Fragrance Foundation Awards Featuring Taylor Swift
The Fragrance Foundation Awards are, simply put, the Academy Awards of the fragrance industry. Each year, the Awards recognize leading perfumers, perfumes and outstanding achievement in the field of fragrance. This year, Fragrance Foundation President Elizabeth Musmanno tapped Empire Entertainment to produce the awards show on June 12, 2013.
The celebration was held at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and was hosted by¨“Saturday Night Live’s” Dana Carvey. The program began with a cocktail reception in the Alice Tully Hall atrium among a gallery of large, printed floral walls that surrounded lounge seating. A press tent outside also displayed a similar floral pattern step & repeat in front of which all of the attending celebrities and presenters were photographed.Following a brief cocktail reception, guests made their way into Alice Tully Hall for the Awards presentation. Carvey kept things moving with his lively humor and fragrance industry material. In his opening monologue, Carvey talked about some of the fragrances that didn't make the cut this year including Governor Chris Christie's Ravenous, Breathalyzer by Reese Witherspoon, Hans & Franz Pump, On the Scent by Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Satan's Scent by The Church Lady. Following remarks by Elizabeth Musmanno and Fragrance Foundation Board Chair Jill Belasco, Carvey began the awards section of the program and presented the first of several categories. Among the highlights of the show was the Fragrance Celebrity of the Year Award presented to Taylor Swift, who wore a stunning white Emilio Pucci gown as she delivered her acceptance remarks. Other presenters that evening included André Leon Talley, Dita von Teese, Connie Britton, Sky Ferreira, Australian twin models Jason & Zac Stenmark, and Public School design duo, Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow. The program also included a live reading of an original work of poetry by Obama Inaugural Poet, Richard Blanco.
In addition to Taylor Swift and a multitude of fragrances, this year’s winners included Allure’s Linda Wells and Perfumer of the Year Lifetime Achievement winner, Alberto Morillas. The after-party was held in the Alice Tully Hall atrium where a lighting change and sleek furniture transformed the room into a luxurious late-night lounge. DJ Donna D'Cruz spun a mix of sexy international songs that perfectly suited the perfumed atmosphere of the evening, as guests drank cocktails and sat outside on lounge furniture in the sunken plaza on Broadway, masked privately by large floral-printed walls. For this production, Empire served as overall producer, coordinating all talent, technical production, stage design, room design (with Buero NY and set designer Philipp Haemmerle), talent, and stage management to ensure an efficient experience.
Empire is a leading producer of events and programs for the luxury brand industry, as well as a leading producer of award shows. Empire congratulates all of the 2013 Fragrance Foundation Award winners.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
