Barneys Toasts Byredo's New Bags

From left to right, Freja Beja Erichsen, Ben Gorham, and Kimberly Wesson. Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com

Leave it to Byredo’s Ben Gorham to take a nontraditional route. The basketball player-turned-perfumer is now a handbag designer. And last night, on the eve of New York fashion week’s final day, Barneys toasted the launch at the bottom of Crosby St, at the BDDW showroom, with the help of guests like Susan Sarandon, Maria Cornejo, Natasha Lyonne, and Tessa Thompson, all of whom raised their glasses to toast Gorham’s expansion into leather goods.

Gorhman initially approached Barneys with his line of handbags in 2012, ultimately deciding he was unsatisfied, before returning to the drawing table. “He came back two years later and we couldn’t be happier,” said Danielle Vitale, the COO of Barneys, who hosted the dinner with a menu designed by Padma Lakshmi. “During Fashion week, people are moving constantly, going from place to place,” said Ms. Lakshmi, standing, beneath an arch garlanded by cascading branches and hydrangeas (from L’Oasis). “I wanted the food and the flowers to be comforting, nut not too rich. So we made it very casual. I decided the first course should be cocktails and grilled cheese.”

Levity is an attribute that can also be applied to the fragrances Mr. Gorham suffuses into his perfumes, body creams, candles and room fragrances—as well as those who support him. “I wear Byredo,” said Interview magazine’s editor-in-chief, Keith Pollock, who commented on the beauty of Byredo’s design (not just the scent, but its entire presentation). He opts for “Mojave Ghost,” but mixes it with others. Do they make him feel sexy? “Nothing makes me feel sexy,” he joked.

Mr. Pollock had just come from the Proenza Schouler show, where he’d been taken with their heavily beaded jackets. The room also buzzed with talk of Thom Browne’s funereal figures, Peter Copping’s Oscar de la Renta debut, and Kanye West’s Adidas Originals collection. “I just like Ben,” said Freja Beha Erichsen, of her NYFW favorites. “I’m excited about him because I love when people have a vision,” said BLK DNM’s Johan Lindeberg. “He started with scent, from Stockholm; we have no tradition there of fragrance. And he makes it chic and beautiful.”

In describing how he arrived at the decision to go from body oils to bags, Mr. Gorham is vague, but thoughtful: “I was looking for a way to add another dimension. It was more about an emotional process. The luxury of having your own brand is that you can write your own story,” he said. “I fell in love with the material, with the complexity. It’s about inspiration: when I started with the leather I felt something I hadn’t felt for years. There’s something exhilarating about that approach.”

A little after 10pm, when people finally sat for their fennel salads and roasted hens (“What kind of dinner begins this late? It’s positively Spanish!” lamented one guest), Mr. Gorham sat with pals like Waris Ahluwalia, Saturday’s Morgan Collet and Ms. Beha Erichsen. Princess Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz passed roasted carrots to Simon Doonan, Ms. Sarandon, Tim Blanks, and Joel and the dessert, a Bananarama pudding, was anything but light—not that anyone complained.

There was no cheese course, but as guests filtered out into the not-so-chilly night, Ms. Sarandon stopped to examine a number of ceramic dishes—which another guest ventured could easily have been cheese plates—hanging in BDDW’s foyer. What did she think they looked like? “Pricey,” said Ms. Sarandon. Good closer.