NEW YORK — “They were going to have Dovima and the elephants in here, but there wasn’t any room,” joked Peter Som, scanning the clustered scene at Pastis on Tuesday night.
Indeed, the restaurant was so packed that at one point the crowd faced a complete gridlock. But that didn’t really dampen the spirits of those who joined Theory and the Council of Fashion Designers of America to celebrate the late Richard Avedon and the works featured in his new coffee table book, “Woman in the Mirror.”
It was a poignant moment for Theory’s Andrew Rosen, who knew Avedon well. Rosen’s late father, Carl, built the Calvin Klein Jeans empire, which became infamous for its provocative Brooke Shields ads. “Avedon did the Brooke Shields commercials,” Rosen recalled. “I used to sit and have dinner with him, my father and Calvin.”
For the occasion, Pastis featured an installation of boards pinned with tear sheets from the book, which guests could pull off and take home. The board was bare by the end of the night.
VPL designer Victoria Bartlett couldn’t quite decide which Avedon image was her favorite. “There are just so many,” she said. “I really like the society portraits. They’re quite austere. You see every line.”
Diddy arrived and immediately proceeded to the back of the restaurant, where he nibbled on pizza and fries while typing away on his BlackBerry. Others trying to navigate the space to check out the installation included Kenneth Cole, Nanette Lepore, Pierre Hardy, Lazaro Hernandez, Marc Bouwer, John Bartlett and Dean Harris. “It’s like a big family reunion,” quipped John Truex.
This was the first official outing for newly appointed CFDA executive director Steven Kolb, who was able to meet many council members between photo ops. “There are a lot of flashbulbs,” he noted.
Also on hand were models Julia Stegner, Anouck and Avedon original Carmen Dell’Orefice, Olivia Chantecaille, Roxanne Lowit, Fabiola Beracasa, Zani Gugelmann and New York Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan.
That night, the building facing Pastis featured a giant billboard of the book cover. Its location, at 38 Gansevoort Street, is of particular meaning to Theory, which plans to relocate there in a year.