In collaboration with luxury skincare and makeup brand Clé de Peau Beauté, CJ Hendry transformed a corner of Roosevelt Island into a greenhouse filled with a vibrant array of plush flowers. Excited attendees crowded the 120 foot by 40 foot greenhouse on September 12th for the exhibit’s opening night toast. 100,000 fabric flowers could be plucked from the Flower Market, and many in attendance stood out exiting the Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, sporting bags full of the faux floral arrangements.
The Flower Market was a magical conclusion to New York Fashion Week, allowing many to indulge in a hands-on experience after several days of viewing runway fashions from their seats. Guests stuck to an unspoken dress code, decked in floral prints and flouncy dresses as they curated their custom bouquets. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres were offered to deliberating attendees choosing plush flowers meticulously.
Allowing her audience to fully immerse themselves in her work, CJ Hendry broke the boundaries of conventional art spectatorship. A greater appreciation of her work emerged as guests created art within art, choosing from Hendry’s own work to curate the bouquet of flowers they feel best represents their own aesthetics. Groups and individuals made their rounds around the greenhouse countless times, ensuring that the flowers they carried were the best for their collection. Friends could be overheard strategizing each placement of the pieces enclasped in their grasp, for even the position of each plush stem would contribute to creating the perfect arrangement for them. Strangers complimented each other’s bouquets, and happily chatted about why every faux flora selected fits their personal dispositions.
It’s been a labor of love almost two years in the making.
Clé de Peau Beauté spends their newest campaign promoting the “Radiant Lily”, an intelligent flower whose properties have allowed them to thrive in the mountains of Southern France for more than 3,500 years. Hendry took this into account as she crafted the Flower Market, with each of her plush flowers inspired by the botanicals used by the Japanese luxury brand. She felt that Roosevelt Island, nestled in between Brooklyn and Manhattan, served as the perfect background for this experience.
XOXO Fashion Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Ikponmwosa Edorisiagbon spoke with Clé de Peau’s executive vice president for US marketing, Alessio Rossi. Rossi explained how the collaboration came about, saying, “It’s been a labor of love almost two years in the making. We are in the beauty space, and the formulations that we do take a lot of time, a lot of trials, and we use a lot of botanical elements in the formulas. In this case where we are launching the serum, it’s formulated with Lily. We thought this was a nice way to reintroduce the serum to the US audience and create a moment for people to connect and a beautiful night out.”
This collaboration stood out from other beauty brand experiences that ran all through fashion week. The Flower Market invited guests into the world of natural beauty that Clé de Peau Beauté had been working to bottle. The focus was not on promoting a product, rather introducing the wonder derived from the inspiration for the brand’s new line. With the plush flowers selling for five dollars a piece, CJ Hendry gave viewers the chance to create a personal connection with her work. The magic of nature’s lush floral landscape transcends the ephemeral realm with the Flower Market. In the form of handcrafted custom bouquets, Hendry’s art will actually remain with guests forever.
Photographer: Antonio Ajam
XOXO,
Your Fashion Bestie
