By Madeleine Luckel
Tonight, fashion’s finest are gathering in Brooklyn. The occasion is the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards, and the location is none other than the Weylin. The Williamsburg location, which has played host to more than a few beautiful weddings and engagement soirees over the years, is the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank. But no matter how fabulous the party, the building’s painted domed ceiling can’t help but steal the spotlight. Inside tonight, it’s really two celestial domes that fill up the evening sky. One, overlooking the dinning room, is bathed in blue light. The other, watching over cocktail chatter, has all its painted rosettes clearly viewable.
This is the first time that the CVFF’s annual awards dinner is being hosted at the Weylin, but it’s not the only thing that’s being shaken up this evening. Inside the venue, attendees have been seated at long wooden tables, arranged in parallel rows, their rustic material on display thanks to the lack of tablecloths. Garlands of flowers, in dark greens and fall tones of pale orange, spill across each table’s surface. Low candles provide light, with clean white plates and napkins surrounded with simple silverware. All this is the work of Raul Àvila, designer extraordinaire, and the man behind each year’s stunning Met Ball flowers.
Throughout the space, additional greenery has been added. Trees have been brought in just for the night, and urns filled with tall branches of foliage-hued leaves add pops of added color. Boxwood hedges form a wall separating the dinning room from the cocktail space, and elsewhere, an ideal backdrop for tonight’s red carpet.
Beautiful, yes. But the most meaningful aspect of the decor is undoubtedly the event’s green programs, placed on each guest’s seat. “The printed program for the evening includes text from the sonnet on the Statue of Liberty, as this is the 14th CVFF Awards, and there are 14 lines in a sonnet,” explains Eaddy Kiernan, Vogue’s Director of Special Events and the woman responsible for so much of tonight. As Kiernan notes, last year’s CVFF dinner was the night before the 2016 presidential election. Tonight, conveying a sense of inclusion and support is key.