LONDON — Members club Annabel’s has dressed up its facade for its annual Halloween party, looking to doomed 18th-century French aristocrats for costume inspiration.
A sculpture of a towering stone lady straight from Louis XIV’s court decorated the building’s exterior, creeping roses using her gown as a trestle.
A gilded carriage complete with faux-French royalty was stationed outside to welcome guests, conjuring up the spirit of the night.
Actors greeted guests in a gilded carriage outside of the club.
Courtesy of Dave Benett
Inside, the club’s interior was also transformed, recalling the Palace of Versailles. A ghostly mist crept through the halls, bedecked in gold, mirror and flowers.
White bouffant-wearing guests wearing poofy confectionary concoctions completed the scene. They sipped on Don Julio 1942 cocktails with names like Petit Trianon, Temple de l’Amour and Shadows of Versailles.
Director and artist Frances O’Sullivan, known online as Beauty Spock, at the party.
Courtesy of Dave Benett
Annabel’s is known for frequently donning fabulous facades for celebratory occasions. Last Halloween, the facade took cues from Venetian carnivals with a masked installation with lit up red eyes and a feathered decoration hung above the famous black doors on Berkeley Square.
The club has previously celebrated All Hallows’ Eve with facades titled “Invasion Planet Earth,” “Circus of Horrors” and a “Game of Thrones” iteration based on the George R. R. Martin books.
More recently, Annabel’s showcased Wallace Chan’s work for Frieze, marking the club’s fifth year partnering with an artist during London’s annual art fair. Past artists include Damien Hirst, Joseph Klibansky, Es Devlin and Conrad Shawcross.
Richard Caring and Patricia Caring
Dave Benett
On Sept. 5, in honor of World Amazon Day, the club revealed an Indigenous headdress-inspired arch that paid homage to the Nukini community.
Made in collaboration with The Caring Family Foundation, one of the U.K.’s largest donors to Brazilian reforestation, the Nukini people are one of the communities that has received support from the TCFF.
