| TED KRUCKEL 11.06.09 4:33 PM |
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Gossip Girls in Chanel at Four Seasons and David Rockwell's High-Tech Taste on Paper Plates
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 | Chanel's Fete d'Hiver at the Four Seasons Restaurant to benefit The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Photo: Bill Farrell-Patrick McMullan |
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There are so many reasons why I’ve never seen an episode of Gossip Girl.
For starters, I’m not really sure what channel is the CW, and besides, doesn’t CW make you think of country music? By the time New York magazine was calling Gossip Girl “Best. Show. Ever.” I decided I was too late to the party. Couldn’t I just hold my breath for a few years till it faded away? How stupid.
Because as with the last cult hit show in the New York area, The Sopranos, Gossip Girl’s far-flung cast is relentless in pursuit of publicity and as a result, I see one or two of them at every single party I go to, and it is always a big deal, despite the fact that they all seem so tiny in person.
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The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Chanel, David Rockwell, New York Magazine |
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| NEWS 10.07.09 2:06 PM |
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In the News: Live 8 Producer Joins World Cup, Microsoft Previews Products With First Open House
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Live 8 Producer Works on World Cup: Since the International Olympic Committee's decision on Friday, talk over the past week has been all about looking to Rio 2016, but the fact remains that 2010, only three months away, has a full schedule of world-stage events. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is one of the biggest, and this week it was announced that world soccer organization FIFA has tapped Kevin Wall to produce the three-hour kickoff concert in Soweto on June 11. An Emmy winner and producer of the Live 8 concerts, Wall and his production firm Control Room will also fund the event privately by securing broadcast rights and other sponsorships. [Bloomberg]
Microsoft Builds Forest for Product Showcase: Microsoft apparently didn't feel that any big announcement was necessary to make its first annual Open House press conference a production-heavy affair. The event, held in New York yesterday, turned the Armory into a surreal, futuristic forest, complete with a tree house, wooden docking stations for new products, and brand ambassadors dressed in elaborate bird costumes. [CNET]
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2016 Olympics, FIFA World Cup, Live 8, Microsoft, Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Prince, Rihanna, Lily Allen, Paris Fashion Week, Disney, The Princess and the Frog |
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| NEWS 04.23.09 2:37 PM |
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Fewer Films and Renewed Community Focus Define 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
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The 2009 Tribeca Film Festival officially bowed yesterday with a screening of Woody Allen's latest film, Whatever Works, and an after-party at the Royalton Hotel. This year marks a decidedly low-key iteration of the eight-year-old festival, with just 85 movies premiering. (Previous years have seen as many as 157.) Parties and sponsorships all look to be subdued, as organizers with Tribeca Enterprises emphasize community events and consumer spending downtown.
This year actually finds much of the action taking place in SoHo. The festival continues its relationship with Apple, holding filmmaking events, screenings, and discussion's at its Prince Street retail flagship. Eric Bana, Natalie Portman, and Nia Vardalos are all scheduled to appear during the series. Just a few blocks away, the Chanel store will host a gallery exhibition of this year's featured local artists, whose donated works will again serve as the awards for the festival's winning filmmakers.
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Tribeca Film Festival, American Express, Apple, Chanel, General Motors |
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| NEWS 03.11.09 10:46 AM |
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In The News: Citigroup Corporate Gifts Cause Stir, Gaultier Dirties Parisian Runway
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Citigroup Offers Gift In Lieu of Incentive Trip: After canceling its annual destination retreat, Citigroup doled out $3.5 million in gift cards to the top 2,000 brokers at its Smith Barney unit. The bailout recipient has taken flack from some of the media but maintains that the cost is a minor expense compared to the annual revenue generated by the brokers and that the firm needs to hold onto valued employees in the competitive market. [NY Post]
Prada Follows Chanel’s Lead: Plans have been finalized for Prada’s pyramidal mobile pavilion, the Prada Transformer, which will debut in Seoul, Korea, this April. The structure will host art exhibitions, film screenings, and live events. Cranes will occasionally flip the Transformer—when it’s empty, we assume—to reconfigure the shape and visitors’ experiences at the different programs. There aren’t any plans to move the structure after its five-month stay in Seoul, unlike Chanel’s eighty-sixed touring pavilion. [Dezeen]
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Citigroup, Prada, Chanel, Carnival Cruise Lines, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jay Leno |
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| NEWS 12.19.08 1:17 PM |
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Economy Prompts Chanel to Ground Touring Pavilion
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Women’s Wear Daily reported today that Chanel canceled plans to send its Mobile Art exhibition to London, Moscow, and Paris. The Zaha Hadid-designed pop-up, which made its stateside appearance in New York this fall, was supposed to travel the globe through 2010.
"Considering the current economic crisis, we decided it was best to stop the project," a Chanel spokeswoman told WWD. "We will be concentrating on strategic growth investments."
This isn’t the first trouble the project has seen. Though Chanel positioned the exhibition as a showcase for contemporary artists and high fashion, many saw it as too commercial. New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff was one of them. “The pavilion sets out to drape an aura of refinement over a cynical marketing gimmick," he wrote back in October. "If devoting so much intellectual effort to such a dubious undertaking might have seemed indulgent a year ago, today it looks delusional." —Michael O'Connell
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Chanel, Zaha Hadid, Pop-Ups |
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| EVENT REPORT 12.08.08 12:26 PM |
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Video Projections Cover Botanical Garden's Black and White Ball
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 | The Winter Wonderland ball's white and black decor
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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In a bid to create an elegant ballroom that didn't look like it was inside a tent, the New York Botanical Garden obscured structural details with strategically placed fabric at its annual Winter Wonderland ball on Friday night. The 360-person event, which took place at the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and an adjacent tent, employed a black and white color scheme and advanced lighting technology to hide poles and even the peaked ceiling.
Inspired by Chanel—the French fashion house's fine jewelry division was the evening's sponsor—designer Ron Wendt devised a simple and wintry look that also highlighted the camellia, the label's signature flower. In turn, Frost added colorful video to the room by projecting images onto a scrim that formed the roof of the space. Overseeing the planning of the event for the garden was its vice president for individual giving and special events, Jennifer Rominiecki.
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New York Botanical Garden, Chanel |
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| EVENT REPORT 10.30.08 4:20 PM |
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Central Park Conservancy Risks Next Seven Years With Broken Mirrors, Black Cats
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 | An Central Park Conservancy's unlucky 13th anniversary
Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash |
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The spirit of October 31 came early this year for 500 guests at Tuesday night’s Central Park Conservancy Halloween Ball. The 13th annual celebration of excessive costumes and spooky decor drew from the appropriately unlucky anniversary year—and a slight venue change—for a haunted house theme embracing all kinds of superstition.
Typically held at Rumsey Playfield—currently home to the Chanel Mobile Art pavilion—the event moved west to the grounds near the Naumberg Bandshell. The move had its perks: Not only did the designer make up for the inconvenience by providing the conservancy with prizes for the winners of the costume contest, the old band shell and darkened steps of the Bethesda Terrace at the new spot added to the foreboding atmosphere of the season.
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Central Park Conservancy, Central Park, Halloween, Chanel |
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| NEWS 10.20.08 4:02 PM |
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Chanel's Traveling Art Container Lands in Central Park
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 | Chanel's Mobile Art pavilion
Photo: BizBash |
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The Zaha Hadid-designed Mobile Art pavilion for Chanel has finally reached the United States. The touring exhibition structure opened this morning in Central Park's Rumsey Playfield, the third stop for the contemporary art container, which was first unveiled by Karl Lagerfeld in Venice in June 2007. The 20-foot-tall, 95-foot-wide piece, created by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect, houses 20 installations and pieces of artwork inspired by the Parisian fashion house's iconic quilted handbag.
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Chanel, Zaha Hadid, Pop-Ups |
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| NEWS 07.28.08 12:08 PM |
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Chanel's Touring Pavilion: Culture or Commercial? (How About Both?)
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 | Zaha Hadid's temporary art container for Chanel
Rendering: Zaha Hadid Architects |
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Last week The New York Times revealed when and where Chanel's touring art exhibit will land in New York: It opens October 20 in Central Park's Rumsey Playfield and will run through November 9. The 7,500-square-foot pavilion, dubbed Mobile Art and created by London architect Zaha Hadid, was first revealed last year and has already sparked a debate over whether the project is too commercial.
According to The Times, the fashion company is donating at least $1 million to the Central Park Conservancy for use of the site during the promotion and will pay another $400,000 to the city. When questioned by The Times, parks commissioner Adrian Benepe brushed off potential criticism, saying, "Everything has a sponsor." But according to Metro New York, some park advocates fear Chanel's mobile pop-up is a "troubling trend" toward commercialization of public parks.
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Chanel, Zaha Hadid, Pop-Ups, The New York Times, Metro, New York Magazine, Gawker |
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| THE WALKTHROUGH 02.21.08 11:25 AM |
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Reopened Plaza Ballroom Has All the Trimmings
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 | The grand ballroom of the Plaza
Photo: Alison Whittington for BizBash |
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After a few delays and a big anniversary party, the grand ballroom of the iconic Plaza Hotel began hosting events in mid-January—the inaugural event, hosted by Chanel, took place before the carpet had even been installed. While the ballroom and some adjacent rooms are ready for booking, the newly created meeting spaces and a bridal suite are still being spiffed up. We got an official tour on Tuesday morning, which included a peek at the enormous kitchen.
It's been about three years since the hotel closed for renovations, and although most of the building is now luxury residences, a sizable portion—more than 20,000 square feet—is dedicated event space. Managed and operated by Central Park South Events at the Plaza (a partnership between catering company Great Performances and hospitality provider Delaware North Companies), the site has a separate entrance, new elevator banks, and brand-new lighting and sound equipment. Bentley Meeker is the exclusive lighting vendor.
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Chanel |
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