Mulberry’s foxy Coachella pool party
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The festival atmosphere of the Coachella festival decamped to the Parker Palm Springs on Saturday, when Mulberry hosted a pool party and barbecue as part of the brand’s 40th anniversary celebration.
The Gene Autry pool was bobbing with overgrown beach balls emblazoned with the fox head-motif from Mulberry’s ‘Fastastic Mr. Fox’-themed fall collection. Not that anyone could think much about fall clothes in the 90-degree weather.
Toadstools, colorful birds and trees from the February runway show surrounded the pool area, and the brand’s ‘VIB’ (Very Important Bayswater -- a huge, gold, mylar inflatable version of the classic design) even made an appearance on the lawn outside.
The waitstaff was kitted out in humorous trompe l’oiel T-shirts printed with beige vests bearing the Mulberry logo -- long sleeve tees at that -- despite weather so hot the stunt birds painstakingly glued to the decorative trees by the Mulberry crew were melting off their branches. Everyone crowded under the shaded pagoda, while DJs Karlsson and Winnberg (of Miike Snow) and Andrew Bevan, Style Features Editor at Teen Vogue, spun old-school tunes by Joni Mitchell and Stevie Nicks.
Nicole Ritchie had been sporting one of Mulberry’s itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny fox-print bikinis earlier in the day, but changed into a breezy Mulberry ‘feathered friends’ print blouse, shorts and wedge sandals for the party.
Other foxy ladies spotted: Alexa Chung, Camilla Belle, Gia Coppola, Harley Viera Newton and Brit pop singer Eliza Doolittle, who had the best Mulberry bag of the day, the Taylor mini satchel in bright cabbage green.
Speaking of brights, Mulberry creative director Emma Hill was rocking the season’s neon trend, wearing bright pink shorts, while her 4-year-old son Hudson Hill looked fetching in colorful Vilebrequin swim trunks, Ray-Bans and a fedora.
Partygoers munched on sliders, fries, tofu kebabs and mini-ice cream cones, and sipped berry mojitos, and reclined on loungers with Mulberry beach towels embroidered with peace signs -- a design that felt appropriate for a festival that at times has felt like a time warp back to the fringetastic ‘70s.
-- Booth Moore and Adam Tschorn
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Photos, from top: Partygoers at the Mulberry pool party; decor at the party included overgrown beach balls, left, plus toadstools and decorative trees, right; a member of the waitstaff, left, and a partygoer, right; Eliza Doolittle, left, and Emma Hill with son Hudson, right. Credit: Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times