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Maison d’Être
Louis Vuitton doesn’t do things on a small scale. And Tuesday night’s opening of its Maison store on New Bond Street in London was a truly epic affair: Entire streets were shut down so the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Kirsten Dunst, and Anjelica Huston could pile into the gilded retail mecca. “They were dealing with a pre-recession budget,” Peter Marino, who designed the space, explained. “As if it wasn’t obvious!”
The French brand’s monograms have been on this side of the English Channel for more than a century. In fact, when the label’s first U.K. outpost opened, Queen Victoria was still on the throne. “London is a fabulous city because it’s where so many things smash together: art, fashion, street culture, clubs,” said Vuitton creative director Marc Jacobs. “You can only find that in two cities: New York and here.”
But back to the nineteenth century: Following cocktails, 300 friends of the brand ventured over to a warehouse on New Oxford Street for what stylist and editor Katie Grand described as a Victorian banquet. Bacchanal is more like it. Five separate doors opened onto dark, winding paths, each leading to a different experience: One was a gentlemen’s club room chock-full of taxidermy; another, a loading dock with modern dancers performing on trunks; and then there was the carriage car full of Vuitton bags, with two ballerinas performing a choreographed lovers’ routine. The big hit, though, was the smoky expanse that had been transformed into a pine forest—yes, a real pine forest, complete with tents of palm readers.
After a seated dinner, Donna Summer took the stage to perform “On the Radio” with—wait for it—Jacobs singing backup. “My God, what have I gotten myself into?” the designer asked. Then it was back into the twisting halls. “This is amazing,” Pixie Geldof shouted to Alice Dellal. “No really, it’s A. Maze. Ing! Get it?”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
European Union
England’s Glastonbury Festival celebrates its 40th birthday this year, and as per usual, thousands of people will be making the pilgrimage to the muddy fields of Somerset in southern England to take in its incomparably freewheeling music scene. Venetia Dearden, however, will not be among them. For the past six years, the Somerset-born photog has been shooting Glasto-goers at her studio on-site, and now that she’s compiled the images in her new book Glastonbury—Another Stage, Dearden figures it’s time to move on. “I’ve been going to Glasto off and on since I was eight,” she explained at last night’s party celebrating the new tome at the Milk Studios penthouse. “I worked there, I had mad times with friends there, I shot inside a waterlogged tepee. I think I’ve done it.”
Dearden wasn’t the only native at the bash. Party host Mulberry, which sponsored the publication of Glastonbury, was also born in Somerset, just a year after the festival kicked off. And at Milk, the brand had imported the Glasto experience to the Meatpacking District—minus the famous mud, that is. Mano de Dios, Chairlift, and Kelis put on mini-concerts for the likes of Agyness Deyn, Leigh Lezark, and Chanel Iman. “You have to go to Glastonbury at least once,” admonished Mulberry creative director Emma Hill, who’s been three times. “Get those wellies out. You’ll have the time of your life.”
Meanwhile, uptown at Good Units, the Hudson Hotel’s double-decker underground party space, VMan celebrated the launch of its Scandinavia issue with a party and runway show for some 20 Scandinavian labels—including Soulland, Stærk, and Cheap Monday. “It’s almost like a fashion happening,” explained the magazine’s editor, Stephen Gan. The catwalk-in-a-nightclub’s throwback vibe went nicely with some of the early-nineties-inspired looks, and this particular défilé came with a twist: a runway setup with a screen in the middle that allowed a second model in an identical outfit to step in for the first one mid-lap. Right before the eyes of Kelly Rowland, Phillip Lim, and many others, a skinny boy got buff, a light-skinned catwalker transformed into a darker-skinned one, and Pat Cleveland‘s daughter, Anna van Ravenstein, became her mother. It may be a girl’s worst nightmare, but it also made for a pretty ingenious—and, given Pat’s trademark runway theatrics, fabulous—finale.
Click for the runway slideshow.
—Maya Singer (Mulberry) and Darrell Hartman (VMan) Continue reading
Alphabet Soup
Stefano Tonchi, the magazine editor who recently made the alphabetical switch from T to W, has long straddled the worlds of art and fashion. Emissaries from both universes populated the dinner party that gallerist Angela Westwater and Calvin Klein’s Francisco Costa threw for Tonchi last night at the Fifth Avenue apartment belonging to Westwater and her husband, David Meitus. The intimate affair put the likes of Daphne Guinness, Ingrid Sischy, and New Museum director Lisa Phillips together in rooms hung with Picabias and Warhols, while gaining more than a few influential new admirers for Westwater’s sociable poodle, Basket. Among them was Italo Zucchelli, who’d spent four hours earlier in the day in cap and gown to receive an honorary degree from FIT. Greeting Zucchelli, Dree Hemingway complimented him on another newly acquired point of pride: “I like your mustache!” she said.
Tonchi was the man of the hour, though. Although he’s been busy making the international rounds for W, T has yet to replace him. (Anne Christensen, who’s rumored to be at the top of the list, told us she had no update.) “What Stefano did to the magazine that was interesting was that he made it very international,” noted Costa, who first got acquainted with Tonchi about 15 years ago in Milan. “I always used to see this very handsome man come to shows,” he recalled. “Back in the good days,” Tonchi quipped, “when we had no responsibilities.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
We Will Not Be Deleted
—Alison Baenen Continue reading
More Sex, Less City
The world premiere may have been in New York—”here at home, where we were born,” in Sarah Jessica Parker‘s words—and the opening-credits sequence has the famous foursome reuniting (where else?) at Bergdorf’s, but with the bulk of the film taking place over the course of an extremely luxurious vacation in Abu Dhabi, this sequel has more sex than city. Harem-inspired fashions, punch lines involving water pipes and camel anatomy, and a rather wishful version of a traveling Australian rugby team are just the tip of the sand dune. No, the characters aren’t as young and restless as they once were, but that hasn’t affected Patricia Field‘s costume choices. “It’s a liberty I take, because I master it,” she told us.
At the after-party at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, where the carpeted pathway was illuminated by Moroccan lanterns and spread with rose petals, Peter Som conceded he’d been charmed by one of Field’s more elaborate fantasies. “I love the idea of wearing a ball gown into the souk,” he said.
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Mutual Admiration Society
Usually, it takes Alexander Wang and one of his raucous Pier 94 shows to get the fashion crowd to trek to the far west side of midtown Manhattan. But last night, Nadja Swarovski and W‘s Stefano Tonchi managed to bring this year’s CFDA nominees and a penthouse-full of well-wishers to the 16th floor of the new Ink48 hotel on Eleventh Avenue. The main draw, apart from the company: stunning sunset views of the Manhattan skyline.
Though the awards ceremony is two weeks away, Swarovski Accessory Design contender Dana Lorenz said that far more important matters have been occupying her headspace. “All I’ve been thinking about is Lost,” she said. “They could’ve done anything with the finale and I still would’ve cried. I based part of my last collection on it.” Marcus Wainwright of Rag & Bone, who’s vying for the Menswear award with his partner David Neville against Tom Ford and Michael Bastian, had a pastime other than TV watching on his mind. “My father’s a birdwatcher and a marksman,” he said. “You know, a lot of people think Swarovski’s binoculars are better than Leica’s. But they’re about two grand, so if you put that in there, tell Nadja I want a discount.”
As for Swarovski Womenswear nominee Prabal Gurung, he’s prepping for the big night by sticking to his routine. “I’m not doing anything out of the ordinary,” he told us. “The gym, meditation, eating healthy, riding my bike. Everyone has said to me, Enjoy this moment. I mean, look around,” he concluded, as the sun set over the Hudson behind him. “How could I not?”
—Nicole Phelps Continue reading