life at scale during America’s most prestigious fashion week. That timing wasn’t accidental. It was intentional. The message was clear: culture is not a fashion accessory—it is the foundation.

The night centered on “abundance-building,” Gold House’s guiding principle that prosperity, community, and joy expand when shared. In a season often defined by exclusivity, this was a reframing. Abundance over scarcity. Collaboration over competition. Celebration over spectacle.

And yet, spectacle arrived—in the most delicious way.

In a bold East-meets-West twist, Bridgerton made a transportive appearance. Guests moved from Chinatown streets into Regency fantasy through an exclusive “Regency Lunar New Year” masquerade portrait lounge, inspired by Ha’s groundbreaking casting as Sophie Baek in the forthcoming fourth season of the Shondaland hit. Silk cheongsams mingled with empire waists. Fans fluttered beside structured tuxedos. It felt less like cosplay and more like cultural time travel—an assertion that Asian stories belong in every era, including the gilded ballrooms of period drama.

Ha, luminous and assured, hosted alongside an eclectic mix of industry forces: Bowen Yang fresh off the cultural juggernaut of Wicked; designer-activist Prabal Gurung; Meta’s fashion oracle Eva Chen; celebrated makeup artist and Tatcha creative director Daniel Martin; chef and author Melissa King; designers Bach Mai and Kim Shui; and philanthropic leaders including Shirley and Walter Wang, Gloria Zhu and Stanley Tang, Joe and Christine Marchese, and Menardo Jiminez and family. Actors Hudson Williams and Liam Oh added to the cross-industry chemistry.

What made the night powerful wasn’t simply who attended—but where it happened. Chinatown, long romanticized and too often overlooked, became the epicenter of a fashion week opening that honored heritage without diluting it. Doyers Street, with its layered history, transformed into a corridor of global influence.

In a city that thrives on reinvention, the evening felt like a recalibration. Lunar New Year wasn’t folded into Fashion Week as a theme. It stood on its own terms—then expanded the definition of what Fashion Week could be.

Abundance-building in action.

And if this was the opening note of the season, New York just raised the bar.