Martina Mondadori Toasts Cabana Pop-up at 5 Hertford Street in London
THE INSIDE STORY: “I like to work on the bones of the place,” said Cabana’s Martina Mondadori of her approach to dressing interiors. “This is a town house so I wanted it to feel a bit homey.”
Mondadori has taken over a three-floor space in London’s Burlington Arcade for a pre-Christmas pop-up shop, filling it with a unique patchwork of colored, patterned tableware, textiles — and even bags and jewelry — inspired by Persia, Spain, Austria, Italy and the Middle East.
The shop is also stocking Cabana x Aerin, a collection of Murano glassware and linens adorned with delicate Austrian dirndl and folk patterns. The tableware is on show alongside the 16th-century colored tiles from Seville, Spain and red wallpaper with a pattern drawn from a Persian rug.
The 560-square-foot shop, which will stay open until Dec. 24, is Cabana’s first outlet in London, and Mondadori marked the occasion with a dinner at 5 Hertford Street in Mayfair on Tuesday night, with guests including Lauder, Amanda Brooks, Carolina Irving, Peter Pilotto, Christopher de Vos, Pedro Girao, Karen Groos, Alice Naylor-Leyland and Caro Sieber.
Lauder said her inspiration for the tableware came partly from her teenage years in Vienna soaking up Austria’s culture, history and music when her father Ronald Lauder was U.S. ambassador under Ronald Reagan.
The entrepreneur was on a flash visit to London, having just returned from China where she launched her 20th fragrance in six years for the Aerin beauty and lifestyle brand.
Pilotto and de Vos are still on a high from having designed Princess Eugenie’s wedding dress last month, and their VIP appeal extends way beyond Britain’s royal family.
The duo dressed Beyoncé in a lilac pink suit with red piping for her “Apes–t” music video filmed at the Louvre. The singer wore the outfit again on tour, albeit with a few extra Swarovski crystals on top. They’ve also been outfitting Keira Knightley, Amy Adams and Kylie Minogue for various public appearances.
Pilotto, who grew up in the Austrian Tyrol, has his feet firmly on the ground despite all the glamour: One minute he’s talking Eugenie and Bey, the next he’s extolling the charms of Lauder’s blue cotton napkins which are decorated with whimsical patterns picked out in vertical rows.
“These are just like the aprons on a dirndl,” said the designer whipping a napkin open and spreading it across his lap.
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