This Easter, we remember the night of Truman Capote's Masked Black & White Ball, with this stunning photograph of ingénue actress Candice Bergen, Loved by Dazed & Confused Art Director Jenny Campbell-Colquhoun...
In June 1966, Truman Capote was riding the crest of a wave of fame and renown, having completed his masterpiece, In Cold Blood – dubbed the original non-fiction novel. Casting around for the best way to mark this extraordinary point in his career, a moment when his star was burning brighter than any other writer in the literary firmament, Capote settled on holding a masked ball at the Plaza Hotel, New York, for 500 of his friends; friends who just happened to include Hollywood superstars, millionaires, royalty, models, socialites, doyens of the press, Capote’s own doorman and three president’s daughters. This was the night of the Masked Black & White Ball; a party so iconic that in sculpting the guest-list, it is said Capote made 500 friends and 15,000 enemies. And it is this night that we remember in the latest winning post on the AnOther Loves stream, with this stunning photograph of ingénue actress Candice Bergen, bunny mask in hand, taken by Elliott Erwitt, and Loved by Dazed & Confused Art Director Jenny Campbell-Colquhoun.
"This was the night of the Masked Black & White Ball; a party so iconic that in sculpting the guest-list it is said Capote made 500 friends and 15,000 enemies."
In sleek black, with an effortless coiffure and snowy mask in hand, Bergen is a superlatively sophisticated take on the Easter Bunny, whose rather chubbier, gaudier cousin is currently laying out chocolate eggs in gardens across the world. Indeed, the effect of dressing up as a bunny is customarily either sugary kitsch – see the long shadow cast by the Playboy bunny; comedy, as per the eponymous star of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?; or sinister, in the silvery lapine figure of Frank who stalks his way through Donnie Darko. But recently, catwalks have been taking a line from Bergen’s easy chic in 1966, with Louis Vuitton and Maison Martin Margiela featuring respectively twisted satin and delicate lace versions of rabbit ears on their A/W09 catwalks.
So, as Easter dawns, and we don our ears in tribute, here we speak to Campbell-Colquhoun about her best party, her mask of choice and her sunny hopes for Spring.
Why did you Love this picture?
I thought it was a nice nod to Easter. And she looks beautiful.
What would you wear if attending Capote's Black and White Ball, and what would be your mask of choice?
A bikini and a balaclava, a la Spring Breakers.
Out of the guests, who would you like to have on your table?
Harper Lee, Richard Avedon, Marlene Dietrich, Horst P Horst, Christopher Isherwood, Philip Roth, Diana Vreeland, Cecil Beaton and Candice of course.
What's the best party you've ever been to?
My wedding obviously.
Easter Bunny or Playboy Bunny?
Some kind of hybrid.
What was the last thing you bought?
Tickets to tour the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. If you'd asked me yesterday it might have been something cooler.
What are you looking forward to about April?
Some sun perhaps. Not too much to ask, Mr Weather Man?
Text by Tish Wrigley
