Celebration for Osman Yousefzada’s The Collective

“It was kind of amazing,” whispered Osman Yousefzada the designer behind so many of Emma Watson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Amber Heard’s red-carpet looks over the past few years at Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn’s home and gallery, Salon 94, yesterday. He was talking about the making of the latest edition of The Collective, his biannual, “everything we can’t do in a seven-minute show” arts-fashion journal, which Greenberg Rohatyn, Poppy Delevingne, and Wendy Goodman joined forces to toast last night.

The intimate cocktail hour and relaxed dinner brought together the likes of Alek Wek, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Alexander Gilkes, and more for wine, champagne, and (fast-disappearing) pan-fried dumplings in the gallerist’s home-show space. A key draw? An up-close look at Greenberg Rohatyn’s “major” personal art collection. And of course, the opportunity to scoop up Osman’s new (the fourth) issue, which delved into themes of lightness and darkness through contributions by Sarah Mower (a “fashion-intense Cinderella”), Serpentine curator Hans Ulrich Obrist (an essay on the extinction of writing), Delevingne (as a model and a contributor), and others.

A quick walk around the rooms found the issue to be a hit. “I love the idea,” related a vintage Chloé–clad Misha Nonoo from the bustling kitchen, as Yvonne Force Villareal and Leigh Lezark helped themselves to various salads and brown fried rice. “It sounds very romantic to me the idea of mixing art and fashion and poetry and illustration. I’m a big fan.”

The rest of the crowd seemed to agree. “What an amazing guy,” said Wek. “My mother always told us she had five girls, four boys, nine of us, and she always said, ’You are a woman. Own it. It’s not the makeup that’s put on or the hair. It’s who you are.’ That’s what really carried me throughout life. And Osman really does do that through his amazing clothes, but also his philosophy and his embracing of women and then [the journal], the art part.”

For Delevingne, the chance to collaborate with Osman on the issue was a rare opportunity. “You know, I’ve always wanted to be on the other side of the camera a little bit more,” said the model. “Working with him was just a real eye-opener and terrific fun. “You ask people to create something, and it expands,” concluded Yousefzada. “It just becomes something.”