A Flashy, Kicky Fête
(NEW YORK) While Friday night revelers on Crosby Street may have had stilettos on their feet, they certainly had sneakers on the brain as they celebrated, along with hosts Frida Giannini and Mark Ronson, the official kick-off of the Gucci Icon-Temporary flash sneaker store opening. Guests including Claire Danes, Mischa Barton, Evan Rachel Wood, and Leigh Lezark scampered over in the rain to the pop-up shop, which will debut in New York and then travel to Miami, London and, finally, Tokyo. Giannini enlisted the help of Ronson to cook up a limited edition collection, and he left his DJ handprints all over the jazzed-out sneaks, while still preserving the iconic Gucci look.
Perfectly-coifed (per usual) and decked out in his own blue and white boat shoe/sneaker hybrids, Ronson confessed, "There is definitely some pressure because I've never done anything like this before. You don't want the first thing you do to come out and be lame." Lame was the last word on guest's minds. "All these shoes are crazy," Mary J. Blige gushed. "But these are beyond," she said, pointing to a gilded (naturally!) pair of lace-ups. "Now these are crazy-crazy." She paused from chatting with Wyclef Jean to bust out a quick dance move, underscoring her enthusiasm with a hip-shake. It was clear that Ronson did not run any risk of looking lame. If anything, the tiny store lined with sneakers made you thrilled just to be ambulatory!
Rounding out a week in New York filled with affairs, Giannini revealed no hint of exhaustion. "This is showing my passion for music, new media and technologies. The next generation is the Twitter generation, and so Mark and myself worked on this Gucci application where you can mix and share with friends online," she explained. Ronson showed off the app on his iPhone to his impressed mother, who then asked about shoe sizes, racking up a lengthy order for her family. Ann Dexter-Jones reminisced about the label. "I remember my first pair of Gucci shoes. They were these preppy loafers for nice girls, and now the shoes today are fabulously rock-and-roll."
The two vampires of the evening, Wood and Alexander Skarsgard, slunk back by the bar, sipping champagne and blood-red pomegranate cocktails. Head-to-toe in Gucci, Wood admitted, "I never wear sneakers. I'm always in heels. Maybe I'll wear a pair of Converse when I bike ride, but that's it. I prefer watching bad movies with my best friend and cat, Nicodemus." Danes also favored a lighter form of exercise. "I wear my sneakers on the badminton courts." Lezark, however, was antsy to hear "Soles of Fire" by Chauffeur--the Ronson-produced soundtrack to the Gucci sneaker. "I haven't heard the album yet, so I'm excited. I'm going to L.A. tomorrow to DJ Katy Perry's birthday party. You have to wear white, which will be tough for a girl like me...at least it's not all-pink!"
EMILY POPP
