Long Live the Public Make-Out

Rona Liana AhdoutBack when I was a 21-year-old baby New Yorker feeling oh-so-Carrie-Bradshaw on my very first New York City date night, I discovered something very sacred—an act of intimacy at once infinitely more erotic and pristine than sex itself: making out with the new object of your infatuation in the street.Standing on the corner of 5th and 10th, the perfect amount of post-first-date tipsy, me and my date’s goodnight kiss immediately melted into a full-fledged melding of mouths, fingers in hair, and earrings kissed out of ears, sacrificed to the glittery concrete. This blissful affair continued unchecked until a nearby club promoter yelled, “Seriously? You guys have been making out for, like, 20 minutes.”Holy shit, this is LIFE, I thought to myself through the full-body high blissfully clouding my brain as we laughed between each other’s lips. I have not lived before this moment. I will spend the rest of my life trying to live inside it again.(We tried to capture this feeling with hot real couples in a fashion shoot, which, as you can see, is probably as close to the real thing you can get.)Rona Liana AhdoutOn Brynn: All clothing Louis Vuitton, shoes Isabel Marant, jewelry (worn throughout) Brynn’s own. On Jordan: All clothing and shoes Gucci, earrings (worn throughout) and rings Jordan’s own. Rona Liana AhdoutOn Anthony: Shirt Gucci, pants Calvin Klein Collection. On Rainey: Dress Courrèges.Flash-forward six years, hundreds of first dates, and only a handful of lightning-strike love affairs like the one that began that fateful summer night to show for it all, and I once again found myself swapping spit in the most sacred of manners: on the street with someone you are newly, immediately obsessed with after a first date. Someone who is about to have the power to break your heart—and in all likelihood will eventually do so—but you don’t have to worry about that yet because here you are, early spring on a Midtown sidewalk, uncharacteristically quiet on an unassuming Sunday afternoon that’s about to become the Sunday afternoon when this new, sparkly something began and hadn’t started ending yet.Anyway, I was on the subway home afterward, preparing to Instagram-stalk the everliving shit out of the new love interest I’d just left with an unmistakable post-public-make-out boner when I came across a Close Friends story in which Cosmo’s very own, very talented, and apparently, very PDA-averse beauty editor, Beth Gillette, wrote, “Can couples please stop making out on the street? It’s an epidemic.” (Hi, Beth—sorry, that was me.)And listen, as someone who is generally anti-PDA (or, rather, thinks it’s impossibly cool and sexy and romantic when I’m doing it and annoying and gross when anyone else is), I get it. Unless that’s your kink—watching strangers smash faces tends to be a neutral to negative experience, particularly if you don’t happen to have anyone in your life at the moment whose tongue can regularly be found in your mouth.Rona Liana AhdoutOn Tomas: All clothing and belt Versace. On Anita: Top Priscavera, skirt Tory Burch, belt Artemas Quibble. Rona Liana AhdoutOn Bella: All clothing and shoes McQueen, earrings Laura Lombardi, scarf Emporio Armani, bracelets Hermès, belt Todd Snyder. On Gigi: Top R13, shorts Coach, earrings Gigi’s own, bracelet Title of Work, belt Chloé. But as far as PDA goes, I feel like a public make-out (on the street, in particular) is (1) our God-given right as New Yorkers—this is a beautiful city where no one cares if you live or die or who you make out with, and (2) pretty fair game! Sure, slobbering all over a date in a restaurant booth? Disgusting. (Have I done it? Of course—I’m only human.) Canoodling at the gym? Take that elsewhere, please. Literally so much as looking at another human being in a suggestive manner on the subway? Go directly to jail. (Okay, fine, so I’ve made out on the subway, too. Lock me up!) But a street make-out is harmless! A victimless crime! You’re outside, breathing fresh air, not invading anyone else’s space. As long as you’re not literally in the middle of the sidewalk obstructing the flow of foot traffic (in which case, again, jail), outdoor, above-the-belt PDA is kosher in my book. These are my streets and I’ll publicly display my affection in them if I want to! I will not die on this hill, but I will make out in public on it.Lead image: On Gigi: Jacket Miu Miu, jewelry Gigi’s own. On Bella: Dress Miu Miu, earrings Coach; On Jordan: Top Stella McCartney, earrings Jordan’s own. On Brynn: Jacket Balenciaga, earrings Brynn’s own. Styled by Brandon Tan. Hair by Davide Perfetti for Amika. Makeup by Shaina Ehrlich for Charlotte Tilbury. Manicure by Yukie Miyakawa for Dior. Set design by Jacob Burstein. Couples: Brynn Bonner and Jordan Swail, Rainey Qualley and Anthony Wilson, Tomas De Keulenaer and Anita Jane Pathammavong, Bella Semiao and Gigi Giobbi Valentino.