13 posts tagged "Mark Ronson"
Worlds Collide In London, Where Donna And Samba Mingle
The world converged in London last night. “I’ve just flown in from L.A.,” said a breathless Donna Karan, “after Barbra Streisand’s closing-night concert at the bowl. The jet lag hasn’t kicked in yet.” Karan has been outfitting her friend Babs for the singer’s world tour, but the customer still comes first, which is what brought her to Harvey Nichols, to launch her own boutique and show her Resort collection. (Nicks’ brass said Karan was the top seller on its international floor last week.) Yasmin Le Bon (left, with Karan), Irina Lazareanu, and biking gold medalist Victoria Pendleton were among those on hand to welcome her.
Meanwhile, across town, another American transplant was celebrating its London debut: SushiSamba, the Japanese-meets-Brazilian chain, which opens its doors at East London’s Heron Tower. Alison Mosshart, McQueen muse Annabelle Neilson, Katie Grand, and Richard Nicoll (left) were among the revelers, as was Style.com’s roving advice columnist Waris Ahluwalia, while Pixie Geldof’s band Violet played a set Mark Ronson spun the tunes. (His uncle, Gerald Ronson, built the tower.) At Harvey Nichols, Yasmin Le Bon was applauding her friend Donna’s knack for knowing how real women want to dress in the real world, but the dress code here was more unreal woman in the unreal world: a clatch of barely clothed samba dancers. “You know it’s a good party when you’re picking feathers out of your mouth all night,” Peter Pilotto said with a laugh.
Farmville For An Evening At Gwyneth’s London Arts Club
In terms of celeb cred, it doesn’t get hotter than the members-only Arts Club on Dover Street. Founded in 1863 by London’s original It boy, Charles Dickens, it’s recently reopened after an extravagant renovation. Gwyneth Paltrow is an investor, on the membership committee, and has acted as design consultant; Mark Ronson is its music director. Despite its relatively nascent stages, it’s already hosted some legendary parties, like last month’s still talked-about affair where Mrs. Chris Martin took to the stage and sang to the Duke of Edinburgh, and two weeks ago, where Ron Wood, Damien Hirst, and Flea rocked out for a near-hysterical crowd. Last night, the Club shared a little of its hard-earned mojo with one of the oldest established celeb haunts: Switzerland’s Verbier Farm Club, which arrived for a one-night-only “pop-up” at the London space. (There have been plenty of pop-up shops in recent years, but this may be London’s first pop-up club—and what’s more, a pop-up club within a club. Think of them as the Russian Dolls of the party world.)
Giuseppi and Serafino Berardi’s establishment has been the Verbier’s premier après-ski club for 41 years, infamous for its “no last call” policy and for being the club where people like David Bowie and Diana Ross went straight from the dance floor at 6:00 a.m. to the first ski of the day. Princess Diana and the Duchess of York were Verbier Farm Club regulars, and now so are their sons and daughters, similarly titled ilk, Posh and Becks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jemima Khan, and so forth. All this ski debauchery was brought to the Arts Club last night, where the Champagne and vodka flowed freely in what amounted to a hat tip from the old-school legend to the newbie hot spot. It served as a thank-you of sorts from the Swiss club to its London faithful, and as importantly, a way to induct new It Brits into the Verbier world. Spotted in the crowd were such next-generation partiers as Cara Delevingne and Otis Ferry, alongside Elizabeth Saltzman Walker and model Adwoa Aboah. The approach seemed to be working. “I haven’t been to the Verbier Farm Club before,” Delevingne said, surveying the scene approvingly. “But I guess now I am going to have to check it out.”
Zac Posen On The Wedding Dress He’s Designing For Fashion Royalty
“I am a New Yorker through and through, so brunch is genetically engineered in me,” Zac Posen said. So much so that he even managed to host one on a Wednesday—not usual brunching time. But that didn’t stop friends like Leigh Lezark (left), Charlotte di Calypso, Anna Cleveland, and Genevieve Jones from dropping into Le Caprice, and taking down a few Belevedere Bloody Marys in the middle of the work day.
This is only the most recent Posen brunch; just last week, he was throwing one for Londoners, from who, the designer says, New York girls can take a tip or two. “Because of that security with their history, they can take the piss out of themselves,” said Posen, who holds a degree from London’s Central Saint Martins. “They have a good sense of humor, even in dress and style, and that’s something us New Yorkers can learn from.”
As the world eagerly awaits one of England’s most historic style moments, the debut of Kate Middleton’s wedding gown, the self-confessed history buff admits he is preoccupied with the dress of another princess bride: Josephine de la Baume, Mark Ronson’s fiancée. Baume is only the latest model to walk the aisle in Posen; Coco Rocha also tied the knot in one of his creations. “We are making laces, working with different embroidery houses all around the world for Josephine,” he said. “That’s the wedding that I am focused on, that’s my rock-royal wedding.”
Sauvage Love
Adrien Sauvage is an unusual multi-talent—a former basketball player turned London’s coolest new suitmaker. Never mind that the photo essay/ad campaign he shot for the line, starring Mark Ronson (above), Coco Sumner (top), Bill Nighy, Terry Gilliam, and an 82-year-old former Harlem Globetrotter is called “This Is Not A Suit.” And there’s another talent still, for photography—”This Is Not A Suit” attracted enough attention from the British media that he’s now fending off offers as a lensman. “For now, I will stick to the design thing,” Sauvage said last night at the line’s debut at Matches. “It’s going so well.”
Sumner was on hand for the event, as were Lily Allen and rocker-sartorialists like Louis Simonon (son of Clash guitarist Paul Simonon, and occasional Prada model) and These New Puritans’ George Barnett, the rock drummer who’s a favorite of Hedi Slimane (and has done turns on the Dior Homme runway). And so, of course, were plenty of sharp A.Sauvage suits as well. There are dashes of public schoolboy style—Prince of Wales check and fine cashmere, but also purple and orange trousers and sizing for the full-grown gent (a nod, perhaps, to Sauvage’s own basketball-player’s proportions). Coco, for her part, was holding out for a custom piece. She didn’t get to keep the suit she modeled, but, she said, “I think he’s making a waistcoat for me. At least I hope.”
M.I.A., Mark, And More Party At Milk
Vice magazine can mobilize the hipster masses, but isn’t necessarily known for its ability to keep them organized. Interesting, then, that the mag teamed up with Intel to present 12 straight hours of movie screenings, digital art, and precisely scheduled musical acts at Milk Studios. Anyone with memories of Vice‘s chaotic Halloween party last year (or the riotous door situation at Milk’s recent Corduroy bash, for that matter) could be forgiven for thinking the so-called Creators Project might end up more madhouse than funhouse—especially considering all the free booze.
Miraculously, that wasn’t the case. From Saturday afternoon until early Sunday morning, crowds flowed easily in and out of Milk’s multilevel complex, and organizers even installed a bunch of silver bike racks along 15th Street as a courtesy to visitors, like Nate Lowman, who rode over. The audiovisual amusements were loud and varied, and anyone who thought Interpol’s show at the loading dock was too mainstream could go upstairs to see Die Antwoord, the unlikely South African rap sensation. Ryan McGinley, who shot M.I.A. (top) for the Times Magazine‘s controversial recent profile, was one of few fans not snapping photos of the pop star during her unannounced but not-so-secret performance, which had her on-stage team taking a moment to pour drinks for the front rows.
Mark Ronson (above), who served more or less as the event’s busy mascot, circulated in a white jacket, sipping from a carton of orange juice. After midnight, he set up his DJ station on the first floor. He’d already done a discussion panel and created a pop song in front of an audience. Now, he had Alexander Wang swaying to his tunes and his sister, Charlotte, proudly looking on. She’d missed the M.I.A. set and just about everything else, she said: “I came for him.”