LONDON — Frieze London has woken up the city with ongoing festivities, some of which are art fair-related, while others simply took the opportunity to join in on the fun.
The day before the art fair began, Gucci celebrated the opening of its London exhibition “Gucci Cosmos”, which was attended by Paul Mescal, George MacKay and Salma Hayek Pinault at 180 Studios at 180 The Strand.
Gucci creative director Sabato De Sarno and Paul Mescal at Gucci Cosmos.
Dave Bennett
111Skin co-founder Eva Alexandridis also raised a glass to the busy week ahead at the 111Skin Suite on Harley Street, along with Fashion Trust Arabia co-founder Tania Fares.
The two women collaborated to create the Eye Lift Edit, which retails at £150, with 50 per cent of proceeds going to Fares’ organization, which caters to young talent in the MENA region.
Eva Alexandridis, Dr. Yiannis Alexandridis and Tania Fares.
Courtesy of 111Skin
When the art fair opened its doors on Wednesday, art lovers Roksanda Ilincic, Russell Tovey, FKA Twigs, Jenn Nkiru, Ozwald Boateng, Wolfgang Tillmans and Tom Rasmussen were among the first to attend a lunch hosted at Jikoni restaurant by the director of Frieze London. Eva Langret and Jefferson Hack, CEO and co-founder of Dazed Media.
An unexpected event at the fair was the cosmetics brand Poiret, owned by the Korean group Shinsegae International. The company acquired the Paul Poiret brand in 2015 and relaunched as Poiret in March 2021, but more in the beauty than fashion space.
Poiret at the Frieze exhibition in London 2023.
Pierrick Rocher/BFA.com
Poiret’s booth at Frieze was incredible compared to the art booths around it. Inside beauty products have been unveiled which are not yet available in the UK, but are just a hint of what’s to come in the new year as their European expansion progresses.
There was also work by French artist Laure Prouvost that took up an entire wall, as well as digital art projected onto a white wall.
At Christie’s auction house, Kenya Hunt, editor of Elle UK, hosted a contemporary art party with drinks from The Savoy and The London Essence Co.
Guests included Gailyn Gould, Aindrea Emelife, Bernardine Evaristo, Philip Ihenacho and Katie Wickremesinghe.
At Browns, Amiri celebrated the launch of her exclusive capsule collection with the music-inspired retailer.
The Browns courtyard served tacos from the FunGuys and featured a special performance by Zakiya and Ojerime.
The big party of the week was held at Coco’s House on Thursday night to celebrate the fair’s 20th anniversary. Frieze partnered with Stone Island for the celebration, and English hip-hop musician Loyle Carner took to the stage, watched on by Jeremy Deller, Julianknxx, Edith Bowman, Ah Sai Ta and Adham Faramaway.
That same evening, Galvan, OMR and Sies & Hoeke hosted a cocktail party at Louie with friends of the brand, including Hunza G creative director Georgiana Huddart, Dr. Barbara Sturm, Zoe Zimmer and Lily Gatchan.
Anita Chiba, founder of Diet Paratha, an Instagram account that celebrates South Asian identity, took over the Boss flagship on Regent Street with a roaring crowd the likes of which the street had not seen in a long time.
Chhiba organized a one-off exhibition showcasing the work of 13 diaspora artists, featuring digital artworks, paintings, photographs and installations that were available for purchase, with profits going directly to the artists without any cut.