| Until the late 1980's, the world of Haute Couture catered to a handful of socialites and run by a few European family firms. Suddenly it was transformed into a multi-billion dollar enterprise where Models became Supermodels, Designers became Rock Stars, and The Billionaires who bankrolled these brands were Gods. The explosive rise and the shocking fall of both Alexander McQueen and John Galliano (the former to suicide and the latter to a series of anti-Semitic rants) underline a cutthroat industry all too willing to kill its own young. Between McQueen and Galliano, author Dana Thomas describes charts their artistic brilliance and their self-destructive failings against the backdrop of great fashion conglomerates and some of world's richest clients. Its an amazing read. Come join us. 
This will be a two-course "Lite Luncheon." |
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The Luncheon Society
™
welcomes
Dana Thomas New York Times Best-Selling Author Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano Author Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster (2007) Contributing editor for the New York Times' Style magazine Paris Correspondent for Harper's Bazaar Australia Contributing editor for WSJ, the Wall Street Journal's monthly magazine European editor of Conde Nast Portfolio (2008 to 2009) European cultural and Fashion correspondent for Newsweek in Paris (1995 to 2008) Join us for a conversation about the high stakes multi-billion dollar world of Haute Couture where excess, commerce, aristocracy, and fashion become high theater that is as operatic as the dizzying show it describes. See how the rise and fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, two of the brightest lights of couture design, underscore a larger story.
Wednesday April 1, 2015
Palio d'Asti 640 Sacramento Street San Francisco, CA 94111 415-395-9800
12 noon |
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This is a great story--I was knocked out by the book.
Here is what Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thomas Jefferson and American Lion says.
"Dana Thomas has written a real-life saga that is as engaging and compelling as a work of great fiction. By taking us inside the fascinating world of fashion, she gives us a startling tale of ambition, creativity, fame, and ultimately tragedy. This is a terrific book."
Bob McBarton Chief Conversationalist The Luncheon Society
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| Learn more about the seamier side of Haute Couture.
In February 2011, John Galliano, the lauded head of Christian Dior, imploded with a drunken, anti-Semitic public tirade. Exactly a year earlier, celebrated designer Alexander McQueen took his own life three weeks before his women's wear show. Both were casualties of the war between art and commerce that has raged within fashion for the last two decades.
In the mid-1990s, Galliano and McQueen arrived on the fashion scene when the business was in an artistic and economic rut. They shook the establishment out of its bourgeois, minimalist stupor with daring, sexy designs and theatrical fashion shows.
They had similar backgrounds: sensitive, shy gay men raised in tough London neighborhoods, their love of fashion nurtured by their doting mothers. By 1997, each had landed a job as creative director for couture houses owned by French tycoon Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH.
Galliano's and McQueen's work not only influenced fashion; their distinct styles were reflected across the media landscape. With their help, luxury fashion evolved from a clutch of small, family-owned businesses into a $280 billion-a-year global corporate industry. Executives pushed the designers to meet increasingly rapid deadlines. For both Galliano and McQueen, the pace was unsustainable.
The same week that Galliano was fired, Forbes named Arnault the fourth richest man in the world. Two months later, in the wake of McQueen's death, Kate Middleton wore a McQueen wedding gown, instantly making the house the world's most famous fashion brand, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened a wildly successful McQueen retrospective, cosponsored by the corporate owners of the McQueen brand. The corporations had won and the artists had lost.
In her groundbreaking work, Gods and Kings, acclaimed journalist Dana Thomas tells the true story of McQueen and Galliano. In so doing, she reveals the relentless world of couture-and the price it demanded of the very ones who saved it.
Only one question-are you in?
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| The Lunch
The Luncheon Society gathering with New York Times Best Selling author Dana Thomas will take place in San Francisco on Wednesday April 1, 2015. The lunch will begin at 12 noon and will run for about 90 minutes.
The Restaurant. The luncheon will take place at Palio d"asti in San Francisco. We will be meeting in their private room. The restaurant is located on 640 Sacramento Street. The phone number is 415.395.9800 The website is http://www.paliodasti.com/
Map
http://mapq.st/1HzyII9 The Price. Like in all TLS events, we basically split the check. Based on conversations with the restaurant, the cost for this gathering will be $45. Cash is preferred. You can bring along a friend if you'd like. Where to Park. Its Manhattan and you'll know what to do. Books Dana will graciously sign copies of her book Cancellations Sometimes, as they say in the movies, life intercedes. If you wish to attend but have a change in plans, please let me know 72 hours prior so that I can inform the restaurant. |
| Dining Choices. A two course luncheon is being planned. Please let me know of any dietary issues. |
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| Biography. 
Dana Thomas is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, published by The Penguin Press in 2007 and is a contributing editor for WSJ., the Wall Street Journal's monthly magazine. She began her career writing for the Style section of The Washington Post in Washington, D.C. and from 1995 to 2011, she served as a cultural and fashion correspondent for Newsweek in Paris. She has written for the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, the Financial Times, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Architectural Digest and Elle Décor and was the European editor of Condé Nast Portfolio. In 2012, Thomas served as writer-in-residence at Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a member of the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris and the Overseas Press Club. She taught journalism at The American University of Paris from 1996 to 1999. In 1987, she received the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation Scholarship and the Ellis Haller Award for Outstanding Achievement in Journalism. She lives in Paris.
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The Luncheon Society™
is a series of private luncheons and dinners that take place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Boston.
Seattle
and
Washington
DC begin in 2015. We essentially split the costs of gathering and we meet in groups of 20-25 people. Discussions center on politics, art, science, film, culture, and whatever else is on our mind. Think of us as "Adult Drop in Daycare." We've been around since 1997 and we're purposely understated. These gatherings takes place around a large table, where you interact with the main guest and conversation becomes end result. There are no rules, very little structure, and the gatherings happen when they happen. Join us when you can.
Hope you can join us.
Bob McBarton
[email protected]
The Luncheon Society
cell 925.216.9578
Twitter: @LuncheonSociety
Note: If you want to unsubscribe from The Luncheon Society, please let me know.
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