RP Report: What is your favorite current trend in our industry?
Taryn Cotos: I love use of rich color that I am seeing lately. Trends in events, while highly important, aren’t the only thing that our department has to consider when planning the events for a new collection. We are given a story that needs to be recreated or told to our consumer. This story is inspired by the color palette of the collection. MAC events are known for their bold use of color as a result. It is always nice when what we do happens to coincide with trends that I see happening in other parts of the market. In other areas of the event industry, especially in personal events, I have been noticing a great deal of colorful hand blown glass... for chargers, plates, vases, wine glasses. I love that. Such a huge fan of glass blowing as an art form, and seeing it used in different capacities is really interesting. The best part about it is that each piece is unique. Not one piece is exactly the same as another one. That makes for an interesting tablescape! Oh… and can’t forget to ride on the LED lighting wave. Let’s try to keep it as eco friendly as possible people!
RP Report: What trend do you wish would go away?
Taryn Cotos: Sorry to be so basic, but this is an easy one with very set answers. I am so tired of the overuse of pastels, and poofy or large volume fabrics for draping. With so many cool options out there, like all of these new microfiber fabrics that light so beautifully and look so sleek, I don’t get it. I mean, I understand soft, romantic environments, but not every event environment calls for that backdrop. There are options now. Options that allow for a modern look.
RP Report: What do you think will be the next ‘big thing’ in special events (does not need to be in your area of the event industry, but can be)?
Taryn Cotos: I think that we are going to see a lot more industry events moving into cultural spaces and actually using the already created environment as the backdrop. By cultural spaces, I not only mean museums, but historic spaces as well. I don’t know if this will be the next ‘big thing’, but I am already seeing a lot of infusion and fusion of other cultures into launches and branding events. This seems right, and is a viewpoint that MAC has totally gotten on board with ages ago. Global marketplace. There are lots of different consumers to cater to. Not to mention the beauty that it adds. Seeing and celebrating the beauty in differences. I really think that event planners have caught onto this idea.
RP Report: What is your favorite event that you have ever worked on, and why?
Taryn Cotos: My favorite event that I have ever worked on was the “Barbie Loves MAC” collection event at Henri Bendel. What a fabulous time that was! I worked on that event from the initial planning stages all the way through the final execution… and I loved every minute of it. At MAC, we not only use environment to tell out story, but models as well. They are a really important part of the event, since they are needed to build the characters and showcase the actual product. For this event, we had turned our models into Barbie dolls for two straight weeks! There was a life sized Barbie ‘boudoir’ built inside of a Barbie house to serve as the event backdrop. And our models, or Barbies, lived and primped inside of this space. There was an insane display of antique collectible Barbie dolls that we showcased. Believe it or not, they had an actual stylist on site to handle these dolls! The Barbie designers were showcasing how they paint the faces in the Bendel windows. There were gorgeous men who were topless and wrapped in black Barbie towels serving prosecco to our guests. The entire event was so much fun and really very memorable for me.
RP Report: In the spirit of community, if you had to recommend one vendor or venue who you think does fabulous work, who would that vendor/venue be, and why?
Taryn Cotos: Tom Carroll Studios in Jersey City. They are a theatrical set production company. They can do ANYTHING: from basic set production, to painting large murals, to making dragons! They worked with us for one season and now they are one of our top vendors! I have turned them into MAC world over there! There space is always filled with items that they are producing for our large scale industry events. They are highly recommended for all jobs. I am also a HUGE fan of MBC Printing and Red Visuals. They are the absolute best!
Thanks so much to Taryn Cotos at MAC Cosmetics! —Anjali Ramasunder
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