Even
jaded New Yorkers got a taste of the impossible made real on September
23rd as Hangover actress Heather Graham unveiled the extraordinary Spider
Silk exhibit in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) at an intimate
and private reception honoring Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley, the dreamweavers
behind the one of a kind textile made from the silk of more than a million
spiders.
To imagine a textile woven from the gossamer threads of spiders
has long been the stuff of dreams and fairy tale. Renowned textile artist
Simon Peers and fashion entrepreneur Nicolas Godley have taken the impossible
from the realm of myth and turned it into the warp and weft of a unique
and fabulous cloth to touch and admire. Drawing inspiration from an eccentric
history of attempts to use the silk of spiders in weaving, this unique
textile took almost five years to make, using a painstaking technique
and required teams of collectors, 'silkers,' throwers and weavers to
produce. More than a million Golden Orb spiders from Madagascar were
collected, ―silked (ultra fine, naturally golden-colored silk was
carefully extracted by hand from the female spiders’ spinnerets)
and released. The result was silk untrammelled, untouched and untreated
which then was thrown and mounted on a loom to be woven as pure as the
silk in a web. Imbued with metaphor and poetry, with nightmare and phobia,
with tales and myths that resonate within us all, this spectacular textile
encompasses an extraordinary history, embodying the diverse meanings
and associations that inspire and fire the imagination. Few textiles
can claim such a rich heritage.
Some might have said that The UN and
Presidential gridlock that caused the unexpected Park closing made getting
to the AMNH impossible but dedicated guests made it possible, some walking
10 blocks in 4-inch heels or resorting to the subway in their golden
silky chic-ness. A sparking gold carpet and bubbly Veuve Clicquot welcomed
guests as they entered the Grand Gallery, washed in muted champagne and
gold lights. Donna D’Cruz spun gossamer for guests like Waris Ahluwalia,
Victoria Aitken, Count “Calle” and Countess Natalie von Bismarck,
Phillip Bloch, Geoffrey Bradfield, Coralie Charriol, Alina Cho, Alistair
and Blair Clarke, Colin Cowie, Peter Davis, Lydia Fenet, Lucia Hwong-Gordon,
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Zelda Kaplan, Anisha Lakhani, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps,
vocalist Pamela Luss, Lara Meiland Shaw, Nicole Miller, Mia Morgan, Tinsley
Mortimer, Duncan Quinn, Sessa von Richthofen, Mimi So, Susan Shin, Carlos
Souza, Tracy Stern, Gigi Stone, Antony Todd, Eric Villency, Joel Warren,
Arden Wohl, Daphne Zuniga and more.
