To A Neoclassical Manse

Location, location, location. The realtor’s mantra came to mind on Thursday night in London. First, the NEWGEN event at Somerset House, the new home of London fashion week. The neoclassical structure is one of the city’s most elegant riverside buildings, with a sweeping terrace that was particularly seductive in the summer gloaming. It’s also ideal for shoots—i-D was photographing the NEWGEN winners as they were announced. Amanda Harlech let Robert Forrest tear her away for a hard-hatted tour of the building site that will eventually become Robin Hurley’s new club. It’s in Shepherd’s Market, a louche-ly quaint hooker hangout of centuries past, and Rifat Ozbek had created a convincingly decadent mock-up of what the finished product may look like. Then, while Harlech linked up with Sarah Mower and the fashion world at the Royal College of Art’s graduate show, a smattering of London’s art, pop, and design aristocracy joined some genu-wine lords and ladies at Lancaster House, where HRH Prince Robert of Luxembourg was hosting a dinner to celebrate the 75th anniversary of his grandfather’s acquisition of Château Haut-Brion. There’ll be eight dinners in eight key cities around the world, but how many of them will be set in a spectacularly maintained neoclassical (again, but it’s such a good look) mansion that was once assessed as the most valuable private house in London, with St. James Palace on one side and Buckingham Palace on the other, just across—more or less—the velvety greensward? Speaking of velvet, the main course of lamb was served with a Château Haut-Brion 1961 that smacked unforgettably of velvet smoke. Those savoring it included Viscount and Viscountess Linley, Bryan Ferry and Amanda Shepherd, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and Erin Heatherton, and Charlotte Stockdale and Marc Newson, whose boy-toy table talk with Matthew Freud was—according to Camilla Lowther, who was parked between the two—all about planes. Their own, one assumes. Speaking of taking flight, Serena, Marchioness of Bute, looked heaven-bound in a fishtailed goddess dress by Roland Mouret (pictured).

—Tim Blanks