Metropolitan

Met Museum's Guards Show Don't Just Watch: They Paint, Too

Filed under: Art, Charity

The Upper West Side of Manhattan was once again home to an exciting and unique art exhibition last week. 25CPW, a temporary art gallery occupying a vacant retail space on Central Park West hosted an art show for a unique group within the Metropolitan Museum of Art: the guards. It turns out that some of the people protecting the masterpieces on the other side of Central Park also like to create, and from what I saw on Thursday night, when I attended the opening, they are pretty damned good at it.

The Thursday night opening also included the launch of Sw!pe Magazine: Guards' Matter, an art journal that accompanied the exhibition.

On display were paintings, drawings, photographs and other pieces. The styles varied but were displayed intelligently, preventing contrasting styles from crowding each other and leaving each artist enough space for his work to stand out. Nelson Diaz, an artist and friend who attended the how with me, was as electrified as I was – both by the works on display and the energy in the 25CPW space.

You can view the NY Times photo gallery here.

The next 25CPW event is on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 night at 6:00 PM, when the Afghan Art Auction will be held to benefit the George Dritsas Anthropos Fund. The fund was created to help refugees in transition, so do find a way to open your wallet. The money raised will also be used to help the Afghan Women Council, which seeks to assist women and children inside Afghanistan.

From the inaugural event at 25CPW:

Gallery: 10 from 25: Emerging Artists using Photography

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Tags: art exhibit, art exhibits, art galleries, Art Gallery, art show, central park, central park west, drawing, drawings, manhattan, metropolitan, MetropolitanMuseumOfArt, new york, new york city, painting, paintings, Upper West Side

The Classicist: Ralph Lauren, Whit Stillman & Black Tie

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Men's Style, The Classicist

This past holiday season we broke out the black tie as usual, for what's become basically an annual airing. This got us musing on subjects sartorial and formal attire in particular; then Michael Williams, author of the genius men's style blog A Continuous Lean, pointed us to a page on Ralph Lauren's website for his Rugby line citing the brilliant 1990 movie Metropolitan by Whit Stillman as inspiration. Describing the film (scene pictured above) as "a pitch-perfect examination of our two favorite things: urbane style and preppy angst," Lauren's site declares it can also be viewed as a textbook on how to wear black tie (are you listening, Barack Obama?).

With Metropolitan as a frame of reference, the Rugby writers list a set of rules for stylish evening attire. As Stillman's a good friend of ours, we asked him for his views on the tribute. Actually, he told us, "When we were preparing Metropolitan there was a great two page Ralph Lauren ad running in magazines that we clipped and showed around to illustrate the style the film would aspire to." So, in a way, Stillman notes, "Ralph Lauren influenced the film before it might have inspired Rugby."

And while he says that both the Rubgy site and its commenters "did a good job discussing the film," Stillman takes issue with their 2nd rule for sporting black tie, which states: "You don't need to wear a cummerbund with a tuxedo - that's a personal choice. If you lose the cummerbund, wear suspenders (never a belt), and don't forget that they need not be black; in fact, they probably shouldn't be." Stillman insists that, in fact, "either a cummerbund or waistcoat is required, and suspenders should be worn with either, as with no belt the laws of gravity must be resisted." There you have it, straight from the master (and we fully concur).

Gallery: Whilt Stillman's Metropolitan

We neither of us have any quarrel with Rugby's rule #5, however, which states the following: "You should look sharp in your tux, but there will come a point in the night when jackets are off, ties are undone and anything goes (as evidenced in the movie). If, while wearing your tux, you're invited to dance a rumba: you do. If you're asked to play strip poker: you do. And if you're forced into a fistfight with a count of dubious provenance: by all means, do. Just try not to get any blood on your sweet threads, ok?"

Meanwhile, it seems that Ralph and Rugby aren't the only ones channeling Whit; the hit TV show Gossip Girl also seems to be taking some cues from Metropolitan. Of course, with such an influential film any really comprehensive list of appropriators would have be an extremely long one.

Tags: A Continuous Lean, AContinuousLean, Black Tie, BlackTie, Metropolitan, Michael Williams, MichaelWilliams, Ralph Lauren, RalphLauren, Rugby, Tuxedo, Whit Stillman, WhitStillman

Knoxville's Big Boutique Hotel Plans

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Luxury Travel & Hotels

What is the cut-off for size for boutique hotels? I generally think it is under 150 rooms but a new multi-use project in Knoxville, Tennessee bills itself as having a boutique hotel even though it's got 200 rooms. The Metropolitan Plaza project is actually a fairly large project, including a 15-foor tower with as many as 32 condos above the hotel room as well restaurants, a bank and retail shops on the lobby level. There is also an office tower planned that would stand about 7-8 floors tall. The $78 million project from Knoxville-based Commercial & Investment Properties also includes an enclosed pedestrian bridge linking the complex to the Knoxville Convention Center.

The proposal beat out two other proposals for the redevelopment of the downtown state Supreme Court Building.The project does not have a hotel brand linked to it yet but the developer says that several are interested. Once approved, construction on the project could begin as early as this fall and be completed by early 2010.

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Tags: condominiums, knoxville, metropolitan, tennessee

The Metropolitan, Luxury on the Cheap in Kansas City

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Those big city condo complexes packed with amenities are finally making their way to the smaller cities where the the challenge is not the condo glut but convincing locals that they should buy a condo when they could get a house for not much more cash. Check out The Metropolitan in Kansas City, Missouri. The luxury high-rise has a penthouse pool with skylights and and a lounge with TVs and a refreshment bar, indoor parking, fitness center and 24-hour concierge service. It also has a cozy lobby with a a fireplace. The residences themselves include GE stainless appliances, granite countertops, hardwood cabinets, a slate entryway and marble bathrooms. And they are cheap! Be prepared for real estate envy. Studios start at just $81,900 with the penthouses going for $289,900.

Gallery: The Metropolitan