Summer Gallery Party at Cadogan Contemporary
On 8th September 2015
Summer over, children back at school, check. Time for some ’me time’. Actually time for some ‘us time’, as socializing is one of my favourite ‘me time’ activities, especially with all the wonderful new friends I’ve met through Rendezvous.
I arrived at Cadogan Contemporary’s gorgeous South Kensington space in time to have a chat with lovely Christopher who owns the Gallery – he is married but I persuaded him to stay on to meet some of our art loving singles. Beautiful, unflappable Lucasta runs the gallery and I told her to expect to be asked on a few dates, which, of course, she took in her elegant stride.
My adorable and very talented artist friend Richard Adams, who introduced me to the gallery, was also there. He’s been showing his work with the gallery for over 5 years. I managed a quick flirt, but only got a half hug before he was whisked off to talk art business with Christopher!
There was a worrying moment when it seemed the wine had not been delivered, but we soon tracked it down to Christie’s security guard next door. So, canapes looking great, Prosecco chilling, bar staff looking hot and efficient (a great combination!); all good. Now for the guest list!
I had been fending off calls all day – tickets had sold out on Friday – 5 days before the event. This was our most popular party ever, which shows what a cultured bunch of Art Lovers we all are. It was a warm September night and our guests were looking amazing. As I looked around the room at our sun-kissed ladies I felt I had never seen such a polished looking group. Beautiful clothes, nails and perfect blow dries. Good going girls.
The idea was to have the bar down stairs and for the waiting staff to bring drinks upstairs to the main room – but the thirsty/naughty crowd (including me, of course) ended up downstairs next to the bar. Well you can’t blame us for wanting to conserve the waiters’ energy – we are a very green bunch of sophisticates.
What a buzz of a party! 90% of the group came with a friend they weren’t dating, so we had a very balanced mix. And mixing was the name of the game. Everyone mixed, everyone mingled, some enjoyed the art, some found it useful to lean on – whoops, not a word to Christopher! Come 9.30 we said goodbye to the last guests, while our staff cleared everything away, leaving everything all neat and tidy to make sure Lucasta might let us come back again.
And with the night not over yet a happy, tipsy after-party crowd cloven-hoofed it to our friends Goat Chelsea, who let us take over the Chelsea Prayer Room – a cute little member’s club style enclave. We snacked on pizzas and drank champagne and generally misbehaved (charmingly, of course). There was quite a lot of hugging going on (more hugs than I got out of Richard Adams, just saying…) by the time I decided not to risk turning into a pumpkin (kills a good outfit) and left a really fun and happy crowd to party on past the witching hour. I did mention the art, didn’t I? It was wonderful. Roll on our next Gallery Party on January 12th.
