The Daily Front Row Art Basel

art basel issue december 2019

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9 best of 201 the fashion! the art!

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the theater of it all!

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joan smalls photographed by sebastian faena for instyle’s iconic series

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welcome back to art basel!

runway respite!

golden oldies!

With sasha bikoff

Versace has paired up again with interior designer Sasha Bikoff for “South Beach Stories,” starring Bikoff’s Versace Home furniture designs inspired by vintage Versace looks. Both are on display, along with photog Doug Ordway’s glam throwback Versace shots in the Miami Design District from December 6–8.

How did you approach this project?

I zeroed in on Gianni and Donatella’s life in South Beach, and how it inspired Gianni’s creations. Miami was in its golden days, and the collections Gianni produced then were driven by the city’s colors,

dream big!

With ashley longshore

Tell us about your book, I Do Not Cook, I Do Not Clean, I Do Not Fly Commercial.

It’s so funny, 15 years ago when I had no money and this little rathole studio, I started making sure I had high-res images of all my artwork. I was like, one day I’m going to have a goddamn Rizzoli book. I do limited-edition product, but this is just such a great price point for my collectors to get a full-blown Ashley bomb.

What was it like working with Christian Siriano on his fashion show?

C’mon! I’m a self-taught artist from Montgomery, Alabama— that was one of the biggest rushes of my life.

culture, architecture, and nature. I look at this period with such awe—it was vibrant, glamorous, and fun.

Any all-time favorite Versace looks?

Kate Moss circa 1996, in the crystal mini wedding dress with boots and headband veil. I also love Karen Mulder circa 1995, in the vinyl PVC gown with a train. I’m all about fashion and design causing disruption, which I believe both these dresses did.

What’ll you be checking out at Basel?

In a sea of contemporary art, I’m always excited to see the classics— Rothko, Picasso, Rauschenberg.

Dior gives us a brief break from art-hopping with some catwalk action at its Men’s Fall 2020 runway show on December 3.

The brand also has a pop-up for its sleek collab with luxe luggage label Rimowa, which kicked off December 1.

where you needto be!

IN THE BAG: The Daily toasts Basel and this issue on December 4 at Rebag’s Miami Design District boutique, with music by The Misshapes.

ARTY MORSELS: Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, champers label, Ruinart, are throwing a “treasured sunset celebration” at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden on December 4 with nibbles by chef Daniel Boulud to toast Muniz’s prints series, “Shared Roots,” inspired by the relationship between winegrowers and Mother Nature, on display this week.

PHENOMENAL FEAST: Sebastian Faena, Jeff Rudes, and The Daily’s intimate dinner at Faena Hotel Poolside on December 5 celebrates the L’Agence “Marilyn Last Sitting by Bert Stern” capsule collection and Amoako Boafo, the Rubell Museum's 2019 artist-in-residence.

Expect Joan Smalls, Paris Hilton, Giampaolo Sgura and other chicsters to be in attendance!

POP THE BUBBLY: Dom Pérignon and its creative director Lenny Kravitz’s December 4 bash is hosted by Alan Faena.

getty images (3); shutterstock (1); all others courtesy

Let’s dive in to Miami’s marathon of epic artwork, parties, and more! • Thom Browne for all! No, really: The designer toasts his first large-scale public artwork, Palm Tree, I, on December 5 at the Moore Building. The colorful, 21-foot-tall tree is an ode to classic American summer vacay. • Virgil Abloh is unveiling a new sculpture, too: “Dollar a Gallon,” which resembles a gasoline pump pricing sign and represents “the effect of advertising on the impressionable.” Deep.

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Brandusa Niro Editor in Chief, CEO

more basel intel!

Take a break from Basel to admire furniture at the Design Miami/ fair from December 3–8 at Pride Park with more than 70 exhibitions by artists from 13 countries. Ahead, three fashion-centric works to check out:

a stylish perch! Louis Vuitton

debuts the newest piece in its Objets Nomades series of limited-edition collectible furniture, “Swell Wave Shelf” by SF designer Andrew Kudless.

(PS. For sneakerheads in need of luxe storage, LV also unveils its Sneaker Trunk at Savoir-Faire on December 3rd, a customizable case that holds dozens of rare kicks.)

IN THE HAUTE SEAT: “The Balenciaga Sofa,” designed by Harry Nuriev and presented by Crosby Studios, made from unused and damaged Balenciaga threads, makes a statement about sustainability.

WHEN IN ROME: Fendi commissioned design studio Kueng Caputo to craft “Roman Molds,” 10 pieces to festoon its Rome HQ. The project explores the tension between traditional craft and innovation.

Managing Editor Tangie Silva Creative Director Dean Quigley Contributing Senior Editor Alexandra Ilyashov Digital Director Charles Manning Fashion News Editor Aria Darcella Editors-at-Large Charlotte and Sophie Bickley Contributing Art Director Teresa Platt Contributing Copy Editor Joseph Manghise

life of the party!

Imaging Specialists George Maier, Nola Romano

With legendary photographer maripol

Chief Marketing Officer Alex Dickerson Fashion Publishing Director Monica Forman

You’re known for party snaps. What are your all-time favorite soirées?

Oh, my God. The parties at Studio 54 were really over-the-top, like the birthday party for Bianca Jagger riding on the white horse. Or an Easter party I organized at Studio 54. I had a bunch of bunnies we dyed colors like pink, green, and yellow in an enclosure with hay. At the end I thought, “What am I going to do with all the bunnies?” So every one of my friends got a bunny to go home with.

Any photo ops you wish you’d had?

Well, the one I missed was at Studio 54. I was at the bar, and saw David Bowie approaching me. I was always very polite.

I would not be a paparazzi type. I asked, “Can I?” He said, “No, no, no, darling.” [I didn’t take the shot] like an idiot. In that case, I should have been like a paparazzi!

ROSÉ ALL DAY Haven’t had your fill of pink vin since summer ended? Donae Burston, founder and CEO of La Fête du Rosé, suggests tequila rosé spritzers, which are “refreshing, easy to make with a few ingredients, and can be enjoyed year round.”

Tequila Rosé Spritzer 4 oz. La Fête du Rosé 2 oz. blanco tequila 1/2 oz. elderflower liqueur Plain seltzer for topping

Publishing & Market Research Nandini Vaid Digital Operations Daniel Chivu Manufacturing Operations Michael Esposito Amy Taylor

To advertise, call (646) 768-8101 Or e-mail: advertising@dailyfrontrow.com The Daily Front Row is a Daily Front Row Inc. publication. Copyright © 2019. All rights reserved.

Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

Requests for reprints must be submitted in writing to: The Daily, Attn: Tangie Silva, 810 Seventh Avenue, Ste. 400A, New York, NY 10019.

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design miami 2019 highlights

Aimee Song has a Miami Design District meet-andgreet on December 5 for her Revolve clothing line. • Random alert! Billy Joel is in town for a SiriusXM event at Faena Theater on December 5. • Serena Williams’ fashion label, S by Serena, has a pop-up at Faena Bazaar.

• Hungry? Tulum hot spot Gitano just opened at Casa Faena. • Paris Hilton is on DJ duty at Wall Lounge on December 6. • Check out “Harder We Fall,” artist Ben Moon’s installation, at Dream South Beach’s lobby.

Chief Content Officer Eddie Roche

artist to meet!

Provincetown-based artist James Frederick will be at Red Dot Miami in Booth 607. Tell him The Daily sent you!

On the covers Left Joan Smalls in Vera Wang dress on motorcycle with Riccardo Ambrosio photographed by Sebastian Faena/IMG Lens for InStyle.

Right: Artwork by Amoako Boafo.

Portraits by Alex Hodor-Lee.

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Amoako’s Moment

Amoako Boafo is about to blow up. Born in Ghana, Boafo lives and works in Vienna, Austria, and is making his Art Basel Miami debut with Chicago’s Mariane Ibrahim Gallery. Ahead, Boafo opens up about his fascinating background, creative process, and career trajectory.

By CHARLES MANNING Photography by ALEX HODOR-LEE

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From top: Pink Suit (2019); Steve Mekoudja (2019)

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What was your childhood like in Accra, Ghana?

I have two siblings, but my father died [when I was young], so I was raised by my mom and my grandma. After high school I went to art college, which was not something anyone wanted me to do. If you’re born and raised in Ghana, your parents don’t want you to be an artist because, in Ghana, it doesn’t really pay off. They like art and painting, but they don’t believe anyone will really invest money in it, so it wasn’t something anyone dreamed of me doing. But, of course, I wanted to be an artist—it makes me free—so I just did it.

What did your mother and grandmother say when you told them?

Art was really an escape for me, a way for me to be alone with myself. When I told my mom I wanted to study art, she said, “You know that’s not going to bring you any money, right?” I was like, “Yeah, I know.” And she said, “And you’ll still have to get a job afterward.” I said, “Yeah, I know.”

Where did your interest in art come from?

Art is not anything I could be around. I didn’t see it anywhere. I was more self-taught. Growing up, my friends and I would have art competitions. We would take a cartoon or something, and we would all draw the same thing and see who did it best. That was really how I started.

Did you win a lot of those contests?

Well…I would say yes. [Laughs] But not all the time. You have to admire when someone else does better than you. And that’s how you learn from each other.

What was your arts education like?

First, I went to art school in Ghana. I knew I wanted to learn how to paint, and it didn’t really matter where. I knew a few people who had been to art school already, so I was like, “Can I see what you did in school?” Then, I would compare my work to what they showed me, and see who I wanted to paint

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“Everywhere I applied to show, they said they didn’t show anything African. To be an artist, to create and not have a place to show, is a great frustration.” like. I was considering two schools, but I was blown away by the technique of a guy I knew who went to Ghanatta College of Arts and Design.

What was college like?

I arrived a bit late—maybe a month or so—and they had all advanced in shading, still life, all these things. I remember the whole class was making fun of someone; they put their drawing on the board for everyone to see, and I saw the drawing and I was like, “This is amazing! How can I get myself to do that?” But they were making fun of it! It turned out the person wasn’t good enough, and I was like, “Oh, s**t!” Everything I had been proud of showing, I decided I had to hide. So I hid everything and started looking around the class, seeing which students were better and making friends with the ones who were willing to help other students [like me].

Your professors couldn’t help you?

Your professor comes every day to tell you what you have to do, but it’s a class of 47 people, so he doesn’t have time to talk with every student. He does whatever he does on the board and then you just have to figure it out. Some students who are really good, who get it, you have to become good friends with them. So that’s what I did. I actually learned

from my colleagues because they were good enough to understand what the teacher was teaching, and then they could teach me.

How did you end up in Vienna?

After Ghanatta, I met someone in Ghana who was from Vienna, and encouraged me to go there. I didn’t have any intention of going there to study because I already knew how to paint, but it was something new, in a new space. The education you get there is good and you pay almost nothing, so I applied to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and I got in.

What was it like going to Vienna for the first time?

Well, when I arrived, it was winter, and it was my first winter in the snow.

What did you think of your inaugural encounter with truly chilly weather?

For me, it was just cold. I didn’t get it. Also, the streets were empty. I was like, “Where is everyone?” I had seen Europe on TV, but everyone was outside—I didn’t get that people are only outside during the summertime, and during winter everyone is indoors. I didn’t like it.

But you stuck it out, and still live there.

Well, I have my wife; plus, the university [is there]. I did manage to actually make good friends, who helped me

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going Global

navigate the art scene, because being black, it was quite hard to get anywhere. But now Vienna is a second home. Although Ghana is always home.

Your own nonprofit arts organization, We Dey, is in Vienna, too.

From the beginning, everywhere I applied to show, they said they didn’t show anything African. To be an artist, to create and not have a place to show, is a great frustration. It makes you feel like you’re not good enough. So I talked to my wife [about creating a space for artists like me], and we applied

for a grant from the city. The first time we applied, we got nothing, but the second time, we got a grant for the year. To have a physical space, you need money, and I wasn’t selling many paintings back then, so it was hard. But we managed to get the space together, and did the first open call, for POC artists of any discipline—performance, drawing, painting.

It was good. It was difficult to maintain the space, but we do yearly crowdfunding, and now things are getting better. I’m also working to have another space in Ghana.

Has Vienna’s arts community changed its attitudes toward your race and Ghanese heritage as your success has grown?

After my breakthrough, a few galleries in Vienna actually wanted to show me. But that’s just them wanting to make money off of me, because anyone who has my painting will be able to sell it. At this point, I’m not really interested in that—I’m interested in having museum shows, and having my works in places that will actually help my career, not just selling to anyone who has money.

Your work is reminiscent of another famous Austrian artist, Egon Schiele. Is that intentional?

When I arrived in Vienna, I didn’t think of changing the way I paint or anything, but I heard certain names over and over—Klimt, Schiele, Lassnig—and I wanted to see why they were so famous. I actually love their paintings, and every now and then I would [test myself ] to see if I could paint the way they were painting. I could, of course.

But with Schiele, I was most interested in seeing how he

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“I’m interested in having museum shows, and having my works in places that will actually help my career, not just selling to anyone who has money.”

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Above: Yellow Blanket (2018). Opposite page: Bel (2018)

got his results. You could really see all the brushstrokes and colors he mixed to make a painting, unlike Klimt, [whose work is] very well mixed, realistic, and decorated, which is also good. I just want my paintings to be as free as possible, and Schiele gave me that vibe—the strokes, characters, and composition.

Do you use your fingers to create such a loose, free aesthetic?

Yeah. I tried a few techniques, like with a brush, but I feel much more free when I’m painting with my fingers; I like the fact that I don’t have so much control.

Do you remember the first Schiele painting you ever saw?

It was a self-portrait with a flower or a plant beside him.

When I arrived at the university, a few people said, “You’re good, but if you want to sell, you have to change the characters you paint.” Meaning I would have to paint white people. For a moment, I was like, “Okay.” But then I was like, “No. I’m painting myself, and it’s important that I paint myself. I don’t see why I, as a black person, am not good

enough to be shown in a gallery.” Then I saw Schiele’s selfportrait, and it actually confirmed for me that I should keep painting what I was painting. It helped to see another artist just dealing with himself and the people around him.

How do you choose your subjects?

I like [facial] expressions. I choose images based on how I feel, and I choose characters based on what they’re doing in society. I am all about space—people who create space for others—and I choose characters who are doing something for the community.

Do you do much preparatory work?

I paint a lot in my head. But I don’t do a lot of work before I start painting, because it takes a long time and there’s a lot of disappointment if you don’t get it the way you planned.

When did you first start to feel like you’d really made it as an artist?

Probably when Kehinde Wiley bought one of my paintings.

I think he was actually the one that sort of made all of this [success] happen. When he bought that painting, I was

nowhere. I mean, I was doing okay, but no one really knew me. Then he bought the painting and introduced me to his gallery, and that’s when everything started. The first time he wrote to me I was like, “Oh, s**t! This is good.” I didn’t think I had “made it,” but I got a certain satisfaction from that. It made me feel like I was doing something good.

What’s the most recent work of art that really blew you away?

A piece by El Anatsui in the Ghana pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He’s a sculptor who uses bottle caps for his work, and does really huge pieces. I’d only ever seen images, but when you see the real piece [in person], you sort of lose yourself in it.

Your paintings are often quite large, too—up to eight square feet.

Why do like working in larger scales?

When I got to Vienna, I had the feeling that no one really saw me, as a black person, so I wanted to create something you wouldn’t be able to ignore, something that was in your face.

So I decided to go big.

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artistic Feast

Supper Time

The second-annual Faena Festival takes over the Faena District from December 2–8, and it’s going to be truly mind-blowing. The Daily spoke with Zoe Lukov, chief curator at Faena Art, to find out how they’re bringing art and spirituality to the public.

By EDDIE ROCHE

the festival—it’s a cross-disciplinary platform. The festival is about encouraging artists to pursue dream projects they might not have had the opportunity to do before. A lot of the works are brand-new commissions—they’re sitespecific, and are made for these spaces. Often we pair those new commissions with important seminal works from an artist’s career.

Tell us about your role.

I’m the chief curator of Faena Arts, which was established to take on the cultural programming of the Faena District in both Miami and Buenos Aires. I conceive of the program here with a small team. We also often think about how to combine the vision for the spaces. A lot of work we produce in Miami we end up bringing to Buenos Aires, and vice versa.

Another important thing is responding locally to the cities we’re in. We work with local artists and international artists, to ensure there’s a really dynamic conversation happening.

We look to find new artists who are pushing the boundaries

of their discipline, and encourage them to continue doing so at a monumental scale. We have the benefit of two beautiful spaces, Faena Forum and Faena Arts Center, in addition to all these public spaces that we’re able to use. It’s a unique opportunity for artists to go bigger than they’ve ever gone.

When do you start working on the festival?

We start when the previous festival ends! It’s pretty major. I wish we had more time. It’s a big undertaking. When you’re working with artists creating new works, there’s a lot of back and forth and conversation. There are site visits, too. A big part of what I do is come up with a concept that we want to explore, work on it extensively, and start doing research; then, I invite artists to come to the District or I visit their studios. It takes months. The original artist list that I might have had in my head changes continuously as these conversations take place.

Talk us through this year’s Faena Festival theme, The Last Supper.

It’s the unifying concept that we selected. The festival is

all images courtesy

What is the Faena Festival?

It started last year, and the theme was “This Is Not America.” The idea for the festival, which is produced by Faena Art, the nonprofit arm of the Faena District, was based on Alan Faena’s concept and dream, which was to curate a festival that would be basically a way of taking over and maximizing the potential of the entire Faena District. We wanted to activate all the District’s spaces, from the Faena Forum, the cultural center designed by Rem Koolhaas, to the Faena Theater in the hotel, to the public spaces and the public beach, and to unite the entire neighborhood around one unifying theme. It’s a concept that’s been percolating forever, and last year was our opportunity to really do it.

How was the inaugural festival, in your opinion?

We were really happy with how it went and the ability to push the limits of creative output and push the boundaries that exist between disciplines. That’s an important part of

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“The Faena Festival is about encouraging artists to pursue dream projects they might not have had the opportunity to do before.”

Founder Alan Faena

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Lots of energy and action at the inaugural Faena Festival in 2018.

site specific in itself to Faena. When thinking about the new theme, it made sense to consider the district’s own way of combining culinary experience with contemporary art and wellness. Separately, I was really interested in thinking about contemporary art in relation to spirituality.

While [spirituality] might not be the most popular in contemporary art, art is an inherently spiritual practice, and it’s interesting that a lot of artists work with food in ways that you don’t expect. I’m not talking about working with food as raw material, though artists do that. In my years of working with artists, I’ve noticed a lot of them have a practice of a studio lunch, for example. Everyone sits down for a fresh-cooked, farm-to-table meal. A lot of artists work with the act of creating food as an experiential moment for the audience to take part in. Last year, we did a show with artist Antoni Miralda, who is 77 years old; one of his works [“El Internacional Tapas Bar & Restaurant,” with chef Montse Guillén] was a restaurant in the 1980s in

Tribeca. It wasn’t just a restaurant; it was a total artwork, a fully immersive art space. The food was art. The walls were art. Everyone was hanging out there. There was no division between art and food. We did a show with him in 2018 in Buenos Aires, El Internacional. Archaeological Sandwich; working with him, I was thinking about how food and art have been connected in these ways. I also took into account the moment we’re living in, which is a little untethered and disjointed. I was thinking about how people want to connect and come together. There’s so much similarity between the act of coming together to break bread, and what spirituality has been used for forever—coming together for the shared prayer and the shared meal. These were the ideas that were percolating, and we finally came up with the concept of The Last Supper.

What’s going to be happening at the Faena Forum during the Faena Festival?

There’s one new commission and two existing works, all

video installations. What’s interesting is that each of these videos and installations require a physical interaction by the audience. You enter the space, and there’s a new video by Sophia Al-Maria, which is part of her The Limerent Objects series. The film is based on the underworld Queen Persephone. It’s a video on the floor, so it will require a peering down from the audience. It’s very visceral; the audience will be physically engaged with this work. On the second floor, there’s a short film by the Propeller Group, The Living Need Light, The Dead Need Music, which was made in 2014. It explores the funerary traditions throughout the Southern Hemisphere, to demonstrate the commonalities and continuities of the global south. It’s a lush, gorgeous film. You walk around it in the space. In the other space, Camille Henrot will exhibit her film Saturday, which she created for her major show at the Palais de Tokyo in Tokyo last year. It hasn’t been installed in the United States yet, so this will be the [national] debut, and we’re really

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Zhang Huan’s Miami Buddha is constructed from ash collected at temples around China.

excited about that. It’s a documentation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, sliced together with footage of surfing and medical procedures. It’s a gorgeous film. It’s threedimensional, which will be interesting and physical for the audience. [The films will be shown on December 2 and 3.]

Last year, you had that stunning carousel in the lobby. What will be showcased at the Faena Hotel this time around?

There are two gorgeous new commissions. Myrlande Constant is a Haitian artist who is creating her biggest Vodou flag to date, which will hang centrally. She makes these heavily intricate, sequined works. She has also created a second flag, because she was so excited about the project.

These will be surrounded by other flags on loan from private collections, which are religious objects, in a certain sense.

They’ll be utilized in a religious ceremony to call in the Loa, the Haitian spirits. Here, in this context, they’re basically contemporary paintings made of beads and sequins. They are phenomenally gorgeous.

Wow. What’s the other commission?

From the lobby, as you go on the pathway near the Mammoth, Gabriel Chaile has another commission, which is totally epic. Chaile is an artist from Northern Argentina.

He’s a rising star. We commissioned him to create a series of six sculptures that reference indigenous wayfinders or talismans—one sculpture is a functional oven and we’ll be baking bread out of it. It’s going to be beautiful.

And what’s the story behind another debut, Miami Buddha?

Zhang Huan is a world-famous Chinese artist, mostly known for his performance work from the 1990s, who has transitioned more into working with ash as a medium. He created a Buddha created entirely of incense ash he collected from temples around China—it took him three years. The ash is considered sacred. The Buddha itself is made of ash, and will slowly crumble and fall apart, which is a meditation on the impermanence of life, and the cycle of life and death. We’re talking about feasting and fasting, and all the

spiritual traditions that engage with that. The Buddha will be exhibited along with the aluminum mold that makes it, so there’s actually two Buddhas. They’ll be on the beach, with the ocean behind.

What if it rains?

It would fall apart. That’s part of it. It’s constantly changing.

Won’t the ash blow everywhere?

It won’t. There’s a technique utilized, so it doesn’t go wild.

It will blow a little bit. It’s going to be quite special.

Will Miami Buddha be the Instagram moment of the festival?

I think the Myrlande Constant and Gabriel Chaile [artworks] might be. I would imagine the Buddha will also be. But who knows? It might rain, so who knows what could happen.

Instagram is such a big part of our culture now. Do you think about creating those kinds of moments when you are putting the festival together?

I try not to, but it’s hard not to. It’s become a way for people to communicate and share. With The Last Supper, I was

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less interested in doing object-based things, to really focus more on the experience. I wanted to move away from “Take a picture and leave,” and make it more about allowing audiences to come together to share an experience that can’t be repeated. That’s why we have a supper series and a cinema series, these opportunities to congregate and commune. I had this ongoing thing in my head about what our contemporary ritual is—it’s dinner and a movie, the most basic thing that we do across the board no matter what spirituality you identify with.

What’s the supper series?

It’s the only thing that’s ticketed. Everything else is open to the public. It’s a dinner where you need to purchase a ticket.

We’ve been talking about breaking bread and sharing a meal together, so I wanted to work with chefs who I find to be artists. One of the nights is a mash-up between [chefs] Paul Qui and Francis Mallmann. Qui is the master of contemporary Eastern cuisine, and Mallmann revolutionized the Argentine asado. It takes place at a table, which is a work of art by Jim Denevan. The table will be able to seat 350 people, and it’s

Scenes from last year’s Faena Festival.

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essentially a circle, a ring on the beach. We’re also doing a dinner on Wednesday [December 4] with [art collective] Lunafridge, which will have everything to do with the moon and the stars. [Astrology for Artists founder] Madeleine Botet de Lacaze will be reading guests’ astrological charts.

The whole dinner is a performance relating to the stars about what foods you should eat, where the planets are. On Friday [December 6], we’ll be doing a dinner with Jim Denevan.

Tell us about the cinema series.

There’s an LED boat that floats on the water with ads, and we bought it out last year for the entire week, with an artwork on it. It went up and down the water and basically there were no ads for the week; it was a public artwork. It was so beautiful because it also went outside of the Faena District. It reached an audience that might not go to Art Basel. Everyone lying on the beach would see this boat. We felt it was a gift to the city. We’re doing the same this year, in the sense that we’re buying out the boat again for the week, but instead of doing one artist, we’ve programmed a series of video installations that go up and down the beach

all day. Every night at 6 p.m., the boat is going to come to the Faena District and park as an open-air cinema. There will be screenings each night. People can come sit on chairs on the sand, and be able to see and hear the film from the beach. It’s almost like a drive-in movie!

How involved is Alan Faena in all of this?

Faena Art was founded based on Alan’s vision and his desire to integrate art and culture to everything in the Faena District.

His vision is a guiding principle on the program for sure.

This all sounds incredible. What were you doing before your current gig?

I have a totally nontraditional trajectory. Prior to Faena, I was at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles under Jeffrey Deitch. I worked for a number of Bienniales, as well. Prior to that, I was at NYU at a research institute, the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics— and I started out as a dancer! I was really interested in performance and body practice as a way to understand our histories and our world in a way that’s not written. Then, I ended up becoming a curator!

“I wanted to move away from ‘Take a picture and leave,’ and make it more about allowing audiences to come together to share an experience that can’t be repeated.”

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ultimate Trio

dream team When InStyle celebrated its 25th anniversary in September, the monthly fashion magazine came up with a major way to reflect on the quarter-century milestone.

EIC Laura Brown and her team tracked down 25 of the greatest red-carpet dresses and brought them to life again with models Amber Valletta, Joan Smalls, and Karen Elson. The result? An epic editorial shot by Sebastian Faena and styled by Julia von Boehm that we haven’t been able to get off our minds.

The Daily reunited this talented trifecta to learn how they put it all together.

From left: Sebastian Faena, Julia von Boehm, and Laura Brown

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Marcos fecchino

By EDDIE ROCHE Photography by Sebastian faena

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Marcos fecchino

Elson (left) in the Marc Bouwer dress worn

by Angelina Jolie at the 2004 Academy Awards. Harry Winston bracelets. Elson (above) in the Valentino dress worn by Elle Fanning at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival. Jimmy Choo pumps.

How did the editorial come about?

Laura Brown: We had a September issue and [market and accessories director] Sam Broekema and [editor at large] Eric Wilson said it would be great to do something on the greatest red-carpet dresses of the past 25 years. I thought, “That’s all well and good, but how do we make this more?” We need to get the dresses, shoot them on fabulous models, and put them in the world; that’s what makes it cool and original. InStyle’s DNA is red-carpet dressing.

We need to get them. The process was really fun, because they had their favorites and I had mine. One that we really wanted was the Michelle Williams yellow [Vera Wang] dress, which we didn’t get because it was too personal, and I totally understand. We all had dresses that we just died for. I would just spit out dresses. I would send Eric texts like “the Cate Blanchett Gaulthier!” and “the Julianne Moore green YSL!” Everyone wanted the Liz Hurley Versace. It became this investigation of where the thing was, so we’d go to the

[fashion] houses and to the actresses. It was sometimes as simple as “We have it in our archive! We’ll send it to you!” to “So-and-so has lost the keys to her storage unit.” It was really quite the hunt. It was sometimes more tricky with the houses where the [creative directors] have changed.

Any examples?

Brown: The story of getting Julianne Moore’s dress is so funny. We originally went to YSL and they didn’t have it, and then we went to Tom Ford and they were sure that YSL had it. I then went to Julianne. She didn’t have it. I was very wed to this green dress. It ended up being with Tom the whole time. It was this rabbit hole of finding things, which was really fun.

What were some of the other challenges?

Brown: I kept getting scared that we were counting wrong, that we f**ked up and it was actually 26 or 24 dresses. We’d sit here like we were learning to count. We managed to get to 25. Well done, us!

What about the models?

Brown: I desperately wanted Karen Elson. She was the last one to confirm, but I was really holding out for her. I wanted supermodels. I like supermodels who aren’t tiny babies—that have real swagger and presence. So it was Joan [Smalls], Amber [Valletta], and Karen. I wanted to see Gwyneth [Paltrow]’s pink Ralph Lauren on a redhead. It makes it cool. When Sebastian and Julie got on deck to shoot it, we didn’t disagree. I knew Joan would really sauce up that white Tom Ford. We knew that Amber would be perfect in that Versace. I knew Karen could make more classic dresses a bit more subversive with her hair and everything else. It pretty much worked. The dresses we landed on the girls [fit], which was pretty extraordinary. We took three solid days [to shoot], and I wanted it to be downtown, midtown, and uptown. We shot in Chinatown, the Plaza Hotel, and then we were uptown in the street and in old theaters. It felt really special—we worked really hard, and I’m proud of it. That’s

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ultimate Trio Elson in the Ben de Lisi dress worn by Kate Winslet at the 2012 Academy Awards.

Jimmy Choo heels.

“This has been one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever worked on.

It was so uncynical. Every part of it.”

—LAURA BROWN

what magazines are capable of doing, and I don’t think magazines are doing it enough. We really tried. We used every relationship—relationships we’ve really earned with houses and actors. People could see that the idea was really great, and they wanted to participate in it. It reminded us of the job of magazine making. This is why we do it. I say to my team, it’s the joy of making things. It’s what propels us in this business, which has so many trials at the moment. Those dresses were iconic, and the history of them was iconic.

Sebastian Faena and Julie von Boehm enter Brown’s office. They greet one another and hug.

Brown: I’m talking about the joy of making things right now. Sit down! [Faena and von Boehm join interview.] I was just saying how excited we were when we first got the photos. This has been one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever worked on. It was so uncynical. Every part about it.

Julia von boehm: Everybody showed up and was excited about it, which is rarely the case these days!

Sebastian faena: The whole thing was sort of perfect.

Nowadays when you shoot for magazines, there are so many restrictions and dos and don’ts. Laura was great in giving us so much freedom. And such a good idea. von boehm: The idea was genius.

Brown: We agreed what girl should wear what dress. It got a bit hairy for a minute when we didn’t know if we could get Karen, but I knew we needed to have her because of what she brought. When we knew who was wearing what, it was off you went. So tell about that part because I wasn’t there. von boehm: It was fun because we needed to find the perfect location for the perfect dress. It was logic of where it should go. “There’s a hairdresser there! We have to go there!” The guys [working there] would say they were shutting down and we’d say, “Here’s $50! Stay open for one more hour! Please!” and they did! It felt like a student project, which was exciting. I love to get down and dirty. faena: When we first found out about the story, we

thought, “How we can show the dresses in a way that’s interesting? Let’s shoot them in the streets, in a very real, hands-on way.” We were in beast mode in the streets. von boehm: Nice beasts! faena: We shot in the summer, which is always a good vibe.

How challenging was it to shoot in three days? faena: For me, it wasn’t. I shoot a lot. I’m very, very fast.

Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee. von boehm: I like the speed of having to shoot a lot of pictures. It’s wonderful in a productive way. It’s horrible in an unproductive way and you just have to get s**t done. In this case, we had fun!

Brown: You have good instincts. People slow down because they second-guess themselves. You can tell if a photographer is not certain if they’re taking too long. If you know you got it, you can move. faena: The idea was so good. We planned so much before and then in the moment of the shoot, it was like playing.

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Valletta in the Armani PrivĂŠ dress worn by Cate Blanchett at the 2016 Academy Awards.

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ultimate Trio

Valletta in the Balenciaga dress worn

by Nicole Kidman at the 2017 Academy Awards.

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Valletta (left) in the Versace dress worn by Elizabeth Hurley at the premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Francesco Russo pumps. Valletta (below) in the dress worn by Courtney Love at the 1997 Academy Awards.

Tiffany & Co. necklace. Sergio Rossi heels.

Everything was so well organized by the team. What’s so exciting about these pictures is you remember —the psychological thing of remembering when you first saw the dresses. There are layers. We weren’t just shooting bags and shoes. We were shooting things that were in a way part of our history. von boehm: The casting was really important. All these women are not just models. They are women I have cherished and loved for a long time. Women that are all amazing in their way and more interesting to me than just a model. They’re impressive women. They wanted to be a part of it. They got it and that shows in the pictures.

What was the story? von boehm: Each lady had her consistent story. They were their own characters.

Brown: All three of them are great performers. faena: They were stars—hardworking, kind, and giving their all.

What were the days like? faena: I was crawling on the floor. The pictures weren’t easy to make. It was the opposite of being comfortable in a

studio. It was a lot of fun and very physical. von boehm: Aren’t they all? faena: This one especially!

Brown: It would be good for the kids to see how this happens because it really is about the joy of the work.

Everyone was there for the right reason. It sounds cheesy, but I think it was affirming for all of us. Everyone who was there were like, “We’re going to do this!” I long for more of it. von boehm: It’s wonderful to be proud of something again.

Was there one gown on-set that everyone died over? von boehm: I died over all of them.

Brown: She died so many times! von boehm: They were all museum pieces. I promised Nicole [Kidman] it was going to come back clean! I was panicking sometimes but not that much because the picture is too important to me. I had other people panic around me! It was incredible how we dared to not treat them like museum pieces. We made them alive. faena: I was starstruck by the Courtney Love dress. I remember when I was a kid and saw Courtney with that

dress how she was suddenly a different person to me. When I saw it live, it was exciting. I remember when the shoot was over, I asked where the J. Lo [Versace] dress was and you said she wouldn’t give it to us.

Brown: It became clear why she didn’t give it to us a little later. [Jennifer Lopez walked the Spring 2020 show in an updated version of the iconic dress.] von boehm: What Laura does so well is we get to execute her ideas—the ideas don’t just speak to you in a fashion.

There are many elements. It has to have a meaning, and I think it always does. It speaks in a second-degree language; there’s not just a first degree of a picture.

Why was Sebastian the right photographer for this?

Brown: I knew he could take a great picture, but he also really loves glamour and beautiful women. He has a real uncynical love for it and a real appreciation. I knew he’d grown up with it in another country like I had. There’s a mythology to all of it. We’re in it now, but there was a time when it was far away, and now we’re making the images. He’s always had an appreciation for these women. The fact that he could take the picture was secondary. I knew he could

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ultimate Trio

Smalls in the Valentino Couture dress worn by Jennifer Lopez at the 2003 Academy Awards.

“There was a feeling of love and community [on set]. That doesn’t happen all the time.… It felt like making a film.

It wasn’t the feeling of a fashion shoot. It was stronger.”

—Sebastian faena

treasure hunt!

With

Sam Broekema, InStyle’s Market and Accessories Director

When did you start working on this?

We were meeting about how to celebrate our 25th anniversary, which was a pretty deadly prospect. Laura tasked us all with coming up with ideas.

I think the idea of looking at celebrity

through the lens of fashion and nostalgia are my favorites. We all have these moments that resonate with us forever, and that’s why we got into this industry. Bringing these dresses back to life was interesting to me. I’d want to read that.

Were you tasked with tracking down the dresses?

That was my part of this. Perhaps the hardest part! It was really intimidating at first. Where do you begin? But then it was interesting because you see the way people lead their lives. A celebrity is just a human being. Some people keep things perfectly and know exactly where they are, and others said they gave the dress to who and it’s where?

There were a couple of dresses that we

wanted that were too emotional for the celebrity to lend, which I understood.

There were other people who didn’t want other people wearing their dresses, which I also understand.

Name names!

Julia Roberts didn’t want people wearing her vintage Valentino dress, which I totally understand. It’s personal.

Which dress was in a museum?

The Vuitton dress that Alicia Vikander wore was in a museum, and we had to pull that. The Björk dress was in the Met, and we couldn’t get that. We worked with them to see if they would release it and they wouldn’t because it was going to be in the “Camp” exhibition.

Everything happens for a reason. We’re happy with how things turned out. courtesy

take a picture. I know I can edit a magazine. I know that Julia could style an image. I knew he would go into it joyfully and do the work. von boehm: We’re good friends—we know each other pretty much inside out! We have a similar vision and aesthetic. We complement each other in our work. faena: There was a feeling of love and community [on set.] That doesn’t happen all the time. The team was fantastic. It felt like making a film. It wasn’t the feeling of a fashion shoot. It was stronger. I’ve known Amber and Joan for so long. It was the first time I shot with Karen, which was exciting. von boehm: Everyone wanted to make beautiful images. It wasn’t like they wanted to go home. There was a passion to the process. faena: I’ve done mainstream [projects] and I often shoot these big beautiful shoots for smaller publications with a smaller audience. [For InStyle], you talk to so many people. It’s scarier, but when you get it right, the feeling is so much more gratifying.

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courtesy

Smalls in the Michael Kors Collection dress worn by Emily Blunt at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards. Tiffany & Co. earrings and necklace.

Tabitha Simmons heels.

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haute Homage

Catwalk of models, or curated masterpieces in a museum? That’s the question spurred by Moschino’s Spring 2020 collection, with its overt nods to Pablo Picasso. The brand’s creative director, Jeremy Scott, explains how the inspired mash-up of fashion and art came to fruition.

By aRIA DARCELLA

Why did you decide to pay homage to Picasso for Moschino’s Spring 2020 collection?

I’d been thinking about doing a collection inspired by the muses of Picasso for a long time, creating this Picasso woman. I don’t know why I suddenly decided it was the right moment. Obviously he’s such an iconic, prolific painter and artist, with such a huge body of work. He’s been able to do something I think a lot of, let’s say, “name brand” things can do. We say Kleenex instead of just tissue, because it’s so identifiable; when you think of Picasso, you

think of these abstracted female portraits. One eye is bigger than the other, the mouth is skewed, all these different colors—kind of abstracting from reality. I wanted to take those elements, which I feel are so iconic of his work, and apply them to creating a collection that would embody the Picasso woman. So I did a deep dive into researching all the different women—his muses, lovers, wives, even his daughters—who he did renderings, portraits, and sculptures of. I tried to bring that inspiration to life and create the ultimate Picasso woman.

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piece of work

Did you learn any interesting trivia from your Picasso deep dive?

A ton! Did you know he was accused—in a court of law—of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre? His friend said that he had done it, they went to court, and he had to try to say he didn’t do it, which he didn’t, but [the Mona Lisa] was nowhere to be found. They finally found it later in Italy—I think an Italian janitor or custodian had taken it and brought it back to Italy. But yeah, Picasso was accused of it, went to court, the whole thing.

Whoa! So how did Picasso’s work inspire your creative process for the collection?

I tried to take an amalgamation of things I loved from him and push myself to create. Like, let’s make this shoulder higher than the other one by 10 inches! Let’s create this abstraction of the dresses, and take inspiration from his color palette and vibrancy, and also his childlike qualities.

There’s artistry in having the freedom to not worry about things looking so real, recognizable, or symmetrical. I feel so much art before him, and even in his early start, was very literal. Photography was just starting, so there was still this kind of realism, of trying to create something “accurate,” instead of just expressing something. A lot of Picasso’s work was inspired by other painters, and was done as a reaction to other iconic paintings. I found that to be inspiring. There’s one outfit Léa Julian wore that’s inspired more directly

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by Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Lucas Cranach the Younger—and that portrait is also inspired by El Greco.

But the thought of, “Okay, I’m doing this because Matisse did this or Degas did this, and I’m doing my version”—he did a whole series of that, which at that time weren’t as well received by art critics. I love that he was inspired by other painters who came before him—and did portraits inspired by those paintings. I thought it only made sense for me to also pay homage to one of the paintings in that series.

Did Picasso’s nods to his contemporaries resonate with you as a designer? Fashion seems even more interconnected than the art world…

Honestly, I think it’s the same. Especially in his time. He was also working with other artists, seeing what they were doing, and then being inspired to push further. Sometimes, it was his ambition and desire to be the best; his ego, frankly. And sometimes, it was just the fact that Matisse would debut a painting, Picasso would see it, and react to it. It’s kind of impossible not to react to something visually stunning, especially in your domain as a creative. And how that pushes the whole movement forward. That’s how there were different periods from Cubism. He wasn’t the only one doing Cubism; he was part of a group. That, to me, is something that is actually more natural and more organic. I love him taking from another painter and doing a portrait. That inspired me to do clothes inspired by a painting. It’s just very post-post-modern! But I think that’s the way the visual world works. With audio, people create a new sound and that changes the way music moves forward, because people enjoy it and react to it. That’s a natural progression of how we are as people and as creatives. I think there’s too much emphasis now on people trying to point fingers about who did what first. Some of that information isn’t even accurate!

Very meta. What other artists are you fond of?

Millions! I love art. I’ve collaborated with the English duo Gilbert [Prousch] and George [Passmore]. I did a collection inspired by their work, with their work. They were so generous, and gave me so much to play with. I worked with Kenny Scharf, another artist I love—such a fun, inspiring multimedia artist. Also Rosson Crow, who has an exhibition at The Hole gallery in New York right now, and Aleksandra Mir, who I did my Fall 2019 show with, inspired by her redrawings of the headlines of The New York Post and The Daily News. Obviously, [Andy] Warhol; I could go on and on about different artists who are inspiring. Art is such an important element of our culture. I’m a big proponent of art and art education, because it’s so enriching and helps people— especially kids—open their minds to new possibilities.

Why do you think there’s so much crossover between fashion and art?

Fashion is very visual, and we communicate daily through our clothes. Even if people don’t think they’re doing something dramatic or exciting, they’re still communicating. Whether that’s “I’m wearing this uniform because I work for this plumbing company, so trust me when I come to your house, I’m the plumber,” or someone like Lady Gaga communicates different moods through her clothes, like “I’m an alien space rock goddess” or “I’m a Hollywood starlet.” We use fashion all the time to give visual cues. It could be something as simple as our favorite band or a political message on a T-shirt, or even to communicate “I don’t really like clothes,’’ that’s still communication! It’s still a cue.

What does your own wardrobe say about you as a person?

It depends on what I’m doing, and how I feel. For me, clothes are really always about my mood. Obviously, the occasion can take part in that: Am I going to an awards ceremony?

Am I going to the pharmacy? Am I just going to the office?

For me, it’s always about a combination of those things, because you’re telling a story. My clothes are constantly a big part of my personal expression. I wouldn’t do well with a uniform. Even one that’s self-imposed, like Steve Jobs. I really wouldn’t be able to do that, because my inner soul needs to be expressed, and sometimes that expression changes. Sometimes even in the same day! There are times I’ve changed clothes because I just need to feel differently.

Maybe you put on a pair of high-heeled shoes, and it gives you an attitude. Or you pull on a pair of boots and you feel like you’re going to kick some ass. Clothes can enhance or alter your personality. That’s something I’ve very attuned to, maybe more than other people.

Have you started working on this collection’s campaign?

I already shot it; it’s in the can. It’s amazing. I can’t tell you anything more except that it’s Mr. [Steven] Meisel. I’m continuing my legacy with Mr. Meisel! It’s definitely chockfull of superstars, which is exciting. It’s unbelievable. I can’t wait to share it.

Because we’re at Art Basel, what are some of your favorite Miami spots to hit up?

Well, I really love Design Miami/, where they have all the contemporary furniture, new furniture designers, and vintage furniture. They have great people, who are doing new, innovative things and debuting them there. That’s inspiring. I always love having breakfast at News Cafe, which is the classic Miami spot. Miami has got a really fun vibe.

Obviously, it goes into such a tizzy when it’s Basel time! The excitement’s always fun.

Looking ahead, what are your personal goals for 2020?

To take more vacations! Any place calm, relaxing, warm, with warm water. I’m happy for any kind of beach destination!

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“I’m a big proponent of art and art education, because it’s so enriching and helps people—especially kids— open their minds to new possibilities.”

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DETAIL Oriented

perfectly preserved

Uovo has been NYC’s premiere art storage facility since opening its first location in 2014. With its sophisticated look and next-level storage functions, it’s nabbed the attention of chic clotheshorses, too—and in early 2019, Uovo officially launched a branded fashion arm, MODA. Kelsey Rudin, Uovo’s EVP of finance and business management, and Anne Maso, director of marketing and communications, explain what makes MODA a fashion archivist’s paradise.

Why has fashion archiving become so popular?

Kelsey Rudin: With the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Met, you started to really see an interest and appreciation in preserving fashion, and seeing those cultural collections as part of our legacy. [There’s an] understanding that to have these museum shows, to investigate what our past looks like through design, we need to preserve those pieces.… “Heavenly Bodies” at the Met had the highest visitor rate in its history, [nearly] 1.7 million visitors. I don’t know whether anyone could have anticipated the interest in seeing fashion collections amongst the public. What’s exciting about what we’re doing is that we’re addressing needs and preempting some of those needs as well.

Was MODA always part of Uovo’s plan?

RUDIN: We really transformed the way people use and view art storage, and the expectation for it. We have a hospitality approach to the service; people can come into the spaces, use the viewing galleries, and use their own rooms. They can

not only store but interact with their collections. Realizing how similar art and fashion are in terms of care—the need for climate control, UV protection, etc.—we’ve been quietly working with designers, entertainers, and collectors of fashion since we opened. It got to the point where it felt like we should be talking about fashion the way we talk about art.

Is the care of art and fashion pieces really all that similar?

RUDIN: Our staff is highly trained to handle incredibly fragile, expensive, and monumental pieces of art; there’s a similar application. The care and attention to detail in the handling and transport [is also similar]. Also, what’s unique about us is we maintain our objectivity. If a fashion brand has a team of archivists and curators they like to work with, they can work in our space, as long as they’re authorized by that brand. They can rent our viewing rooms, or the client might have their own space. We also have partners we refer, and we have a fashion archiving partner in particular.

How do you go about finding an archivist?

Anne Maso: We’re lucky because we work with the best. I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say the premier conservators in the world are coming here to work. It’s an extension of who we are. Our network is deep.

Any predictions about the future of fashion and art storage?

RUDIN: Sustainability is such an important conversation that’s more present than ever. That really connects to what we’re doing with fashion archiving. Less is more these days.

Vintage and resale are increasingly appealing to consumers.

There’s a growing appreciation for vintage, and for things that are really well made. So how do we sustain that? How do we allow them to grow? How do we reference the way things were made in the past so they endured, as opposed to the current trend of fast fashion?

Does the building itself have any sustainability initiatives?

RUDIN: Yes. A lot of our building methods are green. And we recycle.

MASO: That’s been an exciting innovation, actually—we’ve

nicholas calcott (1); kris graves (1); all photos courtesy uovo

By ARIA DARCELLA

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moved to all-recyclable gloves! It’s an amazing transition and helps with the waste from this industry. We’re excited to be part of the effort to tackle that and make the switch.

How else have you modernized?

RUDIN: Digital interfaces are such a big part of our lives.

People can go on their phones and look through their inventory—we can scan everything digitally. We’re keyless; we can track everything remotely. That we can work in this really remote, flexible, and technologically savvy way is unique and also at the forefront of what people are looking for in their experiences.

Sounds high-tech!

RUDIN: This facility is the first-ever purpose-built facility in the U.S. for the care of fine-art collections and design.

Another thing is optimizing for disaster preparedness. It was built post–Hurricane Sandy, and has double redundancy in terms of generators. You want to be in a space that is built to protect against fire, flood, and other natural disasters.

We’re built outside the FEMA flood zone. We’re 16 feet above sea level. We were vetted by all the world’s leading insurers, including AXA GRASP [Global Risk Assessment Platform]. We use fireproof materials, and we install the most sophisticated HVAC and security systems.

What can you offer a private collector?

MASO: What’s really going to [harm] all materials is fluctuation. When you’re [a fashion lover], and you have beautiful gowns, you want to take care of them. But you’re not wearing them all the time. They’re taking up space.

We can offer a place to put those pieces where there are no fluctuations. The furs, the feathers—all those materials

are kept stable. That’s the key. When you do want to wear things, you call, we’ll send it to you or you come in to your private room and you grab it. And you have it exactly when you need it in that museum environment, so it’s still in perfect shape years later.

RUDIN: Also, we have options starting at $250 a month. It isn’t just for larger collections—it really is for everyone. We’ve created a system and amassed real estate that allows us to offer space for collectors at every budget and every need.

When things are in transit, how do you ensure the same level of climate control?

RUDIN: We have a fleet of 10 custom-built, climatecontrolled trucks. People are lending out of here all the time.

Any super old couture pieces in house?

RUDIN: Discretion is of most importance; we don’t necessarily know everything we have. [But] we’re aware of a few amazing vintage libraries that are stored in our facilities.

We have pieces that are at least 100 years old. I think there are many treasures here.

Why the secrecy? What type of things would a client want to be private about?

RUDIN: There are many reasons that drive people. For example, entertainers have large fashion archives, and there’s a privacy component with a lot of their work. There may be things that [designers] don’t want to be seen, at least until the collection is shown. A lot of brands are using the archives as an inspiration library. In order to maintain that brand heritage, it’s important that new designers are up to speed with past designs. Sometimes they’ll use them as reference, or even just getting to see and touch the materials.

One of five pristine, stateof-the-art UOVO: MODA NYC's viewing rooms.

good as new!

UOVO: MODA handlers for The World of Anna Sui at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York.

Julie Ann Clauss, founder of fashion archiving firm The Wardrobe and UOVO: MODA's fashion archiving partner, explains the ins and outs of collecting clothing.

nicholas calcott (1); kris graves (1); all photos courtesy uovo

What are some common environmental factors that cause wear and tear to clothes?

Not cleaning them properly.

While you don’t want to dry-clean clothes more often than necessary, you have to clean clothes before you store them. You may not notice you dropped a small bit of food on your garment, and be tempted to store it thinking it seems clean.

If not treated, a stain can appear over time. Not only will it be much more difficult to remove later, but it will also attract pests that could further damage it.

What are the dos and don’ts of archiving clothing?

It’s important to know when something must be packed flat, and when it’s okay to hang it. Flat packing does not mean folding something up in a drawer. It should be professionally done using the appropriate archival materials. Exposure to light is also a big no-no. Once a garment has what we call “light fugivity,” there’s

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nothing you can do for it.

You’ll often see the shoulder line of a vintage dress is lighter than the rest due to UV exposure. Keeping things at the right temperature and humidity level is really important for long-term storage. When it comes to clothing, prevention is truly better than a cure.

What’s the most challenging repair you’ve handled?

Getting perspiration out of garments is a true challenge, and it’s something we always have to contend with. The truth is that your average dry cleaner doesn’t know how to do this, and doesn’t even attempt it. That’s why most clothing comes back from the cleaners with a stale smell.

What’s the oldest garment you’ve ever worked on?

I once hand-washed a silk piece from the early 1800s.

Any celebrity pieces you would love to work with?

The nexus of music and fashion is what most interests me. I would love to get my hands on Cher’s and Lady Gaga’s archives!

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HAUTE Handles

Miami Influencers To Know!

The 305 has plenty going for it—ample sunshine, gorgeous beaches, great dining and nightlife, a lively arts scene… and ultra-cool influencers, guaranteed to fill your feed with loads of stylish content. Without further ado, meet some of Miami’s top influencers to follow during Basel and beyond!

Danié gÓmez-ortigoza @journeyofabraid

Pre-influencer career: “I used to be a correspondent for Condé Nast Mexico and Latin America.”

Side hustles: “I have my headpiece brand, and I do consulting.

I never want Instagram to be my primary source of income.”

If Instagram disappeared tomorrow… “I’d probably have enough time to become a performance artist. One day I will!”

Dream collab: “I’d love to do a performance with Carla Fernández, an incredible Mexican designer who understands the power and knowledge of indigenous tribes.”

Most recent full-price luxury purchase: “A Burberry trench coat.”

Beauty essentials: “Aloe vera, applied straight from the plant every night, and Biologique Recherche Creme Placenta.”

julian hernandez @ijulian_

Best swag ever: “The Mr Turk tuxedos my husband and I wore at our wedding last year were really special. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to receive something in the mail.”

Pre-influencer career: “I was working behind a desk at a law firm, probably scrolling through Instagram.”

Most recent full-price luxury purchase: “A pair of Lanvin sneakers I couldn’t live without!”

Dream collab: “I’d love to create a resort or streetwear collection with Marc Jacobs.”

Passion projects: “I’m currently advocating for climate change, and working on beach clean-ups with Miami Beach nonprofits. I grew up going to the beach, and want to preserve the beauty and wildlife for future generations to enjoy.”

Cindy Prado @cindyprado

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all images courtesy

Pre-influencer career: “I worked at a dentist’s office, wearing scrubs!

Before that, I worked at Hollister, the only place that would hire me at age 16.”

Beauty essentials: “Currently obsessed with Drunk Elephant’s C-Firma Day Serum, and skinbetter’s Instant Effect Gel Eye.” If Instagram disappeared tomorrow… “I’d stop wearing five outfits a day and overpacking on every vacation.”

Dream collabs: “Top, high-fashion brands, like Chanel and Gucci. I feel like that’s when you know you’ve made it in the influencer world.”

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isabela grutman @isabelagrutman

Craziest thing I’ve ever done for the ’Gram: “Swimming with pigs and stingrays in the Bahamas. I was more focused on the Instagram moment, and not at all concerned about the bites or stings that everyone else was watching out for.”

Favorite project: “I recently partnered with Jaguar. I’ve always been familiar with the brand, but driving its first electric car was special.”

If Instagram disappeared tomorrow… “Motherhood, modeling, and running my charity, Style Saves, keep me busy. I love Instagram, but it’s only part of my life.

And I have some great books to read!”

Most recent full-price luxury purchase: “I bought some sick boots from Chloé. I’m obsessed with them.”

Beauty essentials: “I love every product from Dr Sebagh and January Labs, and I can’t live without Caudalie’s Beauty Elixir face mist and EltaMD’s sunscreen.”

lando griffin @thesuitedracer

Art Basel plans: “This year, I’ll be doing a prerelease of the first issue of my graphic novel, and unveiling The Butler, my 100-percent custom-built, rideable art piece based on a 1982 BMW R100.”

Best swag ever: “I have a good relationship with Dents Gloves, in England. I once told them what I thought a cool glove would look like; they made them to my specifications, and then decided to make it a part of their line. They’ve been around since 1777 and are very traditional; the only other line they make like that is the James Bond line. Not bad company.”

Perks of the NYC-MIA lifestyle: “In the dead of winter, Miami is a beautiful refuge. The community of creatives in Miami is tight-knit. They constantly empower and inspire one another. When I’m down here, I get it by proxy.”

If Instagram disappeared tomorrow… “I’d work the tourist crowd in Times Square. I heard the Naked Cowboy owns a Maserati, he could use some competition.”

adrienne and chris bosh

all images courtesy

@mrsadriennebosh & @chrisbosh

Favorite recent gig: “I loved partnering with Citi, calling attention to the gender and leadership pay gap. It was an emotional experience for me; it’s something I really care about.”—Adrienne Passion projects: “I’m passionate about philanthropy and programs to help today’s youth, especially underprivileged children. I’ve also been active in the tech and coding space by supporting code.org, which helps make dreams more accessible. There will always be a part of me focused on giving back to the game by helping younger athletes advocate for themselves and navigate their futures.”—Chris Dream collab: “I would love to do a home décor line with a mass retailer that allows me to show my personal style, and share tips I’ve learned from hosting my family and friends for dinner.”

—Adrienne Social media strategy: “Social media is such a powerful tool; I like to use it to spread as much positivity as possible. Having a presence on social media has allowed me to explore my creative side through comedy, music, style, and art. I still share a lot of basketball content, but I also speak on how important it is to be there for your family, engage in self-care, and my philanthropic efforts.”—Chris

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iconic Inspiration

Fashion and art tend to get along famously, as proven

by L’Agence’s chic new capsule collection debuting at Art Basel, which features legendary photographer Bert Stern’s iconic shots of Marilyn Monroe. L’Agence CEO Jeff Rudes fills us in on the wearable works of art and much more.

By ARIA DARCELLA

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Tell us about L’Agence’s Bert Stern capsule collection! What drew you to these images?

I’m familiar with different artists that have done work in fashion, Bert being one of them. He has a history of doing [many] Vogue covers. “The Last Sitting” was one of the most famous and controversial shoots, which Marilyn [Monroe] did a few weeks before she died. I have an interest in where art and fashion tie together, and we thought doing an iconic “Marilyn Last Sitting by Bert Stern” collaboration would really be relevant with what’s going on today. The Marilyn images are stridently beautiful, even though in the Last Sitting, she was sad. But it portrays a couple of things—her sadness, and also the beauty of Marilyn—and the way Burt did the shoot with flowers in front of her breasts, it was a very unique shoot. There’s a moment going on right now with American icons, like Warhol, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen. But we didn’t just say, “Let’s do something on Marilyn Monroe.” We thought it was a very good story.

How did you pair the images with the collection?

We did something very casual. We put four images from the shoot on T-shirts, and added some jeans. A very famous part of the shoot is the X’s. Marilyn got the negatives from Bert after the shoot and she didn’t like how she looked, so she took a bobby pin and she made an X on the actual negatives.

Bert used the negatives—they turned out to be the most famous images of the shoot. They’ve got an orange X through her face, and the X became part of the collaboration. I’m not going to say it’s all about the X, but the X is an important piece that we focus around. There’s an orange X on the back pocket of the jeans, and we use the X image printed on the back of an oversize denim shirt. The idea of the product and putting it together was easy; it had a strong fashion point of view. But we weren’t creating high fashion with it. Everybody wears a T-shirt; everybody can wear a jean. There’s a white leather biker jacket, because white is also a big part of the theme. Being that all the T-shirts are white, one of the denim jackets is white, one of the jeans is white.

What’s your favorite Marilyn Monroe film?

Probably Some Like It Hot. It was funny.

Where does your interest in the intersection of art and fashion stem from?

Many collaborations have been done in the past 10 years.

I think I was leading the pack a little bit at J Brand, with Christopher Kane and Proenza Schouler; I did some great collaborations in the past. So it wasn’t like we were going to have another clothing designer team up and do something really cool and sexy. We said, “Let’s lean toward somewhere artistic.” We looked a few places—having an artist paint on a T-shirt just didn’t resonate with us as something really special. When we said, “Who do we look at? Who was one of the big icons in fashion and why?” Bert Stern came up. He did terrific work.

What other photographers’ oeuvres are you drawn to?

[Richard] Avedon and [Irving] Penn. Some of the modern photographers I’ve shot with—Craig McDean and Patrick Demarchelier—do a great job. But in this case, we had to go with someone iconic. Bert’s iconic, and he’s known for the Last Sitting. Milk Studios had a whole exhibition on him four years ago. There’s some modern acknowledgment of Bert’s work with Marilyn, so it’s not so old that people don’t know what it is. We wanted to do something relevant but that also had a strong fashion point of view.

You’ve worked extensively in denim throughout your career. How has the market evolved?

Denim has its peaks and valleys over the years—the business is cyclical. We’d come off a huge decade from 2004 to 2014.

all images courtesy

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BOMBSHELL BEAUTY

a sneak peek at L’AGENCE’s Bert stern collection, DROPPING APRIL 2020 all available at lagence.com

The Karissa jacket in Blanc The Cory T-shirt in White

The Marilyn Film Strip scarf

The Perin skirt in Tye Dye Cloud Print

The Karissa jacket in Dover

The Biker jacket in White

The Joplin jean in Dover

all images courtesy

The Nina shirt in Marilyn Film Strip

American premium denim was at price points [it hadn’t been before], and the way it was presented was new. Then, in 2014, we had a little dip. Usually a dip is because there’s a lack of new product. The customer owns a lot of what she’s already seeing in stores, so she’s looking for something fresh. Denim is strong in certain places and weak in others, and where it’s weak, it’s about product. I speak to stores all the time. It’s a bit of a rougher market right now. Ten years ago, all you had to do was put out a nice-fitting, premium jean, and it sold. It’s not as easy today. But it’s a strong category for us. I love working with denim; I love women wearing denim. Of course, it’s got to be right. It’s one of the most sexy, sophisticated pieces in a woman’s closet, and the most emotional.

What makes L’Agence’s denim stand out?

We don’t try too hard to be revolutionary. It’s about giving women great product. Our jean [offering] is so strong because we pay attention to fabric, fit, and finish as the most important things. We’re not trying to come up with a new boyfriend jean that’s going to revolutionize our customer, because we’re coordinating our jeans with our collection.

There’s not another company out there that marries the collection and the jeans like we do; we have our silks, knits, and beautiful blazers. One of the reasons why our denim is so strong is the way we’re merchandising it as an outfit.

We’re looking at her top, bottom, where the blazer goes, where the T-shirt goes, the sweaters, and so on. We do coated jeans that look like leather and are butter soft—we can’t make them fast enough. I shipped coated jeans at J Brand by the thousands an hour, but the technology didn’t allow us to do it the way we can now. You always improve product. You can always make it better, softer, more comfortable. Denim has changed over the years to have more stretch, recovery, and comfort, so that a woman

“I love working with denim; I love women wearing denim.… It’s one of the most sexy, sophisticated pieces in a woman’s closet, and the most emotional.” doesn’t feel like a sausage in a jean because it’s so tight. Who wants to wear a jean for 10 hours and not be comfortable?

Beyond denim, what distinguishes L’Agence?

Last year, we really took a position in our blazer business, which is one of the strongest categories for us right now.

We’re using some of the finest fabrics. In February, we’re launching bags and shoes. The tests are going to be made in Italy; all the product is in production right now.

What can we expect?

It’s going to be very simple. We’re doing two sizes of a tote bag in a beautiful glove deerskin and a suede lambskin.

Everything goes back to the jean. The philosophy is, if you see a girl strutting down Madison Avenue and she’s looking great in her jeans and her leather jacket, biker jacket, or blazer, this is the bag she should have hanging on her shoulder. Of course, we have trousers and beautiful silk skirts too, but we’re looking at the jean first. The shoes are classics—a slide, a Mary Jane, a suede pump, and formal slipper, with both open and closed back. The white and red floral print we did at our Spring 2020 presentation was so strong, we put it on a suede pump and suede slide; the formal slipper is in black suede. It’s only five styles; I believe in the edit. Once we work out the kinks in our stores and online, we’ll see how to go wholesale and what do we do next. But we’re on the move, building the lifestyle brand as we speak.

What’s the scoop on your new Soho location?

We open in mid-December. It’s the largest store we’ve built out so far. There’s a beautiful sitting area in the back of the store, in front of the dressing rooms, with couches on both sides and a coffee table. The store is long and spacious; there’s no clutter. We also built it out for the expansion of products, so we have a great way to present the shoes and the bags. I think it’s perfect for us. We felt Greene Street was the best for L’Agence. We have good adjacencies, and we always like being in good company. We know the street is doing very well. Although our business is stellar right now, off the charts, we welcome other people’s business to be that way.

We want the block to be busy. We don’t always want to be the only one on the block drawing traffic.

Can’t wait to check it out! What are you most looking forward to at Art Basel?

It’s my first year. My wife and I are in the market for some art. We’re going to have fun seeing whether there’s something we can purchase.

What sort of art do you and your wife gravitate toward?

We like a bit of modern contemporary, but we’re not locked in. We have a traditional Hollywood regency house from the 1920s, so we try to mix old-world inspiration or older furniture with a modern piece of art—using the art to balance the mix of old and new together.

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ARM Candy

game changer

Retail is alive and well if you’ve got a concept as clever as Rebag, which now has two locations in Miami and nine stores nationwide. Rebag’s founder and CEO Charles Gorras also recently launched an ingenious new app, Clair, which makes buying and selling handbags easier than ever. Gorras tells us about this revolutionary software, and what brands customers are craving.

By eddie roche

Clair is now available for handbags, but will the technology be available for other luxury products in the future?

For now, we’re focused on handbags and small leather goods.

Is there a fee to use Clair?

No, Clair is a free and public tool. Creating Clair was our way of taking the knowledge we’ve built since our launch five years ago and sharing it with the world.

We know Clair is relatively new, but what brands seem to be the most popular thus far?

The most popular brands among Clair users include Louis Vuitton, followed by Chanel, then Gucci. This is unsurprising to Rebag, as most of our inventory is made up of these three brands—yet it showcases the immense demand for them on both the buying and selling sides of resale.

You opened another store in Miami this year. Why is Miami an important market?

Two stores are now open in Miami—one is located in the

all images courtesy

You recently launched Clair. Can you explain what it is and how it works?

Clair, which stands for Comprehensive Luxury Appraisal Index for Resale, is Rebag’s proprietary software that provides a highly accurate offer in an instant, and empowers consumers to make the most out of every luxury handbag purchase. Clair determines the value of any handbag across a list of more than 50 brands and 10,000 bags in three easy steps—through the Rebag website or app, navigate to the Clair portal to select the handbag’s brand, model, style, and size, then tell Clair a bit more about the color and condition, and it will instantly generate your handbag’s resale value.

How long has the trailblazing app been in the works?

We began developing Clair five years ago.

How can we try out Clair firsthand?

Through rebag.com or on our mobile app.

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all images courtesy

“At Rebag, customers can buy and sell with minimal friction, making it easy to both refresh or unload your handbag collection when you want. That’s one of the appeals of our business.”

Miami Design District, and the other is in the Dadeland Mall.

Miami is the perfect combo of culture and highly influential art and fashion scenes, making it an ideal market for Rebag.

Can you explain what Rebag is for those who are unfamiliar?

Rebag is the ultimate destination for buying and selling luxury handbags. We differ from other resale options, like peer-to-peer marketplace and consignment, as we buy all inventory from consumers up-front, offering instant payment both in store or online. We also introduced Rebag Infinity, which lets consumers bring their Rebag purchase back within six months of purchase and receive up to 75 percent of the initial price back in Rebag Credit. We currently have nine stores in the U.S., and are looking to open 20 more locations.

Why is brick-and-mortar retail space still important for you?

Opening physical retail stores allows us to provide both our buyers and sellers with more options, and to bring to life the Rebag experience and brand in a way that digital could not. Our customers visit the stores to discover “handbag heaven,” and when they find something they love, they can purchase it on the spot and walk out with it. If they don’t find their dream bag in that particular store, they can search our site, purchase an item, and have it shipped directly to their door. If they are looking to sell, they can visit the store with

their bags to sell at the Rebag Bar, and get payment up-front, in less than 60 minutes.

Do you find that handbag buyers like to touch and see the goods in person?

Absolutely. You’d be amazed how much of a difference it makes for someone to see an item in person. Many of our customers can be hesitant to purchase online and may miss out on something they’ve had their eye on; this way they can see it, feel it, and walk out with it.

What are your top sellers?

For us, classic staples and newly released pieces sell the quickest, such as the Chanel Classic Double Flap bag, or limited-edition Louis Vuitton collaborations. This is not much of a surprise, given that handbags are investment pieces as well as accessories, so customers are quick to scoop up in-demand styles that will retain their value.

What else is new at Rebag these days?

Besides launching a revolutionary resale index tool and recently opening its second Miami location, Rebag has been quickly scaling across all departments in preparation for the holiday season and future growth in 2020, now with a team of 150 employees. Rebag has also been creating new tools to further improve the customer experience, such as sharing saved favorites with friends and family, and boosting Rebag

Credit to a 15 percent bonus, up from 10 percent, when you sell a bag for credit instead of cash payment.

Rebag has really exploded. Why do you think customers are flocking to this new way of buying?

Not only has Rebag exploded, but the resale industry as a whole has grown exponentially, especially in the luxury sector. The increased demand for previously loved items comes thanks, in part, to a variety of factors—younger customers, such as millennials and Gen Z, have turned toward resale in alignment with their sustainability preference; post-recession shoppers are actively seeking value purchases; and finally, the sharing economy is on the rise, as proven by the myriad of subscription or rentalbased services to satiate consumers who no longer want the burden of owning too many physical commodities. At Rebag, customers can buy and sell with minimal friction, making it easy to both refresh or unload your handbag collection when you want. That’s one of the appeals of our business.

We’ll be at Art Basel this year, are you an art collector or enthusiast?

While I am not an active art collector, working in the fashion resale industry truly means that I’m looking at a special form of art every day. The craftsmanship that goes into a handbag is unmatched. Each bag is not just an accessory, it is a work of art.

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dream Acquisitions The DAILY Wonders…

“I’m obsessed with [Jean-Michel] Basquiat. I would die for a Basquiat painting.”

what piece of art would you love to own?

“I’ll take the Monets!”

—kristina O’NeilL

By ARIA DARCELLA

Jeanne Moreau in The Bride Wore Black (1968)

“Rubem Robierb recently did butterfly wings that stand for something I really believe in. [His Dream Machine sculpture series celebrates fighting for one’s dreams; the ‘Dandara’ piece honors transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals.] I think our transgender community is so unfairly and brutally being killed in communities where they should be safe and looked after. These butterflies really moved me.”

—Charlize Theron

“There are so many! A Picasso!

Egon Schiele!

Francis Bacon!

Those are some of my favorite artists.”

—Naomi watts

shutterstock (9); patrickmcmullan.com (8); everett collection (1); getty images (1)

—Imaan Hammam

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“I would like to own a Gerhard Richter.

I don’t usually love abstract, but I think his pieces are some of the most incredible works I’ve ever seen.”

“I would own a Rothko. That’s just the dream—the color, the scale. I get a lot of inspiration from him.”

“I was an art history major. Matisse, Diego Rivera— there are so many.

I’m working hard to get them one day.”

—Tory Burch

—Jason Wu

“Madam X, by [John Singer] Sargent.”

—Joseph Altuzarra

—Jordan Roth

“I would love to own one of the Untitled Film Stills [by Cindy Sherman]. Also, one of Hilma af Klint’s pieces.”

“The Jeff Koons rabbit that sold at auction for $91 million.”

“The Mona Lisa, of course!”

—Halima Aden

—Derek Blasberg

shutterstock (9); patrickmcmullan.com (8); everett collection (1); getty images (1)

—Molly Ringwald

“I’m a huge Ashley Longshore fan. She’s from New Orleans, so I was always a fan. That was my first big splurge when I started to make money. If I could decorate my whole home with Ashley Longshore, I would.”

—Stassi Schroeder

“Whatever [curator] Thelma Golden tells me I should have in my home.”

—Elaine Welteroth

“That’s a tough question, because I love so many pieces. I’m going to go for a Rothko.

Or a Twombly because he was a fellow Virginian, and I just love his poppies.”

—Carolyn Murphy

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Runway. All day.

new season.

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new fashion.

be first.

firstVIEW.com

1/19/18 9:13 AM

holiday

special

firstview

gutter credit

Get festive this season with looks from the runway's top designers. From sparkling party dresses to the hautest spots to celebrate the holidays, here's your winter guide to all things chic!

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chic Musts

Altuzarra fall ’19

all images courtesy

brock collection fall ’19

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BALMAIN B-Buzz 25 metallic bag, $2,190, mytheresa.com

RAMY BROOK Lola silk-blend metallic top, $285, bloomingdales.com

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Maia Labella heel, $1,245, christianlouboutin.com

ZADIG & VOLTAIRE Heart Declaration ring, $118, zadig-et-voltaire.com GUESS gold-tone and white diamond analog watch, $66, guess.com

gold rush Nothing glams up an outfit quite like a bit of gilt. Go for the gold this holiday season with these gilded gift-worthy finds.

all images courtesy

L’AGENCE Reliah wrap dress, $640, lagence.com

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TEMPERLEY LONDON platinum silk satin-trimmed sequin-embellished chiffon wide-leg pants, $425, net-a-porter.com

DOLCE & GABBANA sequined pencil skirt, $1,265, mytheresa.com

VERSACE Medusa Western belt, $2,475, versace.com

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holiday Chic Spree

shopping promotion

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Knit multi mink fur hat with fox pom pom, $250

Knit mink fur hat with fox pom pom in Dusty Blue, $200

Rex rabbit knitted furt trapper hat with fox pom poms, $150

pologeorgis

Kids Rex rabbit double pom pom hat, $140

Bundle up this winter with a slew of warm accessories in an array of pastel shades. From snuggly pom pom hats to toasty mittens, you're covered!

Knit mink fur hat with fox pom pom in Ivory/Palomino, $200 Knit single stripe mink fur hat with fox pom pom, $225

Two-tone blue fox fur earmuffs with velvet band, $250

Short mink fingerless fur gloves in Honey Gold, $240

Knitted mink fur mittens in Dusty Pink, $300

All available at pologeorgis.com FA S H I O N W E E K DA I LY. C O M

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holidayChic Spree

veronica m What better way to dress for the holidays than a mix of luxe fabrics paired with sparkly accents? Here's the must-have pieces for your winter wardrobe.

shopping promotion

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Jade Estrella earrings, $28

Black velvet blazer, $80

Blondie satin draped midi dress, $120

Gold shimmer short sleeve jumpsuit, $113

Silver stripe shimmer pants, $90 Raiza statement earrings, $32

Teal satin draped cami, $32

Noir sparkle clutch, $62

Topaz asymmetrical body-con dress, $120

La Jolla sparkle earrings, $32

h o l i d ay s c o o p the brand's designer, veronica Monroyferrer, shares her current obsessions

Tell us about your holiday collection.

It’s inspired by Studio 54 fashion—a lot of glam fabrics mixed with everyday, easy-to-wear styles.

Which items are you excited about?

Definitely the velvet pieces as well as silky draped camis and dresses.

Any winter trends tyou're obsessing over right now?

Anything animal print! Adding a bit of satin,

sparkle, and/or velvet to any winter outfit has also been my go-to.

Do you have any travel plans for the holidays?

Yes! Mendoza, Argentina. I am so excited to visit for the first time with some friends, and I am really looking forward to it! I am a Cali girl through and through so I like to follow the sun and plan trips in warm places during holiday breaks.

What's up next?

Check out our resort line online so you can be vacation ready year-round!

AVAILABLE ON VERONICAM.SHOP INCLUDING STORE LOCATIONS FA S H I O N W E E K DA I LY. C O M

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holiday Party People

location, location,

location!

Looking for a memorable venue to hold the company holiday bash this year?

Up&Down might be everything you’ve been looking for. Erica MauRer, who heads up special events for the Butter Group’s venues, talks us through why this Chelsea hot spot is your one-stop shop for any and all soirée needs.

By EDDIE ROCHE

guests, as well as photo booths. We’ll help with décor and ambiance, such as candles, balloons, and accessories. We try to identify what each person wants to achieve and their vision. We utilize our relationships and working knowledge to achieve that for them.

What sorts of cool details have memorable holiday parties incorporated?

People have had Christmas carolers here when guests first arrive; we’ve had clients do a full ugly-sweater party. One year, we did a winter wonderland, where the ceiling was covered in gold and silver balloons. We’ve done complete detail branding, with a holiday vibe. It varies across the board. We did one party where one floor was “naughty”themed, and another floor was “nice”-themed, with the drinks’ color schemes curated to the themes.

Fun! How would you describe the ambiance at Up&Down?

The top floor has a classic, old-world, 1920s vibe, with high ceilings and pretty chandeliers—it feels more sophisticated, and holds 500 people. Downstairs has an edgy, funky, down-

and-dirty party vibe. There’s a private karaoke room, lower ceilings, and customized lighting so you can change the colors.

Millennials and people who want a crazy party gravitate to downstairs. They’re complete polar opposites! The space lends itself to having a band upstairs and a DJ downstairs; or you can have a DJ playing totally different music upstairs.

Can you help secure a DJ? We have a list of curated, top-level DJs we work with. They know the room, and know how to get a party started, keep it going, and make a great experience. We’ve designed a package where we build the DJ into your holiday party or any corporate-event package. We’d rather give you a top-level DJ and create an experience, than have you pick someone who has never worked in the space and might not know how to read the crowd; We handle the DJs 99.9 percent of the time.

Do you serve food?

Over the years, we’ve created a 20-page special-events menu. It’s broken into categories, such as passed hors d’oeuvres, chicken, vegan, seafood, and vegetarian. People

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What kind of events do you typically do?

We host fashion and celebrity events, premiere parties, wrap parties, and social functions, from private birthday parties for owners of companies to bar mitzvahs. We’ve done overthe-top sweet sixteens, engagement parties, all different kinds of corporate events, private dinners, fundraisers, after-parties—the full gamut!

It’s a great space for a holiday party. Why do you recommend doing an event there?

The Butter Group owns Up&Down and 1 OAK, which stands for One of a Kind. That’s our mantra. We try to create a unique experience for you, your guests, and clients; that can be from custom carpet arrivals outside with a red or black carpet, to custom branding of company logos outside, to being met with welcome drinks that are curated for the client’s preference.

If your company’s logo is red, we might have a red welcome drink. All those details are things we integrate into all our holiday parties and our events throughout the year. We also have a private karaoke room that can be branded for your

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On the menu at Up&Down: rollicking good times, major star wattage, and two distinct, gorgeous floors for maximum revelry.

are very health-conscious. We find companies today are much more cultured, and over the years, [instead of] regular things like burgers or pizza, people are wanting sushi, raw bars, and tuna tartare. They don’t want the run-of-the-mill stuff. We have the execution to take it to a higher level. If you come in and want something Italian, and another person wants a filet over couscous with a nice salad, we can achieve that. We do tastings and narrow it down.

How does pricing work for holiday parties?

Different days have different minimums. Some people want drinks for a couple of hours and passed hors d’oeuvres; others want passed hors d’oeuvres or three or four entrées and a donut wall or cotton-candy machine. We try to identify where the client’s expectations are, and where they are at budget-wise. We build out a package to fit their budget—we could build out a package for $100,000 or $20,0000. A lot of big companies that you’d think have a big budget oftentimes don’t, and a lot of companies you don’t really know about have bigger budgets.

Are you the point person for every bash hosted at Up&Down?

Yes. It’s me and a member of our team; we help identify the dates and work with the budget and the package. If you book an event today and your event is in three months, we’re gonna take you through the whole process. We’re not going to book you and pass you on [to someone else], which is unique. A lot of venues have someone you book with and then you’ll talk to someone else for the menu or on-site.

There can be a lot of disconnect with that.

Why do you think Up&Down is an ideal spot for a party?

The space is perfect for a band and DJ combo. It has a good footprint for that. It’s also good for groups that have a wide age range, because there are two floors. It used to be [the nightclub] Nell’s. A lot of people who used to go to Nell’s back then are now in high-powered positions in their companies, and say they have so many memories of dancing with Prince, or when Madonna was here. It has this cool element that lived here before it was Up&Down. It doesn’t take a lot to dress up the room. You know when you book a

space and you have to worry about the tables or the couches or the bar? We have all of that, which is a huge advantage.

You’re not booking a space where you have to worry about lighting or a sound system. We’re a one-stop shop—and, we have a list of all the things we don’t have, like balloons. We have vendors we can put you in touch with. It’s one of the biggest selling points. We do everything, and we do it all with attention to detail.

What are some recent big events hosted at the Butter Group’s various venues?

We just did an anniversary party for Theory at 1 OAK, and we did the VMA official after-party with Columbia Records—we do a lot of events with them. What’s cool about Up&Down is you can bring all these different worlds together and it doesn’t seem weird. You can have someone in the finance world on one side of the room and Alexander Wang on another side, and it all makes sense. On a regular night, Rihanna might be in the building having a private party downstairs, and upstairs, it might be “regular” people.

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parting Gift

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art basel issue december 2019

slug Slug

best of

2019

Amoako Boafo

2019 artist-in-residence, the rubell museum

gutter credit

the art! the fashion! the theater of it all!

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