| EVENT REPORT 03.20.06 12:00 AM |
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| Christie's Restages Capote's Ball to Promote Sale |
| The famed auction house re-created the famed 1966 Black and White ball the night before its sale of remnants of the Plaza hotel. |
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| There have been many attempts at re-creating Truman Capote's famed 1966 Black and White ball, but none so far have felt as authentic as Christie's ball at Rockefeller Center last week. The auction house re-created Capote's bash the night before it auctioned items from the Plaza (the site of the original ball, which is undergoing renovation). |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | | Christie's re-created Truman Capote's Black and White ball with remnants from the Plaza Hotel—the site of the original 1966 event. |
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 | | Flowers—huge, classic arrangements of forsythia, roses, lilies, and camellias in shades of yellow, red, orange, and pink—decorated the atrium. |
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 | | A dessert buffet from 9 PM to 11 PM featured a wide variety of black and white desserts. |
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 | | A black and white mural whose design replicated that of the Plaza's ballroom lined two walls of the Christie Room. Huge, lacquered vases containing either all black or all white ostrich plumes provided a festive touch. |
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The ball was the brainchild of Marissa Wilcox, Christie's senior vice president and international creative director. "I read about the Capote films [Capote, and another film in the works] coming out and thought, 'why not do a black and white ball?' It's the ultimate in glamour. It's a way to celebrate the best in New York, and it happened to work out in a great way. It helped that Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar. It helps us tell a story, bring it to life, and it set a nice backdrop for the sale."
The party's black and white theme was carried out smartly even before guests—instructed to wear either black or white formal attire, plus black or white masks and fans—passed through Christie's front door. Bentley—the sole sponsor of the event—parked one black classic model and one white late model in front of the Christie's showroom. Among this night's attendees were several guests of Capote's original ball, including singer Kitty Carlisle Hart, costume jeweler Kenneth Jay Lane, and orchestra conductor Peter Duchin, who performed at both parties.
Directly inside Christie's front door were two screens, on which film footage shot at Capote's party played throughout the evening. Furnishings from the Plaza decorated the second-floor James Christie Room, which was converted into a ballroom for the main festivities. These included red chandeliers from the hotel's former
restaurant, One CPS; sconces; a dance floor; mirrors; and display cases. The most innovative use of Plaza furniture was the repurposing of a bed frame and headboard as a bar. Two walls of the Christie Room were lined by a black and white mural, whose design replicated that of the Plaza's ballroom.
DM Cuisine offered refreshments inspired by the menu at Capote's original party. A dessert buffet from 9 PM to 11 PM featured a wide variety of black and white desserts, including two croquembouche towers with extra-bitter sweet chocolate sauce, black and white checkerboard cookies, and chocolate and white madeleines. As at Capote's original ball, breakfast was served at 11:30 PM. The menu included scrambled eggs with truffles and herbs, chicken hash (Capote's favorite dish from the Plaza), buckwheat blinis garnished with creme fraiche and caviar, and ginger-lemon muffins.
Duchin and his orchestra played until 11 PM, when DJ Pat Caramel took over the music. Ron Wendt's flowers—huge, classic arrangements of forsythia, roses, lilies and camellias in shades of yellow, red, orange, and pink—decorated the atrium and one auction gallery, where Plaza items were displayed, while huge, lacquered vases containing either all-black or all-white ostrich plumes provided an appropriately festive touch in the Christie Room.
The party evidently piqued interest: the next day’s auction raised $1.8 million, $1 million more than had been estimated.
—Jane L. Levere
Posted 03.20.06
Photos: Jon Dee (food, staircase, feathers), Patrick McMullan (dance floor)
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