Two years after they initially hoped to touch down in New York, Sarabande made its big arrival Tuesday evening at The Standard High Line with an elegant cocktail party and dinner.
The post Met Gala crowd included designers like Thom Browne and Daniel Roseberry, as well as Jeremy Strong, Andrew Bolton, Antoni Porowski, Yahya Abdul-Mateen 2nd, Colby Mugrabi, Nancy Chilton, Kid Super, Stephen Jones, Bruce Pask, Jan-Michael Quammie, Linda Fargo and more.
Sarabande was established by Lee Alexander McQueen in 2006, naming the foundation after his spring 2007 show with the mission of supporting a community of creatives in the fields of fashion, art, photography and jewelry, among others. Well established in London, New York was a natural next step, said the organization’s Trino Verkade.
“It’s something we wanted to do actually in 2020; we were here in March of 2020, planning a dinner the day after the Met, and funnily enough it was canceled. New York feels like a natural home for Sarabande. Culturally I think it’s the closest place [to London] where it has an incredible fashion industry, it has a big art culture, it’s got film, photography, makers, jewelers — it’s one of the few cities that like London brings together people from all over the world,” she said. “We support artists from all different countries, all different disciplines, so you’ve got to find a place that is welcoming and diverse in that way. New York makes the obvious sense. And also, it’s a city that loves youth and gives them opportunities.”
Related Galleries
Ahead of dinner, guests were encouraged to join in a live figure drawing of two Sarabande artists dressed in larger-than-life suits, known as Squishes.
“The idea is it makes you think differently about drawing. It makes you really look at what you’ve seen,” Verkade explained of the main artist, Daisy. “We asked her to do a drawing class because it signifies this idea we have that you haven’t got to do things in the same lane. A live drawing class doesn’t have to be the same life we see all the time.”
The tablecloth was illustrated with each guest’s name and featured cheeky little doodles, while each place setting had a unique plate guests got to take home, designed by Sir Ridley Scott, Alexander McQueen, Jake Chapman and Francesca Amfitheatrof and made in England by one of the oldest bone China suppliers.
“Fashion, film photographer, art, jewelry — it’s all the things we support,” Verkade said.