Feature Feed

A Singular Man

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

When Tom Ford left his gig at the Gucci Group five years ago and signaled his intention to make Hollywood movies, there were plenty of naysayers. If the designer-turned-director ever doubted himself, he never let it show in public, and at the U.S. premiere of A Single Man at Grauman's Chinese Theatre last night, he was overcome by another, perhaps even rarer, sort of emotion: disbelief. "Being here, in a theater like this, is a dream come true," Ford said. "For me, it's almost surreal."

Like most of Ford's creative efforts, this one is garnering high praise: Among the awards it has picked up on the festival circuit was one for Best Actor for Colin Firth at the Venice Film Festival. And to hear his actors tell it, Ford's talent behind the camera is not unrelated to his success on the sartorial front (you may have heard a little about his menswear line). "Knowing so much about what the character wore and having that fashion background definitely helped," Nicholas Hoult, who plays Firth's student, explained. "In some scenes you see the dressing as an armor, or as the extension of the character. And Tom knew that. He was a brilliant director." His co-star Matthew Goode agreed with that last sentiment. Pacing the garden with Harvey Weinstein at the Chateau Marmont after-party, he offered, "Tom really smashed it out of the park on this one." As if anyone ever doubted he would.

—Derek Blasberg

Chic Magnet

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Interior designer Ryan Korban is one of the downtown style set's biggest secrets—though not for much longer. The point of the party that Alexander Wang, Victoria Traina, and Natasha Poly threw for him last night at the Soho Grand was to sweep him out from under the carpet. "He does my office, he does my shop-in-shops, he does our showroom, he does my home," Wang said. "I don't think there's anyone like him—he's super-sophisticated and super-luxurious, but has an eye that's fresh." Traina, who's moving in a few months, and Poly, who's planning to buy on the West Side, both seemed eager to secure his services, too. "I really believe in accessories for the home—the art, the books," Korban said, in between repeat trips to the bar for his thirsty model friends. "You see people running around in T-shirts and jeans, but then they have the Alaïa shoes or the Hermès bag. I think they want to live the way they want to dress." Apart from a slouchy black beanie, though, his main accessory this particular night was handfuls of drinks.

—Darrell Hartman

Cold Case

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The Four Seasons Restaurant in midtown Manhattan and the house of Chanel may be located on different sides of the Atlantic, but they have a few things in common. Both require wait lists for the good stuff (a prime table or a particular handbag), and both have had a long association with artists: Coco Chanel was linked to Diaghilev, Picasso, Stravinsky, and Cocteau, while Mark Rothko famously hoped that the paintings the Four Seasons commissioned from him would "ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room." Luckily, perhaps, for the joint's five decades' worth of diners—including those who attended last night's Chanel Fine Jewelry-sponsored Memorial Sloan-Kettering fundraiser—Rothko ended up withholding his art from the restaurant.

After the dinner segment of the Fête d'Hiver, there was a live auction. Diane Kruger, a co-host with Blake Lively and Camilla Belle, orchestrated the bidding for a package that included a stay at the Paris Ritz, two Chanel J12 watches, and two tickets to the fashion show. At first, the actress appealed to the husbands in the room, but she quickly changed tacks and sold not two but six tickets to the Chanel show to a table of ladies—for a cool $24,000, no less. "What can I say? I'm German. We're shrewd," she smiled afterward. Some of the other guests got similarly inventive with dessert. When large bowls of white cotton candy hit the table, Jen Brill and Lauren Santo Domingo started making hairpieces out of them. "Look!" said Brill. "It's the Chanel version of the Louis Vuitton Spring Afro."

—Derek Blasberg

Town and Country: Urban Surfer

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Divine Intervention

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Valentino Garavani should seriously consider a second career as a party planner. Since hanging up his needle and thread two years ago, he's traversed the globe hosting fêtes, most recently for the DVD release of The Last Emperor. And he was back at it again last night at the Standard Hotel, in the space formerly known as the Boom Boom Room. Arriving on the arms of Daphne Guinness and Giancarlo Giammetti, the bespoke-besuited fashion icon commandeered a cluster of booths for friends like Larry Gagosian, Princess Gloria von Thurn and Taxis, Marc Jacobs, and Hugh Jackman. The evening's entertainment? Jesus Luz in the DJ booth—and the promise of a Madonna sighting.

"People have been waiting for centuries for Jesus," Charlotte Sarkozy joked. "But I think we'll be waiting even longer for the Madonna." She was right: Luz duly took over the decks at around 11 p.m., swapping the club's typical Top 40 fare for a mash-up of techno beats. It was about an hour into his set that his lady love finally materialized on the dance floor, grinding on whichever gentleman came to pay his respects and, at a certain point, even Valentino himself. After a few spins, the designer took a seat and evaluated his special guests: "Not a bad DJ, and not a bad dancer. It's a good couple." Some might even say divine.

—Derek Blasberg

Mr. Chow Hounds

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Michael Chow was at one of his favorite perches last night: standing atop the stairs that overlook the sunken dining room of the New York outpost of Mr. Chow. The 30-year-old hot spot was packed with revelers celebrating its anniversary. "It's a familiar view, but a very modern one, too," Chow said, adding that the thing he takes the most pride in is the mix of the crowd at his eateries. True to form, art-world heavies (Andres Serrano, Tony Shafrazi), actors (Brooke Shields, Mischa Barton), and fashion types (Olivier Zahm, Thakoon Panichgul) joined the restaurateur and his wife Eva and daughter China. There were plenty of Mr. Chow chicken skewers, duck wraps, and fried dumplings to be had, but best of luck squeezing your way to the packed bar. "I'm sticking with China," Helen Lee Schifter said. "She knows exactly where to stand to get first dibs on the fried oysters."

—Derek Blasberg

Style Hunter: Overalls

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Going Gaga

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

At last night's 13th Annual ACE Awards, the Accessories Council honored a fashion icon who's made of plastic (Barbie) and a performer (Lady Gaga) who showed up in headwear that resembled an oversized cotton ball. Those trendsetting blondes were a couple of the more unconventional stars of an event devoted to recognizing the most influential forces in the world of handbags, hats, sunglasses, and—in the words of Accessory Visionary Award winner Diane von Furstenberg—other "friends you can carry with you and they make you feel better."

Agyness Deyn took the stage in arresting feather eyelashes and Lucite bracelets to accept Burberry's Brand of the Year award on behalf of Christopher Bailey. ("He's in Asia, opening a new Burberry store," she explained.) TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie waltzed in with Erin Wasson on his arm and a pair of exotic slip-ons on his feet. "They are absolutely, 100 percent fake zebra," he assured us. Accepting the Humanitarian Award, Mycoskie struck the evening's most sincere note: "Shoes, for 40 percent of the world, are not an accessory. They're a necessity."

Notably, both retail awards went to Web sites: Gilt Groupe and Zappos.com, the latter of which Betsey Johnson introduced by way of (what else?) a cheerleader routine. Tomas Maier's acceptance speech for Designer of the Year was over almost before it began, while Gaga used her time at the dais to thank Marc Jacobs, Hedi Slimane, Stephen Gan, David LaChapelle, Araki ("for photographing my soul, not my image"), and Nasir Mazhar, designer of the Orbit hat the pop star wore on Ellen and "which has now become an experience." Gaga made a vow on behalf of her style team—"We will never do a line; we are not an economy"—and closed the proceedings with an unexpected fashion tip: "The most important fashion accessory is the condom." Advice that doesn't apply to Barbie, of course.

—Darrell Hartman

Years for Fears

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:00:00 GMT

For her annual Halloween bash, Allison Sarofim brought the eighties downtown scene into her West Village townhouse Friday, walling in her backyard patio with graffiti-scrawled plywood and pumping it full of New Wave dance tunes. There were squadrons of break-dancers, punked-out bartenders, and cigarette girls on hand; the hostess channeled a club-going character named Nefertiti Graffiti in a pharaonic hairpiece by stylist Ashley Javier; and, yes, that was an actual Basquiat on the living room mantelpiece.

The guests did the rest: Carlos Mota came as Leigh Bowery and Chris Benz as Adam Ant, sporting a pirate shirt and dangling extensions that, he predicted, "I'll be pulling out at the gym tomorrow." And was that really Fabiola Beracasa wearing enormous latex ears as Prince Charles? Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone went in drag, meanwhile, having pulled a pair of Stephen Sprouse bodysuits from their closet. "Not the wigs, though," Jacobs clarified. "We didn't have those in the closet."

—Darrell Hartman

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:00:00 GMT

On Saturday night, Matt Kliegman, Carlos Quirarte, and Taavo Somer—the men behind such downtown hot spots as The Smile, the Jane, and Freemans—put on a Halloween party in an abandoned building on 28th Street that promised "13 floors of vacant goodness." The space was indeed bare-bones: Picture oil drums, Porta Potties, holes in the wall, a tricky winding staircase, industrial equipment, and plenty of dust and rubble. The background served to throw the costumes into high relief: Kirsten Dunst showed up as Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver; Rogan Gregory was Christ, complete with a crown of thorns; Michael Stipe's black clump of balloons represented oversized caviar; and Michelle Trachtenberg was a kinky Marie Antoinette. A thrifty one, too, apparently. "Do you know how much this wig costs? Like, $1,000," she said. "I just knicked it from costumes."

—Derek Blasberg

Warhols and White Stallions

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

When Diane von Furstenberg was approached by the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow to create a retrospective of her life and career, she immediately had two thoughts: "One, I knew it couldn't just be dresses, because for me fashion is so much more than that," she explained at the exhibit's opening on Friday night. "And two, that I would need my dear André Leon Talley's help." Called Journey of a Dress and curated by Talley, the resulting show spans not only the garments von Furstenberg is famous for—from her early wrap days to Studio 54 to now, when she occupies the top seat at the CFDA—but also correspondence (with Diana Vreeland, among others), photographs, and portraits of the designer by the likes of Andy Warhol. Viewing the artwork, Justin Portman noted a similarity to the recent commissions of his own wife, the model Natalia Vodianova. "I think she's following DVF here: Francesco Clemente just did her picture, and now Anh Duong has done it," he said as he passed two large-scale works of von Furstenberg by those artists. "I guess I should be happy that Warhol is dead."

After the opening and dinner at the Bolshoy restaurant, it was off to the club We Are Family, which had been decked out to look like a Muscovite version of Studio 54: women in sparkly swimsuits sitting in pyramid formation in the middle of the room, waiters in hot pants, and…well, it only got more interesting. "Wait, is that a horse?" Kate Bosworth asked. Indeed, a white stallion had been placed on the stage and taught to lie down and roll over. "In the club?" the actress laughed. "OK, this is as close to 54 as I'm going to get." From her perch in the center booth, surrounded by her future daughter-in-law Ali Kay and her husband, Barry Diller, von Furstenberg reflected: "It's similar, but there will never be another 54."

—Derek Blasberg

Sir Lancelot

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Some big-name artists—Richard Prince, Shepard Fairey, and Andreas Gursky among them—have contributed to Stages, the traveling exhibition organized by Lance Armstrong and Nike to benefit his foundation's fight against cancer. But most eyes were not on the artwork but on the 38-year-old superstar cyclist himself at Friday night's unveiling at Deitch Projects in Soho (next stop: Art Basel Miami Beach). Still, Tom Sachs managed to divert attention to his sculpture Lance's Tequila Bike for Girls. Said piece is a white racer apparently powered by José Cuervo, and upon arrival, Sachs removed a bar knife and fresh limes from a box on the handlebars and prepared a ceremonial shot for himself and Armstrong. Angela Donhauser and Adi Gil of Threeasfour soon joined the artist for the second round. No tequila craziness for Kenny Scharf, though. The Pop artist had pedaled over from Williamsburg and needed full use of his senses for the ride back: "There's a lot of angry cabdrivers out there," he cautioned. "I don't trust any of them."

—Darrell Hartman

Singing the Art World Electric

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Film, theater, fashion, music: What have these fields got that the art world doesn't? Up until now, an awards ceremony. "I thought it was missing, so here it is," explained artist and event organizer Rob Pruitt at last night's First Annual Art Awards at the Guggenheim Museum.

In an effort to keep the tone irreverent, Pruitt tapped art-world satirists the Delusional Downtown Divas to host; there was a pair of interludes from the Fiery Furnaces; and the proceedings were anchored by the authoritative (and pre-recorded) commentary of Glenn O'Brien. "Glenn taught me how to shop for a suit, like, 15 years ago, and he just seemed perfect as the voice of God," Pruitt said. Well, O'Brien has been known to rock a white beard from time to time.

This being the ceremony's maiden voyage, there were a few uncertainties. Oscars vet Julianne Moore wondered about acceptance speeches. "The big unknown: whether the artists are going to be as long-winded as actors," she said. Moore was seated with Francisco Costa and Kylie Minogue, who'd given up her precious Thursday-night TV for a night out with artists and the team from co-sponsors Calvin Klein Collection. "I could have stayed home and watched 30 Rock or my new obsession, Glee," the pop star pointed out. "But the art world is intriguing. I'll probably trip over someone and have no idea how important they are."

In the end, she kept her footing, on what was a good night for girl power. Legendary performance artist Joan Jonas accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award, Connie Butler won over a trio of male curators, and Mary Heilmann beat out Urs Fischer, Dan Graham, and Louise Bourgeois for Artist of the Year. The trophy they all took home: a lightbulb plugged into a Champagne bottle. Quipped critic Jerry Saltz: "We sing the art world electric!"

—Darrell Hartman

Dreaming The Landscape: New Works From Francesco Clemente, Elizabeth Peyton, and More

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:30:00 GMT

Next Steps

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT