The past and the future came together for Silhouette's 40th anniversary celebration at Pier Sixty. The eyewear maker invited 400 of its customers—mostly optometrists who sell its glasses—to reflect on its four-decade history. Silhouette director of marketing Genevieve Fay worked with Vision PR's Cindy Srednicki and event production company Toast's Todd Cooper to coordinate the event. "We wanted to give a sense of the past and the history of Silhouette, and its evolution over the years," Srednicki said, "and then focus on the experience of projecting to the future."
That history was expressed in many ways. As guests entered the cocktail lounge, they walked by models dressed in retro clothing and authentic eyewear representing the different decades of Silhouette's history. In the cocktail lounge, a display wall of Silhouette ads and eyeglasses showed the evolution of the brand. While guests drank champagne and sampled Abigail Kirsch's hors d'oeuvres, which included Southwestern wontons with cilantro guacamole and Boursin cheese mini soufflés, aerialists from the Amazing Imago Balance Acrobats wearing Silhouette sunglasses flipped and spun above the crowd.
The party lost steam once guests were ushered into a conference room for remarks and keynote speeches from Silhouette president Arnold Schmied, NASA chief optometrist Keith Manuel and NASA astronaut William McArthur Jr. (Silhouette is the official eyewear provider for NASA). A cool, custom video wall that split open as the headliners made their entrances gave the event a high-tech element. But the lengthy program had guests growing restless and hungry by 9 PM. And inevitably, the mass exodus to the ballroom buffet led to long lines for the turkey, salmon, salads and pasta.
Once guests were sufficiently fed, it was time for dancing, special performances and a chance to try on eyewear from Silhouette's myriad co-branded lines. "We tried to come up with talent that was representative of each partner and product line in the Silhouette family," Toast's Cooper says. Street Beats, a Stomp-like musical group, represented Adidas. Daniel Swarovski Paris was represented by Broadway dancers Arte Phillips and Kristine Bendul, who performed a graceful ballet to bolero music throughout the evening.
—Erika Rasmusson Janes
That history was expressed in many ways. As guests entered the cocktail lounge, they walked by models dressed in retro clothing and authentic eyewear representing the different decades of Silhouette's history. In the cocktail lounge, a display wall of Silhouette ads and eyeglasses showed the evolution of the brand. While guests drank champagne and sampled Abigail Kirsch's hors d'oeuvres, which included Southwestern wontons with cilantro guacamole and Boursin cheese mini soufflés, aerialists from the Amazing Imago Balance Acrobats wearing Silhouette sunglasses flipped and spun above the crowd.
The party lost steam once guests were ushered into a conference room for remarks and keynote speeches from Silhouette president Arnold Schmied, NASA chief optometrist Keith Manuel and NASA astronaut William McArthur Jr. (Silhouette is the official eyewear provider for NASA). A cool, custom video wall that split open as the headliners made their entrances gave the event a high-tech element. But the lengthy program had guests growing restless and hungry by 9 PM. And inevitably, the mass exodus to the ballroom buffet led to long lines for the turkey, salmon, salads and pasta.
Once guests were sufficiently fed, it was time for dancing, special performances and a chance to try on eyewear from Silhouette's myriad co-branded lines. "We tried to come up with talent that was representative of each partner and product line in the Silhouette family," Toast's Cooper says. Street Beats, a Stomp-like musical group, represented Adidas. Daniel Swarovski Paris was represented by Broadway dancers Arte Phillips and Kristine Bendul, who performed a graceful ballet to bolero music throughout the evening.
—Erika Rasmusson Janes