
On the fantasy city street where the carnival took place, a flower-shop-style setup played double duty as the step-and-repeat. Inspired by a scene in the Prabal Gurung for Target TV commercial, the buckets of fresh flowers stood on tiered platforms, creating a wall of florals with small signs carrying the Target and Prabal Gurung logos rising from within.
Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com

David Stark Design and Production brought in old-fashioned carnival rides and games, including a carousel, a spinning ride renamed the Love Spin for the event, a fortune-teller, a high striker, and a palm reader.
Photo: Neilson Barnard/WireImage.com

The high striker, a strength testing game, was just one of the many carnival attractions placed in the vast pier venue not only to retain a sense of intimacy, but also keep guests entertained throughout the night.
Photo: Neilson Barnard/WireImage.com

Along one far wall of the venue was a specially built Prabal Gurung for Target pop-up. As a nod to cinematic elements used in other parts of the event, the pop-up boasted movie-style signage and the word "love" was whimsically spelled out using generic ticket stubs.
Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com

To match the skyline graphics, the pop-up shop inside Pier 57 was built like a freestanding boutique with awnings, a faux wall, and display vitrines.
Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com

Against a cityscape backdrop, singer Ne-Yo took to the stage for a surprise performance halfway through the party.
Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com

Along with a Rickshaw Dumpling truck, a host of food trucks were placed toward the back end of the carnival, offering everything from Mexican nibbles to dessert sweets.
Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com

More than 800 guests gathered at Hudson River Park's Pier 57, where a scenic "Love" Ferris wheel glittered in the sky and strings of old-fashioned bulbs hung over head.
Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com

In line with Riviera Club’s “California wine renaissance” inspiration, menswear designers Derek Buse, Joe Sadler, and Greg Ullery collaborated with the Santa Barbara’s Curtis Winery to produce 75 bottles of a 2008 Rhone Blend red wine. Select editors and guests received the limited-edition bottles, as well as details of the presentation’s date, time, and location printed on a note fashioned after a taxi receipt.
Photo: BizBash

Betsey Johnson’s Valentine’s Day show is a play on the childhood game “he loves me, he loves me not.” To spotlight the phrase in an invitation, the quirky designer created oversize playing cards embedded with moving holographic images.
Photo: BizBash

For a bit of whimsy, Andrew Buckler sent editors oversize buttons to serve as show invitations, with all pertinent details laminated onto the face of the accessory. To cope with the challenge of a change in presentation date after the buttons were already made, a simple sticker was placed over the old date.
Photo: BizBash

To mark the 50th anniversary of Barbie’s boyfriend, Mattel tapped six American menswear designers to create special outfits, which will be unveiled during Fashion Week. For guests attending the event at Christie’s auction house, the invitation was a Ken doll mask.
Photo: BizBash

A play on the traditional badge-and-lanyard pass, the invite for sportswear brand Number:Lab is an item guests can conveniently wear around their necks for easy identification.
Photo: BizBash

To highlight a collection designed to be worn in the city and on the slopes, Moncler Grenoble will host its presentation at Grand Central Terminal. And in a nod to the storied location, the event’s invitation comprises a mock train ticket with the date and time of the show punched out.
Photo: BizBash

While some designers seek to make a first impression with elaborate invitations, Jeremy Scott took a different approach. To reflect his street style and love of color, the designer sent out bright pink paper flyers.
Photo: BizBash

Influenced by Ali MacGraw in Love Story, Porter Grey is designed by sisters Kristen and Alexandra O’Neill and makes its first appearance at the tents this season. To convey its preppy style, the brand used printed Currier & Ives postcards as the invitations for its show.
Photo: BizBash

Although his brand is still relatively young, Alexander Wang projects an adult, professional tone that has earned him a strong reputation among editors and buyers. To complement his aesthetic, the designer’s show invitation consists of simple, clean, and stark thick white card stock with complementary white lettering. In contrast, a second invitation, for the opening of Wang’s new SoHo store, is all black.
Photo: BizBash

The oversize invitation for the Gant by Michael Bastian show may look simple, but the graphics and short story gives editors a glimpse into the inspiration behind the fall collection.
Photo: BizBash

Attendees at the American Eagle opening flocked to the stations inside the store, including one where graffiti artists customized trucker hats and another with silk-screened T-shirts.
Photo: BizBash

The invitation to the opening event on Thursday arrived in a small white box. One section included the event details printed on heavy card stock, while a second component was a Japanese-inspired fan printed with the Uniqlo logo on one side and Japanese anime on the other.
Photo: Jika González for BizBash

A carved wood bar under a white neon installation offered cocktails and draft beer in the game room.
Photo: Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com

Roughly 25 percent of the furnishings for the event were custom made.
Photo: ChanceYeh/PatrickMcMullan.com

With all of its distractions, the game room drew many of the 1,000 guests.
Photo: Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com

Served in mason jars, the night's selection of drinks included mint juleps. Waitstaff also passed cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Models, dressed to match the coffee blend they were showcasing in a plexiglass box, lined the pink carpeted entrance.
Photo: Elizabeth Renfrow for BizBash

Karla Conceptual Event Experiences set up two bars decorated with reflective gold panels and flanked by two Nespresso-branded columns.
Photo: Elizabeth Renfrow for BizBash

Company president Chris Salgardo cut the ribbon with the Kiehl's Creme de Corps mascot—who also marched in Chicago's Thanksgiving parade to promote the store a few weeks earlier.
Photo: Jack Edinger

Edible paper tasted like cotton candy.
Photo: Jack Edinger

Temptu, a cosmetics company that specializes in airbrush makeup, supplied three artists who stenciled temporary tattoos of the show's logo onto guests.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

The promotion took place in Union Square, and XA created a heated cube structure that visitors could enter to participate.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

To minimize the waiting time, participants could fill out forms specifying the stamp they wanted before entering the pop-up.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Matching the Characters Unite campaign, signage and staff uniforms were done in yellow and gray hues.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

The network offered a wide array of topics for visitors to stamp on their T-shirts, including "hate," "discrimination," and "intolerance."
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Each tee was already branded with the slogan, "I won't stand for," and participants could customize their top with the one of a dozen different stamps.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Using a special photo kiosk, participants were prompted to take a photo that could be immediately uploaded to a social media site.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

To depict a frozen record store, a custom Portlandia CD was enclosed in a block of ice.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Inside Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall on Monday, Lacoste set up a space to house 300 guests for the launch of its Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 fragrance and "La Machine L.12.12" installation. Stark white furniture complemented the clean contemporary look of the event and matched the brand's overarching aesthetic. While the setup was fairly straightforward, the video system was a bit more complex: The entire event was streamed live via a three-camera setup with a single operator on a tripod-mounted camera and two robotic cameras placed overhead and to the side. “We kept the lighting simple. The idea of the brand has very clean, crisp lines, so we put all our energies into the scenic fabrication and did very clean lighting on that,” said Glow Design Group principal Craig Robillard.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

In keeping with the event’s blue, green, and white color scheme, the event's minimalist white bar featured a facade marked by three rows of the Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 fragrance bottles.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

Abigail Kirsch served a selection of drinks designed to match the colors of the fragrance bottles.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

For every color, Abigail Kirsch offered two options, an alcoholic cocktail and a nonalcoholic beverage. For example, under the blue category, an alcoholic option featured a mix of white rum, grapefruit bitters, peppermint schnapps, and sage leaf garnish, while the nonalcoholic offering was a lime blueberry sparkler.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

Columns surrounding the space featured the fragrance branding and built-in flat-screens for the ad copy loop, live video from the event's aerial cameras, and the feed from Lacoste's Twitter account.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

To open the festivities, Lacoste brought in a flash mob of dancers from Gallim Dance Company and social media fans selected from auditions. The troupe wore the L.12.12 polos in white, green, and blue, the same colors as the bottles in the fragrance collection.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

After the first performance, Lacoste Fragrances executive Antoine Delagrange took the stage to introduce the concept behind the Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 and La Machine L.12.12.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

Delagrange was then followed by a second performance by the dance troupe, which was accompanied by the live musical stylings of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

Surprise guest Max Minghella (pictured, right), an actor who starred in last fall's hit movie The Social Network, was brought in for the unveiling of La Machine L.12.12 and to speak about the social media component of the installation.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

The contraption was kept hidden by a drape for the first portion of the event, only revealed once Lacoste gave the signal.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

Comprised of about 70 hexagonal panels, the texture of La Machine L.12.12 is designed to imitate the skin of a crocodile, and its shape loosely resembles Lacoste's iconic logo.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

Online, Lacoste fans can create an avatar, pick background imagery, and choose a bottle and crocodile style, which is then turned into an animated video and splashed across the surface of the installation. The device itself hides and reveals the L.12.12 polo and fragrance bottle through mechanized panels, designed to represent the process of turning the shirt into the bottle.
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

Passed hors d’oeuvres also kept with the blue, green, and white aesthetic, and the selection of green bites included a Mediterranean salad in a micro cucumber cup with edamame hummus and green vegetable nicoise (pictured, left), and spinach crepe roulade with dill-flecked smoked trout, sauce verte, and watercress (pictured, right).
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

There was also plenty of white fare, including smoked chicken, celery root, apple, and fennel served on a endive with a white cranberry glaze; mahimahi ceviche presented in a jicama cup with ginger, yuzu, and Asian pears; and bergamot panna cotta with pistachios (pictured).
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash

Coca-Cola’s table at Diffa’s 2011 Dining by Design benefit in New York
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash

Guests colored in the Originals shoe outlines on the graffiti wall.
Photo: Brett Hufziger

IBM's general session at the Pulse 2011 conference
Photo: Bill Virun/Visually Attractive Inc.

Coco-Cola's pavilion at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Photo: Grant Harder for BizBash
'Food & Wine' Best New Chefs Event

At the culinary event at New York's Pranna on April 2, large marquee letters spelling out "Food & Wine" surrounded a lounge area.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Roth Capital Partners Conference

Larger-than-life letters spelled out the host group's name at the Orange County financial conference, which took place in late March and had a party with a performance by Macklemore.
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography
Fox Emmy Party

Working with Fox's Bob Stillo, Russell Harris Event Group produced the Fox Emmy party at Soleto Trattoria and Pizzaria in Los Angeles last September. The Russell Harris team described the event as having a "Restoration Hardware-esque" look, with design by Thomas Ford. A Ford-designed sculpture used old-fashioned sign letters, metal numbers, and plexiglass signage to represent the three hosting networks: Fox Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox, and the FX channel.
Photo: Dan Scott/American Image Gallery

Diffa's four-day event ran alongside the Architectural Digest Home Show. Attendees entered the Diffa section of the trade show floor by walking through a tunnel of exposed lightbulbs that hung overhead.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

As part of Diffa's Student Design Initiative, five of New York's top design schools created installations for the showcase, under the direction of industry mentors and within a strict budget. Students from the Pratt Institute, working with mentor Arpad Baksa, used Pegboard, twinkle lights, and individually placed test tubes to create a sparkling rendering of a world map.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Rachel Laxer Interiors' table settings included moss-covered chargers and—similar to the Kinky Boots table—corseted napkin holders.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

The New York School of Interior Design led by Marc Blackwell set up a table that paid tribute to the fight against AIDS with a table runner composed of hundreds of red ribbons.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Working with Jes Gordon, students from the Fashion Institute of Technology composed a black, white, and gold look. Overhead, black-and-white portraits hung from a circular, glowing chandelier.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Tod's

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.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Commonwealth Utilities

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.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

The design concept touched all areas of Skylight SoHo's 15,000-square-foot interior, including the hallway, which Target remodeled into a Parisian-style boulevard with lampposts, painted illustrations of buildings, and trees surrounded by benches.
Photo: Nilaya Sabnis

Baked by Melissa's cupcake pod machine can be rented for events in New York.
Photo: Courtesy of Baked by Melissa
C2-MTL

The edgy conference, which focuses on creativity and commerce, had its first run at Montreal's New City Gas building last May. Communal seating areas let guests perch on swings hanging from an arty canopy. Around the space, couches flanked with lamp-lit end tables lent a cozy, residential atmosphere.
Photo: Elida Arrizza
'21 and Over' Premiere

At the premiere of 21 and Over in Los Angeles February 21, a 60-foot arrivals wall comprised some 3,700 red plastic cups. Stationed alongside the red carpet, the cheeky fixture served as a backdrop for press photographs of the film's stars.
Photo: Ashley Sugarman/Relativity Media
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay's "Big Night"

The charity held its annual "Big Night" event at House of Blues in Boston on February 9. The event included performances from two bands, so servers from the Catered Affair wore signage that labeled each item in case verbal descriptions couldn't be heard over the music.
Photo: David Fox

An artsy exhibit suspended project partner Privet House's plates (including one that cheekily featured a bullseye) from rigging points in the ceiling. The result looked as though the 25 pieces of colorful dinnerware were floating in mid air.
Photo: Anna Sekula/BizBash

Designed as a series of vignettes, the event offered a collage of products from the collection. The first section was a tunnel of clothing, reminiscent of displays found at bazaars, which saw apparel from Miami-based luxury boutique the Webster attached to an anchoring truss structure masked in black fabric.
Photo: Anna Sekula/BizBash

Inside the SoHo pop-up, Target papered the entrance walls and DJ booth with newspapers from the fictional Bullseye Times.
Photo: Jennifer Graylock

Ten street signs, each 10 feet tall and made of PVC pipe with a weighted wooden base, were placed throughout the 136,000-square-foot store to emphasize the neighborhood's iconic streets. Illustrator Bill Brown's art for Target's campaign was painstakingly hand-drawn, sketched, and scanned in for each sign.
Photo: Jim Shi

At Target's party to celebrate the fifth anniversary of its work with Michael Graves, bar stools had cushions branded with the bull's-eye logo, and wheat grass and white gerbera daisies decorated steel tables.

The Deedle Deedle Dees also provided musical entertainment inside the library.
Photo: Jika González for BizBash

Celebrity parents like actor Mark Ruffalo (pictured) participated in the event by reading to the gathered children.
Photo: Jika González for BizBash

Dufour & Company placed illuminated white bars around the reception area, with the Target and N.U.L. logos lighting the backdrop.
Photo: Tony Brown/Imijination Photography for BizBash
Private Corporate Event

Candles snaked down the staircase at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for a private corporate event.
Photo: Courtesy of David Beahm

Projections of logos and photos from the issue lit the otherwise sparsely decorated main space.
Photo: Carlos Andres Varela Photography

A room sponsored by Target included a photo booth. The pictures were projected in the main party space.
Photo: Carlos Andres Varela Photography

A three-dimensional, eye-catching road-sign-inspired piece served as the stage backdrop and created a light show of sorts for the night's performances.
Photo: Picture Group/Frank Micelotta
Fashion's Night Out Boston: Scott James

In Boston, Newbury Street store Scott James gave away "Fashion's Night Out Survival Kits" complete with Scott James cotton socks, Menaji skincare after shave, Cape Crabbers sunglasses, and a key to a V.I.P. after-party at Revere Hotel Boston Common's Emerald Lounge.
Photo: Courtesy of Scott James
Graffiti-Inspired Furniture Rentals in Miami

The new graffiti-inspired “Tag It” line from AFR Event Furnishings includes items such as leather sofas, chairs, acrylic tables, and ottomans that guests can permanently leave their mark on with Sharpies. The furniture items, which are for sale only, can be displayed in the office post-event.
Photo: Courtesy of AFR Event Furnishings
Harris Theater Gala

On June 26, the Paris Opera Ballet performed Giselle at the Harris Theater in Chicago. Drawing on the ethereal, ghostly set of the famous ballet, designer Bill Heffernan of HMR Design Group brought a moonlit-forest look to the tent that housed the ensuing gala in Millennium Park. Large, transparent cubes decorated with projected branch patterns hung overhead in the dining space, while ferns and white freesia topped the tables.
Photo: Bob Carl
Ravinia Music Festival

Ravinia music festival celebrated its women's board's 50th anniversary at a black-tie gala in July. After a performance from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and singers including Patti Lupone, guests had dinner in a tent lavishly decorated by Event Creative. At the entrance, designer Jeffrey Foster created a custom wooden canopy of trees inspired by Ravinia's logo.
Photo: Patrick Gipson/Ravinia Festival

A streamlined, modern bar stood at the center of the room with an arrangement of black and white lanterns hanging overhead. Liquor sponsors Domaine Chandon and Belvedere offered cocktails, including the Summer Fling, a mix of Chandon brut sparkling and Belvedere pure vodka, with lemon juice and a dash of simple syrup.
Photo: Carolyn Curtis/BizBash

To add more color and match the red and blue lighting, MKG installed art-like wall displays of hundreds of individual lightbulbs behind two bars positioned at either end of the hallway.
Photo: Carolyn Curtis/BizBash
Apollo Theater's Spring Gala Benefit Concert

The iconic theater hosted its spring benefit gala in New York June 4 with a concert and an after-party underneath a sprawling tent. Marc Wilson of Marc Wilson Design handled decor for the evening, adding an origami chandelier over the central bar.
Photo: Peter Peck Field

Alice in Wonderland-inspired decor for the Canadian Cancer Society's Daffodil Ball included an oversize garden at the entrance of the historic Windsor Station in Montreal.
Photo: Stéphane Poirier

During the cocktail reception, guests helped themselves to champagne from the Queen of Hearts' dress, created by Champagne Showgirls.
Photo: Ian Woo

A topiary divided the cocktail reception and dining areas. Guests entered the dining room through keyhole-shaped entrances.
Photo: Alexandre Chéron

Playing cards formed chandeliers over the dining room. The dance floor and stage had a checkboard pattern.
Photo: Stéphane Poirier

Giant playing cards hung over the tabletops, bent to give a sense of movement. A chessboard motif served as the backdrop for the stage.
Photo: Stéphane Poirier

The design for the dining room included five different table styles, seven linen combinations, three types of chairs, and four colours of chair cushions.
Photo: Alexandre Chéron

Like the settings, table centrepieces varied. Stacks of teacups and flowers created one look, flamingos with eyelashes and hedgehogs created a second.
Photo: Alexandre Chéron

Chefs from Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth created an inventive menu with items like "Large and Small Shellfish in a Pool of Tears."
Photo: Fahri Yavuz

Guests were served soup from a teapot. An edible pocket watch crust rested on top.
Photo: Fahri Yavuz

Alice-inspired images were projected onto screens in the dining room.
Photo: Alexandre Chéron

Appropriately dressed performers circulated during the evening.
Photo: Stéphane Poirier