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| Facade, by Jeffrey Hirsch, part of the exhibition and sale at The Chinese Porcelain Company on view from Friday, May 16th through Monday, May 19th. All of the proceeds from the sale will benefit the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy. |
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| On Britannia. Last night at the Mark Murray Gallery at 39 East 72nd Street, Mr. Murray, Jeffrey Podolsky, Euan Rellie and Sarah Thanhauser gave a cocktail reception for Apsley Bespoke Tailors of London and its Managing Director Arshad Mahmood. All of this was organized by the aforementioned and a man named Simon Davis who used to edit the social diary for the Evening Standard in London and is now operating a consulting and marketing firm for businesses like Apsley. More and more of the social life in New York is centered around philanthropies and now even more specifically commerce. Americans will tend to bring people into the shop, so to speak, in the name of a charity. The Brits, not being so inculcated with the idea of charity, simply invite you in to buy. After hours is an excellent time for a lot of New Yorkers who because of their long work hours often don’t have much chance to shop, even for the basics. Apsley’s lure is two fold -- the right price and an excellent long time (founded in 1889) reputation first in uniforms for the officers of the British military, as well as diplomats and then for private individuals. Located on Pall Mall, Mr. Davis has arranged for them to have a New York presence in a room at Soho House, the private club in the meatpacking district. |
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| Apsley Bespoke Tailor's Arshad Mahmood with a curious guest looking through swatches. |
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| There are a lot of Brits on the New York scene, and not a small number of them care very much about their tailoring. Apsley’s suits begin at 750 pounds (approximately $1500) and unlike the Saville Row tailors who can take up to a half year to ready your suit, (and whose prices start a lot higher) Apsley delivers in a matter of four to six weeks. Other than that it was a good old cocktail party in the galleries of Mr. Murray who deals in European and American paintings (1830 – 1930). The guest list was a combination of Americans and British ex-pats, while on a table in one of the rooms Mr. Mahmood had spread his books of swatches for the prospective bespoke suit owners to see. It was very low key, with none of that pushing the merchandise business, but business was very much what it was all about, and the atmosphere was very friendly and sociable as if it were just another jolly drinks party before a mid-evening dinner. Meanwhile about 12 blocks down the avenue (Madison) Tod’s was also holding something similar -- a cocktail party and shopping evening ‘in celebration” of Melanie Charlton Fascitelli’s “Shop Your Closet.” Well, as our very own Mark Twain once said (or wrote): “Clothes make the man.” (To which he added: “Naked people have little or no influence on society.”) |
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