With Polaroid Cameras and a Cocktail Party, Chanel Immortalized the Launch of its Premiere Original Edition Watch 

Last night on the Upper East Side’s 61st Street, gorgeous folks quickly scurried from the black SUVs into the velvet interiors of Casa Cruz to escape fall winds. Clad in Chanel tweeds with quilted lambskins adorned with bright gold double C’s slung across their shoulders, guests took to the enclosed terrace five floors up. There, they’d be met with the beginning of an elegant soiree to not only celebrate Chanel’s launch of the new Premiere Original edition but to honor its new face, Soo Joo Park. 

Soo Joo Park and Chanel’s love affair began nearly a decade ago. At the time, the then platinum blonde-haired model and DJ captivated the house and all of its onlookers with her striking feline features and utter coolness. Chanel’s runways and campaigns became synonymous with Park as her presence seemed not only wanted but expected since then. She even turned last December’s Chanel Metiers d’Art Show into a make-shift concert, walking then serenading guests with an exclusive soundtrack composed for the show. 

“When they first told me that they wanted me to be the face, I was a bit skeptical,” Park tells Vogue, standing near a gorgeous bouquet of white roses—the gold chain band on the watch lightly sparkling off of her wrist. “To tell you honestly, it can be intimidating to be the face of such a recognizable brand as a woman of color. But I love the watch, I love the house, and I’m really honored.” 

The watch is undoubtedly gorgeous. Elegantly black with a dash of sexiness in the light gold chain, a few guests were lucky enough to don it for the evening. Melodie Monrose was one of them, and so was Lauren Santo Domingo. And, if they weren’t wearing it, conversations about it (perhaps laced with a bit of light-hearted envy) were certainly happening over bubbling Champagne during the cocktail hour. But, for Park, the watch is more than just glitz.

“Karl’s legacy certainly lives on in the watch in the way that the watch is both timeless and innovative. But, it’s not just him,” Park says. “It’s Gabrielle from the beginning, Patrice Leguéreau, and Virginie Viard today. The watch is a symbol of everyone who’s taken part in the house.” 

After nearly an hour of mingling and “will you be in Paris this week?” often followed by “Yes, I actually fly tomorrow!” guests descended a mirrored staircase to the dimmed dinner rooms right below. One by one, attendees’ excitement over the polaroid cameras, which sat on their dinner plates; the beginning of dinner looked like fireworks going off in a shoebox. Deon Hinton began the photographic fiasco and often lent help to those around them. Park and Rebecca Dayan did their fair share of immortalizing their setting while DJ Harley Viera Newton powered the energy with her tunes. Some even took their polaroids and captured the plate of caviar set before them, and their tablemates beside them. Because how better to celebrate a new watch and the keeping of time than with a collectsion of your very own photographs? Chanel is nothing but poetic.