15 posts tagged "Andre Balazs"
SPiN-sters Take L.A.
Having already proven to be a smacking success in New York, Toronto, and Milwaukee, SPiN, Susan Sarandon’s Ping-Pong club that made the sport the hip set’s unofficial pastime of choice, has opened in L.A. And where else could such a club exist but at André Balazs’ Standard Downtown? Last night’s launch party saw the likes of Chelsea Handler, Vincent Gallo, Kate and Laura Mulleavy, and Olympic table tennis player Erica Wu crowd around the tables at SPiN Standard L.A.—some playing, some observing. As it’s now open to the public, anyone can book a table for a quick afternoon game or a late-night tourney (they’re open from noon until 2 a.m.). Or, if your Ping-Pong skills aren’t up to snuff, cheer on your favorite player from the bar—no, not the juice bar. It’s not that kind of sports club.
SPiN is located at 550 South Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071, 213.439.3065
At The Social Set’s Holiday Parties, The Past Is Present
Style.com contributing editor and party reporter Darrell Hartman circles the city and, occasionally, the globe in the line of duty. In a new column, he reports on the topics—whatever they may be at whatever given moment—that are stirring the social set.
Last week, the in-demand event designer Bronson van Wyck made his first foray into retail with a holiday pop-up space at the West Village vintage shop Overbey & Dunn. A shrine to traditional (read: WASP) Christmas, it’s richly decked out with vintage baubles and antlered taxidermy. There are magnolia garlands by the foot, with the added option of gilding and pomegranates—”an ancient symbol of prosperity and good fortune,” van Wyck explained at the launch party Thursday night, which drew the likes of André Balazs (left, with van Wyck) and Martha Stewart. (“Fabulous,” the entertaining queen declared, admiring a basket of faux-glass ornaments.) Van Wyck’s staff—or “elves,” as he’s calling them—will even deliver you a made-to-measure Christmas tree.
People tend to get nostalgic around the holidays. We literally turn the clocks back, as if to prepare for them. But there seems to be more nostalgia going on this time around. For the high-minded party set this season, revisiting the past is all the rage. Continue Reading “At The Social Set’s Holiday Parties, The Past Is Present” »
Now Boarding: StndAIR
Long weekends usually mean long drives, thanks to the inevitable crowds heading to their weekend getaway destinations. Not if André Balazs has anything to do with it—the Standard hotelier has brought back his eight-passenger seaplane, StndAIR, for its second year in a row just in time for Memorial Day weekend. In keeping with The Standard cool factor, every passenger will get their choice of one of three styles of Warby Parker sunglasses (and in Parker fashion, a pair of prescription glasses is distributed to one of the billion people worldwide without access to affordable eyewear) upon boarding the weekend flight, which departs from the East River. Forty-five minutes later, and perhaps a few glasses of André Balazs Reserve Beach Rosé down, you are in East Hampton. And if you want an anything-but-standard experience, you can now book StndAIR for charter services to any port within 300 miles of Manhattan.
A one-way flight on StndAIR is $525. To find out more, visit www.stndair.com.
Postcard From L.A.: A Weekend Of Openings With Laure Heriard Dubreuil And Aaron Young
The Webster’s Laure Heriard Dubreuil and fiancé Aaron Young were in L.A. for the weekend for the opening of two shows featuring Young’s art: No Fucking Way, his solo show at The Company Gallery, and Rebel, the James Franco-curated homage to Rebel Without a Cause at MOCA. (For more on Rebel, check out our coverage of the opening party and our Q&A with Franco.) Laure sent back a few shots from her trip, which included plenty of art, plenty of parties, and (naturally) a little L.A. vintage shopping. Throughout, Dubreuil wears a dress by The Webster for Target. She’s encouraging readers to email photos of themselves wearing the collection to socialmedia@thewebstermiami.com.
Aaron and I arrived in L.A. on Friday morning for Aaron’s openings: a solo one at The Company on Friday night and a group one at MOCA on Saturday. We stayed at the Chateau Marmont, which is a key place this particular weekend, as it is basically the set for Saturday’s Rebel show at MOCA. It didn’t hurt that they had the latest Porsche convertible to rent for the weekend, either.
Aaron’s solo show at The Company Gallery is called No Fucking Way and it’s about what he calls “tragic girls that have all been acting in their lives one way or another” (he jokes that it’s site-specific to L.A.). All the paintings are in the colors of the American flag and the canvases are the shape of folded flags. He painted women like Heidi Montag after all of her plastic surgeries posing in an American flag bikini, and Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan posing wrapped up in the flag before the pipe beating incident. After Aaron’s opening, we all went to the opening of Paul and Damon McCarthy’s Rebel Dabble Babble, a continuation of their pieces from James Franco’s Rebel show at MOCA. After that, it was downtown to UMAMIcatessen for a truffle burger before calling it a night.
Saturday morning we went to the MOCA space for Aaron’s press conference and interviews (he was wearing his The Webster at Target T-shirt for good luck!). We met up with James Franco, who curated the show. He told me he wanted to collaborate with artists he looks up to, who have dealt with film in their careers: Paul McCarthy and Aaron; there was Harmony Korine, Ed Ruscha, Terry Richardson, and Douglas Gordon. Continue Reading “Postcard From L.A.: A Weekend Of Openings With Laure Heriard Dubreuil And Aaron Young” »
Meet the New iPlayboys, Alexander Wang Gets Gritty, And More…
André Balazs, Waris Ahluwalia, Jeremy Scott, and Simon Doonan are now working for Playboy. The guys have been asked to pick out their favorite moment from the archives, going all the way back to the magazine’s launch in 1953, for the new iPlayboy app. Of his X-rated pick—the May 1959 cover, Ahluwalia says, “I believe in cleanliness… in groups.” [Nowness]
Last week, Style.com debuted Alexander Wang’s new T campaign, starring Santigold and Spank Rock. Tonight, Wang will light up Manhattan as he unveils his Fall ready-to-wear promotional video, featuring Raquel Zimmermann and sounds by SebastiAn and M.I.A., projected from trucks onto the sides of buildings from the Upper West Side to the Meatpacking District. The screening of the “gritty and raw” clip will continue Thursday and Friday. [WWD]
Watch out, Leslie Fremar and Fruit of the Loom. Hanes—a name synonymous with underwear and white cotton T-shirts— is getting into the fashion game, too. The company is set to launch a line of graphic tees in a wide range of styles and colors. [WSJ]