Sotheby’s Magazine returns with Kristina O’Neill at the helm.
In celebration of the occasion, the fine arts company partnered with Neiman Marcus for an exhibit at Sotheby’s gallery and a dinner just steps away at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills.
“Neiman’s is one of the brands that we were speaking to when we were in the run-up to the relaunch,” said O’Neill, head of media for Sotheby’s and formerly the editor in chief of WSJ Magazine.
“The idea behind the media division is obviously not just based around advertising but thinking about all the extensions off of a magazine, so whether it’s digital, newsletters, social, the print piece,” she went on. “And an event is the experiential component.”
Fittingly Neiman Marcus is celebrating 30 years of The Art of Fashion, its initiative to champion style with an artful touch. Photographer Tyler Mitchell was commissioned for the retailer’s fall campaign, showcasing “Extraordinary Pursuits,” a collection of imagery and a short film. Mitchell’s work was on display at Sotheby’s for the evening, though he was MIA.
“We were looking for someone who we think that in five, 10 years, 15 years from now, we’re going to look back as an imagemaker who has contributed to visual culture in a significant way,” Nabil Aliffi, chief brand officer of Neiman Marcus, said of Mitchell.
The Art of Fashion gives creatives free rein to work on their dream project, Aliffi explained: “The first one was in 1994 with Richard Avedon. And then swiftly after the collaboration was with Herman Newton.…As we thought about how we want to show up in L.A., which is one of our core markets, we thought about collaborating with Sotheby’s because we have shared values. If you think about what Sotheby’s stands for, what Neiman Marcus stands for, we have stood for dream making, excellence in artistry for many, many years. And I think a measure of that is the legacies of the two brands.”
The night brought out artists, designers and friends of O’Neill’s, including Alex Israel; Dôen’s Margaret and Katherine Kleveland; The Elder Statesman’s Greg Chait with fiancé Grace Morton; Jennifer Meyer with fiancé Geoffrey Ogunlesi; Jamie and Nico Mizrahi; Brigette Romanek; Michael S. Smith; Bobby Kotick; James Costos; Rachel Zoe; Kelly Sawyer Patricof; China Chow, daughter of owner Michael Chow, and the man of the hour, artist and filmmaker Titus Kaphar — cover star of Sotheby’s first issue.
“Sotheby’s sort of represents a really interesting kind of position in the market,” said O’Neill, when asked her vision for the publication, which will be released bimonthly. “Obliviously, it’s an internationally known brand. It’s 280 years old. It’s very entrepreneurial. And the opportunity that was sort of presented to me to create a media moment within this storied institution and use the power of our expertise and our global footprint, and really thinking about how luxury has evolved, how media has evolved — the proposition of coming in and telling those stories — was just really exciting.”
The magazine, which was previously centered on Sotheby’s auction content, expands to explore culture as its tied to the art world. With O’Neill’s appointment, the magazine has seen “a remarkable increase in advertisers,” notes the company, including Bottega Veneta, Cartier, Chanel and Estée Lauder.
For O’Neill, there’s also excitement in working with a blank slate, she added: “I like telling stories. I like journalism, working with incredible writers and brilliant photographers and meshing those relationships. We’re sitting on so much rich content, and we’re creating ways to bring that out into the world.”
