Photographs of Couture Circle’s recent personal party at Tiffany & Co. by Kerrenton Snow, courtesy of Couture Circle.
Non-public shopping previously appears to be ultra-distinctive. But the barrage of Instagram posts from the latest event for Couture Circle—a new invite-only group for fashion-loving minds—reads straight out of the Sweet Dwelling Alabama proposal scene.
Not pursuing? A brief refresh circa 2002: in the rom-com, Patrick Dempsey (a.k.a. McDreamy) whisks Reese Witherspoon to Tiffany’s right after-hours, where a dozen staff members stand by as he pops the problem. And then, gesturing all-around to all of the engagement rings, he invites her to “pick just one.”
Couture Circle’s personal celebration at Tiffany & Co. at CityCenterDC on Sunday, July 10 seemed a little like that–minus the engagement ring (as far as we know). Aptly dubbed “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” the intimate collecting invited members to sip Champagne as they perused jewelry equally new and vintage. Guests photographed on their own donning jewellery from a non-public collection—reportedly worn by these kinds of stars as Jennifer Lopez—before leaving with Tiffany-branded goodie baggage.
But the function alone, when exclusive, was not new for the exclusive team. Just before Breakfast at Tiffany’s, there was a private browsing knowledge at the Sophie Blake boutique in Fairfax. And before that, the group’s to start with formal occasion in May possibly: a welcome reception of gentle bites and bubbles at The Ritz in Tysons Galleria, adopted by a non-public shopping practical experience and dessert at Gucci, in which users were gifted personalized-engraved bottles of Gucci’s Bloom fragrance.
Other benefits from the group’s youthful existence: special entry to the Louis Vuitton X Nike Air Force 1 show by Virgil Abloh in New York. On the horizon: “a pampering session” for customers with the Virginia Institute, a skincare boutique and center for facial plastic surgery and aesthetics.
But it’s not all designer procuring, Couture Circle’s executive director Baille Benemelis, will have you know. Benemelis is nicely connected in the vogue and artwork earth as the regional director of the Trend Group International of Higher Washington, DC and a profession marketing and advertising qualified. The club concept, she states, actually began back again in 2018 as a fundraiser for the Rodarte exhibit at the National Museum of Gals in the Arts (NMWA), for which Couture Circle, now a nonprofit group, serves as “a very pleased benefactor.”
Couture Circle contains 19 users, and counting—although membership will be capped at 25 to start off. In the mix are stylists, trend bloggers (DC Manner Fool Barnette Holston, for 1) marketing and advertising and PR experts, an interior designer, a skin doctor (Dr. Tina Alster), a photographer, a jewelry designer (ahem, Sophie Blake), a retired U.S. Navy Captain, Mrs. DC The us 2021 (Anchyi Wei), a VP of federal federal government relations, and a lot more. What do they have in typical? An affinity, states Benemelis, for style and art.
Paid out once-a-year membership dues are only disclosed to “prospects,” according to Benemelis, with ten per cent of the elusive price going to the NWMA. In return, Couture Circle members are promised access to a wide range of special activities, as perfectly as other luncheons and receptions hosted by luxury manufacturers, personal museum tours, sneak-peeks at new designer collections, and designer satisfy-and-greets—plus discount rates and gives on goods and services from regional firms, and much more.
Intrigued folks can sign up for the waitlist at the Couture Circle website, but to obtain entry, you have received to have an in—members will have to be referred by present-day associates. Usually, you can preserve observing the rom-com variations with the rest of us.
Editor, Washingtonian Weddings
Amy leads Washingtonian Weddings and writes Style Setters for Washingtonian. Prior to signing up for Washingtonian in March 2016, she was the editor of Capitol File magazine in DC and prior to that, editor of What’s Up? Weddings in Annapolis.