On her 365th day of girlhood,Dylan Mulvaneythrew the party of her lifetime.
The idea had occurred to her roughly six months and seven million followers into her accidental social media career.
Soon, there was no question at all.
Lea Winkler
The opening number had begun.
In its programming, Day 365 Live!
functioned like an hourlong jukebox musical based loosely on Mulvaneys first year of social media celebrity.
Norma Kamali dress. State Property earrings. Schutz heels.
(Mulvaney uses she/they pronouns, but confirmed thatAllureshould use the former for this story.)
In its atmosphere, Day 365 Live!
functioned like a Met Gala for the corner of TikTok where Mulvaney reigns as queen.
Ami dress and boots. Azlee earrings. Fendi bag.
There was an interview segment with Delaware Senator Sarah McBride and a dating show hosted byQueer EyestarJonathan Van Ness.
I think it’s just crazy that all this happened within one year, Mulvaney tells me days later.
People are like, I can’t believe it’s already Day 365.
Lea Winkler
I’m like, This feels like it’s been 10 years."
This refers to 10 million and counting TikTok followers, plus an extra 1.8 million on Instagram.
It refers to suddenly being flown to places like Copenhagen for activities like touring a skin-care lab.
Lea Winkler
The crowd skewed queer, white, and young.
They, too, were utterly delighted, but perhaps for slightly more corporate reasons.
Mulvaney dazzled the audience once again, simply by entering the room.
Lea Winkler
Most returned to their champagne and conversations, while Mulvaney engaged in party-room diplomacy.
She embraced guests, posed for photos, and issued hundreds of thank yous per minute.
For most of us, the show was over.
For one of us, there was no end in sight.
Ami dress and boots.
Mulvaney is giving hotel heiress,teetering on Gucci platforms into the Plaza Hotels Palm Court for tea.
The rest of her outfit, from skirt suit to headband, is all Burberry tartan.
This was my birthday gift to myself.
I wear it almost every day, she says.
I heard that the new trend for influencers is going to be that they have a staple look.
Mulvaney has charted hers on a spectrum somewhere between Audrey Hepburn andThe Nannys Fran Fine.
The surroundings suit her in the way a dollhouse suits a doll.
Some old places can feel so stuffy, she says, but the Plaza…
I think the Plaza aesthetic is a little queer.
We both gaze up at the Tiffany-style glass dome, glowing with artificial sunlight.
Mulvaney is adept at the art of the 15-second meet and greet.
She greets effusively, introduces herself, asks if she would like a photo.
I wish you were here!
And then it happens again: a trembling young teen appears tableside to pay her respects.
Mulvaney politely concedes that, yes, this does happen a lot, even more in New York.
At home, in Los Angeles, she is more of a homebody.
I’m such a California girl.
I love the warmth, I love the people.
In LA, she says, people are kind; in New York, people are real.
Mulvaney moved to Los Angeles during the pandemic.
That was where the gender stuff started coming up, she tells me.
I had already been on hormones.
It wasn’t like that day I woke up and said, I’m a girl.
This was something that had been in the works.
A transition might involve a change of clothes or pronouns or neither.
Then after applying a few swipes of lip gloss, she asked: Howd I do, ladies?
Mulvaney cringed when the video was played during Day 365 Live!
And just spitballing here wouldnt that make for a great series?
Welcome, sending love, and love your dress SM!
Mulvaney could not have anticipated what would happen next, but she began posting videos almost daily.
The timing was unexpectedly lucrative.
I had blown up in April, and I started getting these brand deals, she says.
One of her first, a two-video deal for OKCupid, paid her rent and then some.
It felt like Monopoly money.
She moves to sip her tea, but we are interrupted once more.
The Plazas publicist checks in and asks Mulvaney if we need to move to a quieter spot.
Also, tea is on the house enjoy!
I am quietly elated because I am horrible at filing expenses.
The brand sent her champagne for Day 365.
The Plaza was on that vision board too.
Now here we are, getting free tea and foie gras macarons.
People are like, How do you do it?
she says, referring to the followers and the deals and the not-infrequent shopping trips to Burberry.
I’m like, I have no idea.
I think that there isn’t a lot of method to the madness.
This is typical Mulvaney humility, though her programming has been at least somewhat self-directed.
That her TikTok career coincided with a period of right-wing transphobia has made Mulvaney a target.
It also means that all eyes are on her.
An even more recent partnership with Nike prompted the brand to denounce hate speech on its Instagram page.
Some of Mulvaneys more regular brand collaborators include Kate Spade, Maybelline New York, and MAC Cosmetics.
The full list of completed partnerships is much longer, ranging from personal finance apps to Kind bars.
She is becoming choosier by the minute.
Fast fashion makes her nervous.
I never like to make anyone feel bad about anything.
I would get paid in pets, she says centipedes, tarantulas, guinea pigs.
Mulvaneys end goal, however, was always to be onstage or in front of a camera.
When I moved to New York, I was handing out flyers at Brookfield Place.
Another item on Mulvaneys vision board is aMary Tyler Moore-esque scripted series in which she will star.
Because that’s not the reality of the situation.
Youre damned if you do and damned if you dont, she says.
People say, Well, we’ll take you seriously when you get bottom surgery.
When are you getting your boobs?
When are you changing your name?
In late January, she posted a series of professionally shot videos to celebrate her face reveal.
Her audience went nuts.
But you have to be really careful, because I’m a singer.
She was euphoric with the results.
At Day 365 Live!, she saved a front-row seat for her surgeon,Dr.
Harrison Lee, and sang him a tune: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.
