Louis Vuitton Prize Giving
In a formal prizegiving ceremony to honour Alinghi, Louis Vuitton hosted a dinner fit for Kings.
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| Wearable Art performance at the official L.V Cup prize giving. |
Being led into a paddock in the middle of seemingly nowhere, the 400 guests of the Louis Vuitton Cup prizegiving wondered what was going on. Whilst it wasn’t quite Middle Earth, it was still a rolling-hilled rural setting, replete with cows and hay-laden fields. Pretending to be unaffected by the rather odd surroundings, the guests sipped champagne and nibbled on delicacies before the proceedings began.
Louis Vuitton Cup director, Bruno Trouble, introduced the fascinating World of Wearable arts – a pageantry of art adorning the body in some of the most audacious avant garde designs ever seen – by sailors at least. Created by Suzy Moncrieff in 1987, WOW has taken the world by storm and is now considered one of the most creative and skilled approaches to fashion. From chicken breasts to jungle chairs, amphibians to glove swans, the highlight was Monsieur Vuitton, Mnsr Bruno Trouble himself who was dressed in a rooster costume made from 450 ties. (The highlight, he said, was not so much the outfit but being backstage with all the models).
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| Fireworks from under the marquee at the L.V Cup prize giving, Puketutu Island. |
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After the awards were presented the guests moved up to the Kelliher Estate mansion house for an exquisite dinner. Huge ice sculptures of the LV Cup filled with raspberries lay in the main hall with mounted pictures of Alinghi’s victory lining the walls. Overhead in the garden was a large, custom-made marquee. Completely clear, this marquee is the first of its kind in NZ and it was built with purpose rather than just aesthetics – halfway through the main course a fireworks display rained down on the guests accompanied by arousing music. A few tears were seen in the eyes of stoic sailors.
The three-course meal was (without wanting to brag) divine. Stuffed courgette flowers over venison carpaccio, confit of quail, ginger and wild rice, snapper filet with braised fennel, verjuice, caviar and crayfish oil, followed by rose champagne cherry jelly, vincotto berry tart and green tea icecream. Did I say divine? And of course, after such indulgence, a few hours on the dance floor worked off the calories. Despite the fact that most of the people present had been partying until breakfast the night before, it was all systems go with ties flying off and heels kicking up.
When the band stopped playing it was, sadly, time to go home. People gathered their souvenir linen napkins (custom-made accolades to Alinghi), their Vuitton posters and a last sip of bubbles before heading home. It was a fabulous night of elegance, beauty, emotion and gastronomic magic. The kind of night memories are made of…
The World or Wearable Arts complex is at 95 Quarantine Road, Annesbrook, Nelson and is open 7 days a week.
Kelliher Estate on Puketutu Island is privately owned and available for functions.
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