Lamborghini America partnered with the Setai hotel on South Beach and clothing label Chloé to tout its new Gallardo LP 560-4 Spyder on Thursday night. For the car’s first launch party—others are being planned in Los Angeles and New York later this summer—Lamborghini combined the event with the Setai's weekly Serenity Thursdays party, which typically garner 500 attendees, and last week saw an additional 300. To draw extra attention to the free event, production company 3B Productions parked one of the new sports cars in the hotel’s driveway and another in the lobby.
“Lamborghini is an extremely high-end brand oriented to design, and the Setai is extremely high-end with [unique] design, so the layout of the hotel is exactly what we’re looking for as a venue to get the people that are interested in learning more about our product,” said Daniele Fancello, regional manager for Lamborghini, who is coordinating the car’s launch with the brand’s Los Angeles-based event marketing and public relations firm Luxe Communications.
Four food stations from the Restaurant at the Setai lined the perimeter of the courtyard, offering dim sum, Chinese noodles, various curries, and grilled meat skewer plates for $10 each. Taittinger Champagne sponsors the weekly affair, with glasses of Champagne served at the courtyard's main bar for $22. The hotel reels in a spirits company to sponsor the 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. happy hour, and last week's guest mixologist, Paul Sevigny (no relation to the DJ of the same name), served five specialty cocktails made with Ty Ku, a new Asian spirit that combines sake and soju.
Around 10 p.m. the peripheral lights dimmed—30 minutes late due to light rain that required the runway to be dried off—and attention turned to the spotlit runway constructed over the courtyard’s pool, where models showcased Chloé new collection. “[Lamborghini] needed a fashion house to add a twist [to the event], and since we have a relationship with the Setai, we decided to use the opportunity to show our fall collection,” said Lazaro Arias, boutique manager at Chloé Bal Harbour.
The party continued after the show, in both the courtyard and after-hours lounge inside the adjacent the Grill at the Setai space, with music from DJ James Dolby until nearly 2 a.m.
