With a second issue of his new magazine fresh off the press, it was time for Simon B. Mørch to enjoy a change of scenery. The London-based creative at the helm of the interiors publication Scenery has a knack for finding lesser-known spaces seeped in substance and style, and bringing them to audiences in a compellingly beautiful and transportive way. So, to celebrate issue number two, Mørch invited readers to, literally, step right into the pages. Specifically, by joining him for a cocktail party in New York City at the home and studio of Peter Schlesinger, whose personal photography punctuates the latest edition.
It happened to be the first time that Schlesinger has hosted a fête of that kind at his apartment, which occupies a large part of a former girdle factory in Flatiron. Though, given the types of friends and lovers documented in his albums and now preserved in the pages of Scenery—Eric Boman, David Hockney, Grace Coddington, Andy Warhol, Manolo Blahnik, Paloma Picasso, Ossie Clarke, and Amanda Lear, to name a few—one can imagine that those walls have a story or two of their own.
For Scenery’s inaugural meeting of the minds in New York, Mørch was inspired by the questions that are consuming all print editors right now: how can a magazine be more than just a magazine? How can a publication galvanize like-minded people to come together? Well, for an interiors publication that delves deeper than the staged vignettes we’ve become used to seeing digitally and thus give readers a more intimate look, the answer was to follow a time-honored format: get some people together with along with their co-hosts, interior design firm Nicky Kehoe, pop the Champagne, arrange the crudités, and let the rest unfold.
If Scenery whetted art lovers’ appetite by sharing some three decades of Schlesigner’s Pentax photographs taken around the world from the late 1960s through the ‘90s, then the rare chance to peek behind the curtain of his home and workspace was the cherry on top. Guests roamed around the floorplan, peeked into the ceramics studio, and peered through bookshelves and stacks of records, marveling at the personal collection of paintings by Hockney’s former romantic partner and muse—and even shaking the hand of the artist himself, who was happily holding court for the evening.
Capturing the action and personal style in the room, in all its editorial-worthy glory, Lee Mary Manning had their film camera in hand. Decor editors hovered by a cracked slab of dark chocolate discussing new openings of note, model couple Mikkel Jensen and Maya Stepper reclined on a sofa surrounded by Schlesinger’s ceramics looking like they could be taking part in a campaign or shoot, while elsewhere around the room, designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, art advisor Sharon Coplan, artist Chloe Wise, fashion editor Phyllis Posnick, and photographer Diego Villarreal Vagujhelyi caught up with peers over charcuterie and Hennessy cocktails.
In the final pages of issue number two, legendary Englishman Nicky Haslam, a doyen of the interiors world, shares his ultimate party etiquette, honed over a lifetime of attending the most fabulous parties ever thrown discreetly behind closed doors. He instructs: “Don’t get drunk. Don’t embarrass yourself. Don’t eat too much. (Or at least don’t be seen to eat too much.) Wear your most flattering clothes. Look wonderful.”
Thankfully, attendees on the night seemed to have got the memo ahead of time.