Souk's On
New Yorkers Fall for Morocco's Charms, Without Going Further Than Hudson Street
Morocco is fertile ground for fashion—Alber Elbaz was born in Casablanca, Yves Saint Laurent had a long, intense romance with Marrakech—and now the country's tourism promoters are going all-out to seed the place with stylish visitors. To that end, they threw a lavish dinner in New York last night to celebrate the Red City, as Marrakech is known on account of its distinctively colored walls, and invited the likes of Wes Anderson, Joan Juliet Buck, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, and Marchesa's Keren Craig.
It was Morocco in Manhattan: A sprinkling of rose petals led the way through the transformed Skylight Studios on Hudson Street into a pair of cocktail lounges, past silver tea sets, clay tagines, scented candles, and multicolored babouches. During dinner, Hassan Hakmoun and his fellow musicians performed songs with a trancelike rhythm. Maybe the most impressive sell of all, though, came courtesy of Anjelica Huston, who co-hosted the affair with Alan Cumming. "You eat very well, you stay at the Mamounia, you go and visit the various gardens, and you watch some belly dancing," she said, happily enumerating some of Marrakech's charms. "It's very exotic." She also pointed out that her father, John, had made one of his best films, The Man Who Would Be King, in the country.
Chatting with Anderson (the man who, aside from her dad, may have given her the most rewarding roles) and Waris Ahluwalia (a cast mate from the director's The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited), the great American actress recalled bringing a little bit of North Africa back with her. In the old days, Huston mused, she got through New York winters with help from a djellaba acquired on her travels. "It was beautiful and really thick—I think it was horsehair, or yak's wool, or something."
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