LAND DOWN UNDER: In September, Calvin Klein Inc. held a celebrity-filled party during New York Fashion Week inside a John Pawson structure that also featured a James Turrell light installation. Next month, it’s bringing some of that cool energy to Australia. On Dec. 16, the company will celebrate the spring season with a bash on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbor. Australian actress Abbie Cornish, who stars in Jane Campion’s upcoming movie “Bright Star,” is cohosting the party with Kevin Carrigan, creative director of ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans. The island — once a convict prison and shipyard that offers views of the Sydney skyline and can only be reached by boat — will be turned into a lounge replete with a light installation by Australia Aboriginal artist Jonathan Jones. DJ Stretch Armstrong will spin the tunes on the night. Following past global events in such cities as Shanghai, London and Dubai, CKI will present spring apparel and accessories from its collections.
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NOT TRUE: Retailers are reacting to an e-mail on the Web that seems aimed at making consumers fearful of gift cards. The e-mail contended stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling gift cards that won’t be honored after Jan. 1. The message was followed by what appears to be a new list of store closings — when in actuality, many were announced earlier this year. The e-mail also falsely indicated that J. Jill is closing, when in fact the parent company, The Talbots Inc., said it has put the chain up for sale. One of the retailers on the list, AnnTaylor Stores Corp., said, “It has come to our attention that false and misleading information, regarding our company and our store closure program, is circulating on the Web as part of a hoax to scare consumers away from purchasing gift cards.” The company stressed its financial health and said it revealed plans last January to close 117 underperforming stores over a three-year period. The company stressed its gift cards will continue to be honored at all of its stores as well as on its Web site.
PRADA’S HEART OF DARKNESS: A dark back alley in northeast London is the site of the capital’s latest hot club, a temporary venue dreamed up by Miuccia Prada and artist Carsten Höller. On Thursday evening, Fondazione Prada launched The Double Club, an installation-bar-restaurant space inspired by African Congo culture and Western design. Höller designed the venue, turning each room into a Congolese-Western European hybrid, with food and drink on hand from each culture. Even the bar was part beer shack, part sleek cocktail stand. Revelers including Höller, Prada, Coco Sumner, Jaime Winstone, Alexander McQueen and Katie Grand, who partied late into the night with the traditional Congolese band, took breaks to sample traditional goat meat kebabs. The project will function for six months.