Haute Hunt: Sarah Arison

Over the past few years, I have loved seeing the confluence of two of my favorite things- art and fashion.  While fashion houses have been collaborating with artists for decades to create unique and collectable pieces (think of Piet Mondrian for YSL), it is now becoming de rigueur for designers to turn to celebrated artists for inspiration and help in creating their latest collections. Two excellent recent examples are Damien Hirst for Alexander McQueen and Yayoi Kusama for Louis Vuitton.

While a fashion house working with one celebrated artist is impressive, I have never seen anything like what Faberge has done with their recent Big Egg Hunt.  They have collaborated with over 200 celebrated artists, designers, tastemakers and even chefs to create two and a half foot tall eggs that will be hidden throughout the five boroughs of New York City starting April 1st – promoting a city-wide scavenger hunt.  At the end of three weeks, the eggs will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s with proceeds going to the charitable organizations Studio in A School and The Elephant Fund.  With participants including Ralph Lauren, Marc Quinn, Diane von Furstenberg, Zaha Hadid and Bruce Weber, these stunning one-of-a-kind pieces will without a doubt be amazing additions to any collection.  The first Faberge hunt was in London in 2012, and was the world’s largest egg hunt to date.  Two years later, New York is the venue in what will hopefully become an annual Easter tradition, which spans the globe- with a hunt in a different world capital every year.

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the kick-off for the Faberge Big Egg Hunt.  Offering a preview of about a dozen of the eggs in a beautiful downtown loft, this event was in perfect keeping with the brand- chic, beautiful and perfectly curated, with a crowd including art-world royalty, fashion royalty and actual royalty.  With remarks by the most renowned Faberge expert in the world, Geza von Habsburg, it was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the company as well as get a sneak peek of some of the eggs that will be scattered across the boroughs in April.  With original Faberge eggs going for up to 18.5 million dollars these days, the Sotheby’s auction could provide a chance to get an egg for a slightly more accessible price… Or there’s always their beautiful jewelry line sold at their Madison Avenue boutique featuring bejeweled wearable eggs in pendants, earrings, bracelets, cufflinks and rings.