{"id":27319,"date":"2025-11-03T20:31:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T20:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/27319\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T20:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T20:31:32","slug":"francon-celebrates-nycs-favorite-writer-speaker-and-curmudgeon-fran-lebowitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/27319\/","title":{"rendered":"FranCon celebrates NYC\u2019s favorite writer, speaker and curmudgeon, Fran Lebowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"person\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Late last month, dozens of New Yorkers did their best to emulate New York City icon Fran Lebowitz at the fifth annual FranCon. <\/p>\n

Photo by Jonathan Portee<\/p>\n

As American author and orator Fran Lebowitz entered the Holiday Cocktail Lounge on St. Marks Place on Oct. 23, she was followed by public speaker Fran Lebowitz, who had arrived minutes before premiere pundit and social commentator \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 Fran Lebowitz also walked into the bar.<\/p>\n

Time and again, a chorus of \u201cHi Fran!\u201d rings out at FranCon<\/a>, an annual celebration of the author\u2019s style, essence and outlook on life. The gathering sees over 150 Frans flood the bar to sip on custom cocktails with Fran-themed names like \u201cWriters Blockade\u201d or the \u201cLebospritz.\u201d They take puffs of candy cigarettes and dress up in variations of the NYC icon\u2019s signature outfit: blue jeans, a button-up shirt and a blazer.<\/p>\n

The con began in 2021, on the ripples of a joke that vlogger, content creator and naturalized New Yorker Jane August had between her and her book club.
\n\"peopleMore than 150 people packed the bar wielding candy cigarettes and dressed in Lebowitz\u2019s signature outfit of jeans, a button-up and a blazer. Photo by Jonathan Portee\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and my friends read The Fran Lebowitz Reader,\u201d August said. \u201cAnd I was like, wouldn\u2019t it be funny if there was something like SantaCon, but everyone dressed like Fran?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having always been someone who enjoys throwing parties, August decided to commit to the bit, put on the party, and told her friends they were required to attend.<\/p>\n

Now in its fifth year and more popular than ever, FranCon has seen its community grow into something meaningful that remains silly at its core.\n<\/p>\n

Since its inception, the convention has meant many things to its attendees, who see Fran not only as a writer to enjoy but also the embodiment of New York culture from a different era.<\/p>\n

\"FranConWith the official registration for FranCon at capacity, organizers of the convention opted to start a standby line for Frans who don\u2019t mind waiting. Photo by Jonathan Portee \"FranConLike many other Frans at the event, co-host of FranCon, Micaela Fagan, thinks the city closes too early. If she could change something about the city, she would \u201clower the price of pizza back to a dollar at night.\u201d Photo by Jonathan Portee<\/p>\n

Comedian, writer and professional NYC tour guide, Micaela Fagan, joined the Con as co-host in year three after attending the first two events at Blinky\u2019s in Williamsburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s amazing, she\u2019s given me such a feeling of nostalgia for a time that I didn\u2019t even experience,\u201d Fagan said. \u201cIt feels like New York. It\u2019s timeless in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lebowitz\u2019s style is quintessential New York and has, in one form or another, influenced every person in attendance at the Con. Filmmaker Chloe Russell Kent has been obsessed with Lebowitz since she was 15 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I slightly based my personality off of Fran Lebowitz for about a year,\u201d Kent said. \u201cShe was so badass in a way that no one in my life was.\u201d
\n\"twoFilmmaker Chloe Russell Kent (left) said she\u2019s been obsessed with Lebowitz since she was 15 years old. Photo by Jonathan Portee\n<\/p>\n

FranCon welcomes all, whether you are familiar with the writer or not. The only barriers to entry are your willingness to dress like her and this year\u2019s added cover charge that helped with some bar expenses.<\/p>\n

A creative director from Jamaica, Queens, Grace C. McNally knows very little about Lebowitz. Instead, she hoped to surprise her long-distance boyfriend by walking around FranCon until he noticed something familiar about one of the Frans.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thought I was coming two days from now, but his friend said he was coming here tonight. I was like, Oh, this is perfect. So I dressed up like Fran,\u201d McNally said.<\/p>\n

\"peopleMcNally (left) and her boyfriend, who wore the only seersucker blazer in the bar. Photo by Jonathan Portee<\/p>\n

For many, FranCon Five was a first and will not be a last. The average person would be amazed by the connection that stems from nailing the Fran look.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see multi-generational love for her celebrated in one of the silliest ways possible is just really satisfying,\u201d said Mark B., a multidisciplinary producer who has lived in the city for 20 years. \u201cI also think celebrating Fran Lebowitz in a way that she would hate is so iconic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"womanTo Jody L. from Brooklyn, what makes Fran Lebowitz a New Yorker is \u201ca certain amount of terseness of thought and expression and impatience with people who don\u2019t get it.\u201dPhoto by Jonathan Portee<\/p>\n

As fun as it is to gather in a hip East Village bar to drink cocktails and emulate your favorite New York City curmudgeon, ultimately, FranCon is about talking to the new arrival at the party and making a connection. It\u2019s about talking to the stranger standing next to you at the bar. It\u2019s about fostering a space where you can be plain spoken and honest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realized, really at the heart of it, FranCon is about community,\u201d August said. \u201cHow people want to create and establish that community, I think, is kind of up to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"franconFran-themed menus and candy cigarettes littered the tables at FranCon.Photo by Jonathan Portee<\/p>\n

Some may wonder if there are ever plans to introduce a certain special guest to future FranCons, but the organizers clearly don\u2019t want the nature of their community to change because of just one Fran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like known funny man Groucho Marx once said, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

So, in case you were wondering, yes, Fran Lebowitz is aware that FranCon exists, and no, she is not invited.\u00a0<\/p>\n