To mark the 40th anniversary of Helen Gurley Brown’s reinvention of Cosmopolitan (the mag relaunched in September 1965), event designer Colin Cowie and the magazine gave Skylight a makeover—styling the raw venue into a chic restaurant, lounge, and club. Cosmo associate publisher Esther Laufer worked with Cowie to create the celebration, which included performances by an acrobat and Matchbox Twenty front man Rob Thomas.
Cowie divided the venue into four sections—a lounge, a club, a restaurant, and a garden—and guests got maps to guide them, with helpful details like “groove to the beat of Rob Thomas’ live performance scheduled for 9:30 PM.” The lounge (with a 30-foot bar in the center), a separate dance area (with private lounging alcoves) dubbed “Club Cosmo” where DJ Donna D’Cruz spun retro music, and the smoker-friendly outdoor garden dominated the central space. But the real attraction was the “Cosmo Supper Club”—a restaurantlike setting where a maître d’ greeted and seated guests, who had their entrée orders taken and served by a full waitstaff. Catered by Robbins Wolfe, the menu included roasted chicken pot pie, prosciutto and soprasetta with artisanal cheeses, and steak frites.
Taking inspiration from Cosmo’s provocative and playful content, Cowie remade Skylight’s usual stark white look with red lighting, lounge furniture upholstered in deep red velvet, and a backlit bar, and even had a group of 20 models in red dresses mingling with guests. On the walls MBP Image Display Services projected black-and-white video images of the magazine’s “fun, fearless female” slogan (in the entrance corridor), and colorful animations of flowers designed by California-based projection designer Bart Kresa (in the lounge).
After everyone had their fill of passed hors d’oeuvres (or entrées in the supper club) and cocktails, they were treated to the aerial gymnastics of an acrobat, who used two panels of fabric suspended from the ceiling in the club area to wow the crowd with his skills. And following the speeches from publishing director Donna Kalajian Lagani, Gurley Brown, and current editor in chief Kate White, rocker Thomas performed for the lively crowd.
—Anna Sekula
Related Stories
Mag Party Has Guy Stuff: Shots and Burgers
In Style Hosts Pre-Fashion Week Runway Show
Ask the Experts: Business Entertaining
Digest Toasts Its Past With the Future
Travel Makes Over Popular Venue as Oasis
Justice Mag Launch Guilty of Fun Stunts
