CAPRICE From babe to businesswoman - Mayfair Times

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news
Bigger and better
THE ROYAL INSTITUTION of Great Britain has
opened its doors on Albemarle Street after a £22
million, two-and-a-half year upgrade.
Baroness Susan Greenfield, director (pictured),
said: “Words cannot express the excitement of
reopening our doors. Our lasting vision is to make
science accessible to everyone.”
Useable space has been increased by 40 per
cent and access improved. Features include a
day-lit atrium, café, bar and restaurant.
The RI has already launched an exciting
programme of events including family fun days,
monthly sci-fi film screenings and book club
meetings as well as The Culinary Alchemist – an
evening with Heston Blumenthal. School lectures,
a heritage exhibition, arts-science initiatives, a
media centre and the new Davy Faraday
Research Lab also feature.
A month
in Mayfair
SCULPTOR AND JEWELLERY
designer Andrew Logan
pictured with Carolinda
Tolstoy as he launched an
exhibition of her work at The
Arts Club. More than 350
people enjoyed Ivan the
Terrible vodka cocktails while
viewing her works inside a
lilac and rose Bedouin tent.
Join the party
GROSVENOR IS co-hosting this year’s
Residents’ Society of Mayfair and St
James’s Summer Garden Party on June 9 in
Mount Street Gardens.
Opened by the Duke of Westminster, the
event will support London Jewellery Week
and the gardens will feature a display of
jewellery-inspired decorations. Guests will
be able to sample oysters from Wiltons
Restaurant, canapés from Harry’s Bar,
organic quiches from Allens Patisserie and
appetisers from Sofra Restaurant.
Knight Frank is hosting a cocktail bar,
Sterling work
THIS YEAR’S Connaught Village Festival
was hosted by British motor racing
legend and Mayfair resident Sir Stirling
Moss. More than 35 classic and eco-cars
were on display.
Sir Stirling met drivers and the public
and showed his support for disabled
racing driver David Edwards, who hopes
to break several UK speed records.
CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN hosted
this year’s Bafta Television
Craft Awards at The
Dorchester. An all-star line-up,
including actress Imelda
Staunton (pictured), turned up
to support all the nominees at
the ceremony that celebrates
the behind-the-scenes talent of
the television industry.
while music will be courtesy of The Dover
Street Wine Bar. There will also be an
auction, raffle and tombola plus a restaurant
tree where guests can win vouchers for
top Mayfair and St James’s restaurants,
including a champagne dinner at The Arts
Club, afternoon tea at The Ritz and dinner for
two at Theo Randall at the InterContinental.
The party kicks off at 6.30pm and goes
on until dusk. Advance tickets are £20 each,
available at the Mayfair Library, or call 020
7629 9300. Tickets (if not sold out) will be
available at the gate, priced £25.
Agnew’s move
AFTER 131 YEARS on Old Bond Street,
art dealers Agnew’s is set to move.
Chairman Julian Agnew explained:
“For some years it has been clear that
our premises, splendid though they are,
have become unsuitable for an art
gallery in the 21st century. Much of our
stock is exhibited at fairs both in the UK
and overseas and we do an increasingly
large proportion of our business outside
the gallery.”
The gallery closes on July 18 and is
looking to relocate within Mayfair and
St James’s. The building has been sold
to Italian fashion house Etro.
NICK HEWER and Margaret
Mountford from The
Apprentice pictured at the
Dorchester for the annual Fifi
Awards for fragrances.
Marc Jacobs won best new
women’s fragrance for Daisy,
while Tom Ford for Men won
best new men’s prestige
fragrance.
Making room for art
ST JAMES’S STREET-based Guest Hotels
has announced the world’s first arts club
hotels. Under the plans, launched to musical
accompaniment (pictured), Guest will turn its
five hotels into stages for emerging talent
from London’s creative arts scene.
A members’ club offers contemporary
arts events within the hotels and gives
exclusive access to events across London.
Flagship boutique
JENNY PACKHAM will open her flagship ready-towear
boutique in Mount Street in September.
The store, a former Victorian bank, will feature
an opulent interior, with chinoiserie and marble.
Described as “The Queen of the Red Carpet
Gown” by Vogue, Jenny Packham has a celebrity
clientele, which includes Keira Knightley, Beyoncé,
Eva Longoria, Mariah Carey and Hilary Swank.
Carnival for charity
THE INTERCONTINENTAL Park Lane
brought an exotic taste of Rio to central
London with its Spring Carnival to raise
funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital
Children’s Charity.
Around 700 parents and children
attended the event, including Conservative
leader David Cameron and his daughter,
Nancy (pictured). The carnival included a
children’s fashion show and performances
by the Paraiso School of Samba.
More than £100,000 was raised for the
redevelopment of the hospital’s MRI unit.
“Until now, hotels have used art as
decoration,” said Johnny Sandelson,
chairman of Guest Hotels and founder of
hotel investment company GuestInvest.
“We are reversing that concept by allowing
artists to use our hotels as their showcase.”
Sandelson has appointed an impressive
team to help him. Former head of creative
networks at the ICA Iram Quraishi will
BRITAIN’S MOST expensive
tree – a Victorian plane in
Berkeley Square – was valued
at £750,000. The valuation
is based on a new system
devised by local authority
tree officers and takes into
account size, health, historical
significance and the number of
people living nearby to enjoy it.
xxx
Graduate best
SELFRIDGES CONTINUES its arts
season at the Ultralounge with
Anticipation, an exhibition of the best
of London’s art school graduates, in
collaboration with contemporary art
curators Kay Saatchi and Carrion
Warren.
Highlights include Jeni Snell’s
inflatable bouncy castle bunker, a
statement about how children
growing up in war zones play among
the ruins; Nick Hornby’s sculpture of
a life-size slice of a 727 aircraft; and
Jodie Carey’s 10-foot Monument,
made of 2,000 cast plaster bones
(pictured).
The exhibition takes place from
June 26 to August 3.
curate the arts club, Design Museum
founder Stephen Bayley will be style
director, Caroline King from Home House
takes over the management side of things
and restaurateur Oliver Peyton will be in
charge of the bars and restaurants.
The club opens at The Jones in
Bayswater and Nest in Bloomsbury this
summer.
MOUNT STREET tailor
Douglas Hayward was given
a stylish send-off when
mourners including Sir
Michael Caine, Sir Roger
Moore, Joan Collins, Terry
O’Neill and Philip Kingsley
gathered to pay their respects
at Farm Street Church.
Douglas died in April, aged 73.
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