BOTTLETOP X AFRICA'S OUT! LAUNCH EVENT IN NEW YORK

Last Thursday saw the New York Fashion Week launch of our new ‘Art On Canvas’ limited edition collection, in collaboration with leading contemporary artist Wangechi Mutu and Africa’s Out!

 

 

 

The venue for this special occasion was the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel; the legendary, decadent NYC hotel, famously haunted and steeped in wild history and housing a contemporary art collection worth in excess of $50m. Guests in attendance on the night comprised of a throbbing mix of art collectors, curators, fashion week aficionado's, contemporary artists, models, journalists and friends of Wangechi Mutu and Bottletop.

 

 

 Candice Swanepoel, Cameron Saul and Wangechi Mutu

 

Bottletop was proud to partner with The Africa Center on the launch; a nonprofit, nonpartisan, multidisciplinary institution that provides a gateway for engagement with contemporary Africa as well as The Armory Show; a leading international contemporary and modern art fair and one of the most important annual art events in New York.

 

 Janelle Monae with Carolyn Tote

 

Christy Turlington Burns

 

 Kay Chan and Tyler Rhys

 

Long standing Bottletop beverage partners, Belvedere, provided sumptuous cocktails for the party, especially devised for the night.

  

Staff ready to serve complementary cocktails 

 

An exhibition by American photographer Marilyn Minter was hung especially for NY fashion week and provided the perfect backdrop, not least because the central image of the exhibition featured Wangechi Mutu herself.

 

Marilyn Minter, Wangechi Gold #5, 2009 

 

We were honoured to launch the collaboration with a team of Bottletop Co-Hosts including brand ambassador Candice Swanepoel, Brazilian supermodel Lais Ribeiro, the Director of iconic Victoria Miro gallery, Glenn Scott-Wright, the Director of the Africa Centre in NY, Hadeel Ibrahim and contemporary artist Zoe Buckman.

 

 Candice Swanepoel, Oliver Wayman, Cameron Saul and Lais Ribeiro

 

Cameron Saul, Zoe Buckman and David Schwimmer 

 

 Lais Ribeiro and friend

 

 Zain Verjee, Alona Bath and friend

 

Noami Paris, Zoe Jackson and Rogan Keegan 

 

Bottletop and Wangechi Mutu first worked together on ‘Full Circle’, Bottletop’s flagship contemporary art program, to support the Bottletop Foundation in 2011. With the creation and launch of Africa’s Out! by Wangechi Mutu, we are excited to to support the empowerment of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) community in East Africa through grass roots initiatives designed to provide real and direct assistance for people living in extremely difficult conditions.

 

Wangechi Mutu 

 

Bottletop Co-Founder Cameron Saul introduced the collection’s concept: a desire to share and re-purpose high art, making it wearable and accessible and enabling the consumer to participate in the ultimate journey of each piece as it travels the world. Featuring six confident, semi structured bag styles in two colour ways, the collection is designed with the discerning traveller and day-to-day wear squarely in mind. He went on to describe how Bottletop is proud to support the mission of Africa's Out! and how important it is in today's world to address these issues creatively.

The designs fuse detail and quality with functionality and form. Each piece is a limited edition of 100, created by hand at the Bottletop atelier and comes with a numbered certificate of authenticity, signed by the artist and available to purchase at Bottletop.com.

Legendary Brazilian DJ Joel Stone (Founder of Tropicalia in Furs - the iconic East 5 Street record store specialising in rare vinyl and Brazilian psychedelia) kicked the party off in characteristic style with his eclectic blend of afrobeat, funk and rare groove and handed over to NY stalwart, DJ Vikas, with his signature mix of sexy house music and indie soul, leaving nobody with any option but to dance.