Creating an Ocean Kingdom for Sir McCartney

I'll leave it to the critics to judge Sir Paul McCartney's new ballet "Ocean's Kingdom", but the dinner that celebrated its world premiere was quite amazing.  And I had a great time designing it.  Although there were countless inspirations--Paul McCartney's music, Stella McCartney's costumes, Peter Martin's choreography, an ocean theme--the challenge was working with a not-for-profit budget using the fashion tents at Lincoln Center.  After imagining what it would be like if The Little Mermaid met Waiting for Godot, a modernist theme developed.

With the entire room awash in an undulating watery filter, I used aqua, sapphire, ice blue, and silver Lucite mirrors; color-blocked tables; a turquoise-mirrored dance floor reflecting trays overhead holding hundreds of small votives; sheer green-blue iridescent fabric panels on the ceiling, which moved so beautifully in the air conditioned space; and pools of water with floating candles (maximizing the sexy lighting effect).  The celebs, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Gilles Mendel, Lorne Michaels, Naomi Watts, Alec Baldwin, and Alicia Keys, seemed to enjoy the dinner and atmosphere, but it was the chair woman of the event, who told me that I had taken her breath away, which made me feel the event was a success.  Enjoy some of my pre-party photos.