Heads up! Basically this is not your typical press release.
INSTEAD…

We invite you to live Slow Luxury style, take time, click on each image and immerse yourself in this co*lab story of Beauty and The Beasts.

You know it, there’s no fighting it…
the best things things in life do take time.

Here are your clickable images:

THE STORY: Once Upon a Fine Spring Day, in NYC’s Bryant Park, two 20-foot high maquettes of THE KELPIES, the large steely BEASTS, 100-ft high sculptures arising from the land in Scotland, met 13 silky, ethereal NYC damsel BEAUTIES dressed in timeless silks in Slow Luxury’s IONA CRAWFORD BEAUTY AND THE BEASTS CAPSULE COLLECTION LAUNCH

Collection Look Book is Here.

For Immediate Release: 

This Spring, for the U.S. portion of the global introduction of fashion designer Iona Crawford, a multi-faceted international collaboration of artists in art, film, music, live performance and even bespoke lace-making, touched down in New York City’s Bryant Park.  The launch of Crawford’s Beauty and The Beasts Capsule Collection, was first inspired by Andy Scott’s Kelpies, the 100-ft silver metal horse sculptures newly arising from the land at The Helix at the Forth & Clyde canal at Falkirk, Scotland.  Beginning with a visit to her friend Andy’s studio as the massive sculptures were just emerging, the chain of inspiration became an art collaboration spanning continents.

Slow Luxury, a lifestyle marketing agency based in NYC and the UK, working with clients that define sustainable luxury, envisioned the full scope of Iona Crawford’s Collection introduction. The collaborative project made its appearance in New York, with a public performance and notable tastemakers wearing the Collection for red carpets, event appearances and magazine feature story editorials. The week culminated in the Bryant Park performance, where models ceremoniously gifted the lunchtime crowd with small ribbon-tied bundles of silk containing poetry, chocolate and a #KelpiesBeauty hashtag. Set to live music, the performance ran alongside the smaller 20-foot maquettes of The Kelpies, on view during Scotland Week in New York.

The Collection also won favor for notable red carpet appearances and media features during April from VH1’s The Gossip Table‘s host, Delaina Dixon, who wore a black cashmere and leather dress to a film premiere with Mario “Cashmere” Maningham of the NY Giants; singer-songwriter Jess Domain, who began her career as an Aretha Franklin back-up singer, wore the collection for her upcoming feature story in Hour Detroit magazine, and actress Gemma Forbes wore the Collection’s signature long tunic in Madras lace for a gala dinner at The Metropolitan Club.

Based in Glasgow, home of the first retail Iona Crawford Atelier, opening 2014, Iona Crawford designs custom, limited-edition series women’s clothing and home accessories in rich and tonal fabrics of Scottish origin including cashmere, merino wool and leather, as well as silks printed with her paintings. The Beauty and The Beasts Capsule Collection is designed to be worn in all seasons.

The Collection contains references to saddlery through cut and structure dictating silhouette, while bespoke damask lace, featuring a figurative representation of the Kelpies in large scale, pays reference to the metallic geometry of the sculptures themselves.

Intended as a seasonless collection of artful pieces in numbered and signed editions of 1000 pieces each, curated, exclusive pieces of the Collection are sold on the Slow Luxury site, www.slow-luxury.com. and Iona Crawford’s site offers the full Collection.  www.ionacrawford.com

“The industrial, steely strength of the Kelpies horses came alive within their towering, angular NYC surrounds. I love the city’s intense juxtapositions, contrasting layers and rich architectural diversity. The city’s creativity, like beautiful silk contrasted against a backdrop of hard-core metal, dynamically enhances the inspiration behind the collection,” says Crawford.

Crawford’s launch collaboration with Slow Luxury built upon Slow Luxury’s work creating brand experiences which seek to establish ” A New Standard for Sustainable Luxury.”  Iona Crawford’s sustainable luxury practices, fabrics, and designs align with Slow Luxury’s “The Ten Commitments”  and mission to “design goods and experiences, where the highest design and quality meet excellent social, economic and environmental attainments.” www.slow-luxury.com

“Beauty and The Beasts is designed to be a rich unfolding and sharing of the artists’ experience,” notes Jade Dressler, co-founder of Slow Luxury.

“The collaborative story offers multiple entry points – sculptures on the land, art, films, music, performances, e-commerce, in-depth stories on custom fabrics and even T-shirts!,” adds co-founder Fiona Fraser.

Additional artist collaborations on the Beauty and The Beasts project include a film “Climb” by the BAFTA-winning MP Productions, featuring the song “Kids” as sung by Hannah Read; exclusive commissioned Kelpies madras lace by MYB Textiles; Bryant Park performance production by re:artiste and Shavonce Armstrong; photography by Alvaro Montagna of Small Earth Group; shoes from Capezio; chocolates from The Highland Chocolatier; fragrance from AromaM; hair by Smith-Grieve and makeup from Don Rokicki.

For this collaboration, ten percent of the sale price of the Iona Crawford ‘Brodie’ pillow, available in the Slow Luxury Co*Lab shop will be donated to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Donations of fabric and ribbons from the Bryant Park performance will be made to Materials for the Arts, ‘New York’s premier reuse center, providing a way for companies and individuals to donated un-used intact supplies to thousands of non-profit organizations with arts programming and public schools.’

@ionacrawfordart       #KelpiesBeauty        @slowluxury

For appointments, information and images please contact:

Jade Dressler, 917.991.8140, jade@jadedressler.com