The Salon is in Sessions.
This peeling, crumbling arts scene is peak style.
Happy Friday, as we look ahead to the weekend.
And to put a timely point on my recent column, “How to Make Friends and Influence Others: The Art of the Meal,” we continue here to explore the diplomatic and political importance of the arts salon.
Related: Holy plot twist: Sweet Jesus! and Oh Brother Who Art Thou?
So let’s take a look at an actual modern day arts salon, one rooted in place just like Jackie Kennedy’s White House. A gathering spot for the edgy and influential, and one making an outsized impact on culture and society.
London’s Clerkenwell is an epicenter in English design and media, and a destination on London’s burgeoning restaurant scene too. I made many a visit to this neighborhood in the years leading up to Covid, always popping by Clerkenwell Green to admire- in particular- a very grand and rather mysterious building.
It was once the UK’s largest court house, but what could it be now?
For years, I wondered what was happening inside. And in 2021, I had my answer with the opening of The Sessions Arts Club, which set up shop in what was once the Judge’s Dining Room in the old courthouse.
And now, as Elle’s Naomi Pike described last year, Sessions is “a culinary favorite amongst fashion people, music makers, and theater lovers…and one of the most exciting figures on the food scene.”
While Jackie Kennedy undid the peeling paint and crumbling aesthetic that she inherited in the White House, The Sessions Arts Club instead owns it. Top to bottom, you’ll find a raw, unfinished quality exposed in every square inch.
All the better to use as the backdrop against which to showcase original and exquisite finishes in the form of a revolving installation of works by artists like Melike Kara, Rene Matić, Shaan Syed, and David Noonan, and musical acts such as Gal Go and Constant Smiles.
The crowd is drippy and dressed up. A mix of ages, backgrounds, perspectives, and interests- and as diverse as Jackie’s invitation lists.
Also, each guest is flatteringly lit from above. Via real flames that fire down from lanterns affixed above this airy two-story space, adding even more glimmer to an already magical glitter down below.
Circling back to originality, the cocktail menu branches out. The Strawberry Bellini tastes like something Jackie should have thought of. It’s retro yet modern — fresh, with a twist. And the Tomato Spritz and Pea Gin & Tonic make an exciting, new school English impression.
The menu here is tightly edited, tiny, and thankfully quite far removed from any idea of “fine dining.” The cuisine instead mirrors the place; fancy, festive, fun. The plates are small, works of art in themselves, and each delicious — courtesy of thirty year old head chef Abigail Hill.
Adding to the experience, you might even be able to track down the exhibiting artist whose work you admire over dinner- and buy their piece right off the wall.
Because depending of course on the installation, certain works can be purchased. Making support of the arts a two-way street situation in this particular salon.
Am guessing even Jackie never thought of that.
Artists have the power to shift cultural perspective, and quickly inform and influence the individual and the collective. And creativity can spark dialogue in moments when honest conversations about race, identity, and history are needed most.
Each one of us must decide to turn cultural fluency into our own personal and political currency. Behind our nation’s values and our democracy. Through elegance as advocacy, grace as geopolitics, fashion as foreign policy, inclusion as always impeccable, and refinement as resistance.
A visit to The Sessions Arts Club excites, inspires, and informs behind all above.
What I’m reading this week:
. What’s old is wonderfully new again in The Big Apple, for sure. Claudia Williams nails the resurgence of these treasures in her piece “17 Spots in New York That Feel Untouched by Time: Part 2.” If I had a say, I would absolutely move Keith McNally’s Minetta Tavern out of the Honorable Mention category and into Hall of Fame. But to each their own.Plus another awesome piece from
: “6 Places to Read, Write, & Reflect in New York.” For channeling much needed inner depth and perspective. Timely food for thought.