Invitations

In a tongue-and-cheek take on the traditional fashion show invitation, designer Luca Orlandi (whose past show invites have come in the form of an album cover and parking ticket) enclosed the invite for his spring 2005 show in a Luca Luca condom wrapper that promised an event "designed for ultra sensation."

Designed in-house, the multidimensional accordion-style invitation for Liberty's "Christmas in July" preview was inspired by a trip to the London Transport Museum; each vignette was a train platform that would start your journey aboard "The Liberty Express."

Measuring in at about one and a half inches in height, Ann Demeulemeester's 2009 fashion show invite was a play on proportions. Details of the event, including location, date, and time, were printed on individual pages for a flip book effect.

In a no-expense-spared bash for the 2010 opening of its New Bond Street London flagship, Louis Vuitton created unique, numbered V.I.P. invitations that incorporated multiple elements of its travel legacy. Information about each component of the party was featured on a distinct card stock or vachetta leather piece; the final piece was a python card case bearing after-party details. The entire invite was fastened together with a leather tie and gold key—a nod to the French fashion house's luggage-making roots.

Neil Barrett is known for geometric cuts and mathematical exactitude in his designs, and the invitation for his spring 2011 men's show played up those ideas. Details for the show were printed on thick card stock packaged into an envelope, trompe l’oeil-style.

For the fall 2008 shows at London Fashion Week, fashion designer Gareth Pugh created a latex rose corsage as the invitation to the British Fashion Council's Moët & Chandon Boudoir V.I.P. room. The pieces were packaged in a Moët & Chandon box and messengered to guests.

For his spring 2013 Burberry Prorsum show, designer Christopher Bailey celebrated the skyline of London—both the brand’s home base and where it stages its shows—by recreating it in laser-cut pop-up form.

The four-and-a-half-inch-tall invitation to the 2008 inaugural Broad Contemporary Art Museum gala in Los Angeles was inspired by Jeff Koons's "Cracked Egg" sculpture, which was part of the inaugural show. The egg was chosen to represent the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s "rebirth" as the new pavilion was unveiled.

For a 2008 exhibition at Lever House, artist Tom Sachs mailed miniature, windup plastic Hello Kitty figurines as a preview of his "Bronze Collection" artwork on the iconic Japanese character. The plastic-covered packaging was printed so the artist's name appeared to be tacked on with Scotch Tape.

For the 2008 Tod's Art Plus Film party at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, British fashion designer Henry Holland designed a flip-book-style invitation that featured his cheeky drawings of notable figures in film, music, fashion, and the arts.

To herald its holiday 2011 charitable partnership with Lady Gaga, Barneys New York threw a party and sent out elaborate invitations. Created by Design Packaging and encased in the iconic Barneys black gift box, the 3-D mock-up of Gaga's Workshop came complete with functioning pop-up details and a transparent card allowing the bearer V.I.P. elevator access to the dedicated floor.

The invitations for the 2007 opening of Dries Van Noten's Paris flagship were deceptively simple. A Polaroid shot showing a close-up of the Belgian designer shop served as a sneak preview as well as a way to individualize each invite.

Chopard celebrated its 150th anniversary with an extravagant dinner and party at the Frick Collection in 2010. The Swiss watchmaker and jeweler enlisted New York-based Erin Bazos of Art Direction & Design to create a formal hardcover invitation utilizing a custom "Animal World" logo developed for all the jeweler’s anniversary events. The cover illustration, executed in gold foil stamping, was hand drawn and complemented by a watercolor painting created for the inside of the invite.

For Bloomberg's White House Correspondents' Dinner after-party in 2008, guests were sent a device that would only reveal the party information when recipients scanned their fingerprints. As an added element of security, each credit card-size piece only responded to the fingerprint of the intended invitee.

In a nod to its heritage as a purveyor of fine leather goods, Hermès, in past seasons, has issued fashion show invitations printed on various forms of its leather offerings. With some, the brand logo was embossed on the leather while with others, the "H" logo was perforated.

Always one to offer a whimsical take on fashion, Stella McCartney worked with author and illustrator Adam Hargreaves to create a 32-page book invitation for her spring 2007 fashion show. In addition to the Little Miss Stella character, Hargreaves also rendered fashion notables like Suzy Menkes, Anna Wintour, and Anna Piaggi in cartoon form.

Menswear brand Commonwealth Utilities held its first runway show in 2009. In a nod to the event venue, the Astor Place Hair barber shop, the invitation included items like combs vacuum-sealed in plastic.

As a reference to New York City, invitations to the 2006 Maison Martin Margiela store opening in the West Village came in the form of a coffee cup, with event details printed on a folded napkin placed inside.

Inspired by Maria Lani, the self-declared actress who conned the crème de la crème of the 1920s Paris art scene into painting her portrait, John Galliano's spring 2011 fashion show invites came in the form of scaled-down artworks printed on canvases with the show details on back.

For its 25th anniversary celebration, Manhattan restaurant Indochine enlisted illustrator Jean-Philippe Delhomme to sketch various iconic patrons that have dined in its space over the years. Printed on thick, letter-size paper stock, the postcard-style illustrations served as an artful memento to the milestone.