Guggi suffers for his art as toast of toff London
His lifelong friend Bono possibly never got the memo (does he ever?). Guggi launched his new sculpture last Wednesday night in London by saying that he always felt he should be “like a small Victorian child — seen but not heard”.
Guggi was both seen and heard by a royal-adjacent beau monde in London’s Embassy Gardens and, of course, by his other great pal John Rocha. The Irish fashion designer flew over from Dublin to attend the event which saw Irish developer Sean Mulryan unveil Ballymore’s latest development in West London.
Channelling his inner small Victorian child, Guggi went on to give a beautiful speech about his dramatic new work, entitled Rice Bowl. About the fragility of life and all that.
Indeed, when I talked to Guggi the next morning, he said he was “feeling very fragile” after enjoying himself a little too enthusiastically at the party. “You only live once,” he said. In fairness to Guggi’s liver, this wasn’t just any soiree either. He was the toast of toff London.
French actress and model Josephine de La Baume was DJ on the night, while Robin Gill magicked up the canapes: venison tartare served with Perigord truffle, secret smokehouse salmon with Cornish caviar and wild mushroom. The Irish chef is soon opening the doors to Darby’s, a new restaurant for Embassy Gardens.
The very swish event, hosted by Ballymore and Harper’s Bazaar, attracted over 200 guests, including the late Princess Diana’s niece Lady Kitty Spencer, Viscountess Weymouth, Jodie Kidd and British fashion designer Alice Temperley. Prince Harry’s good pal Natalie Pinkham and actress Naomie Harris (plus Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts and designer Anya Hindmarch) also pitched up to enjoy a glass of Malherbe Champagne and take in the wonder of the Irish artist’s latest creation.
It says something about Anglo-Irish relations that a lot of posh, rich, pretty aristos (chief among them Prince William and Prince Harry’s first cousin, the aforementioned Lady Kitty Spencer) from the castles in the shires are swooning over the work... of a long-haired working-class Ballymun yahoo who used to ride a horse down the street he grew up on with Bono and Gavin Friday, Cedarwood Road.
Maybe ask Bono to explain. He put the image of the horseback Buddha of Ballymun in U2’s latest tour.
The Buddha of Ballymore himself, Sean Mulryan, said on the night: “I have a long-standing admiration for Guggi’s work and we are delighted that his creativity is now built into the fabric of Embassy Gardens, building yet further on our commitment to arts and culture.”