Have you heard? RUSSH turns 20 this year. That's two decades of independent publishing and a whole lot of people we have told stories with. It’s a milestone we plan to celebrate over the year with our entire community and so to begin, on Wednesday, 20 March, we stopped the presses for one night to share an intimate moment with some of our purists – models, artists, actors and image makers – to say thank you.
Call it auspicious timing – we certainly will – our celebration fell on the autumn equinox, a celestial event where night and day are of equal length, a moment of true harmony, and excellent for manifestations. Artists Vicki Lee and Ted O’Donnell, founder of Doing the Things, were generous hosts, opening their gallery space in Potts Point to our stable of creative minds as they did back in 2019 at their Surry Hills gallery, where we marked our 15th anniversary with an exhibition.
Like RUSSH, Lee and O'Donnell dreamt up their spaces as a meeting point for like-minded artists. That vision was realised as Nyaluak Leth, Catherine Clayton Smith, Milan Ring, Mikka Byarugaba, Helena Vestergaard, Dr Lisa Cooper, Anna-Willi Highfield, Tanya Linney, Jack Ladder and Coen Young, to mention a few, crossed the gallery's threshold via the night's black carpet.
Adhering to the purist tone for the evening the concrete walls were stripped bare. With not a magazine in sight, not even a single motif, the eye was drawn only to caterer Judith Leclerc’s never-ending tower of oysters, butter sculptures, squares of rye and crudités served on austere silver trays. To wash it down? Roving trays of RIEDEL O Series topped with G.H. Mumm champagne or Grey Goose martinis (clean with one olive), while StrangeLove Yuzu Soda and Water presented itself in the moments we needed to steady ourselves.
A performance came in the form of a soulful Phoebe Go wearing CHANEL and beyond this, it was a night for dancing with DJ Reenie serving everything from Dolly Parton's Jolene to Cornershop's Brimful Of Asha. Sad Girls Sex Club and RUSSH Music Editor Alys Hale curated the sound for the night in a backless Ann Demeulemeester gown.
We can always count on our creative minds to dial up the style, and they didn't disappoint. Odell Munn wore Bottega Veneta, Serena Wardell, Hermès, and Liv Parsons, Gucci.
But why not take a look for yourself? Experience the evening with a selection of photographs captured on the night by Myles Kalus and our very own Olivia Repaci, below. We look forward to blowing out our candles this year alongside more of our community, with more celebrations planned as we approach our special anniversary issue launching in November 2024.
