Storied luxury label Akris is celebrating its 100th anniversary in fashion this year, a tremendous milestone in the fashion industry, and for this special occasion, they brought the party to Palm Beach.

CEO Melissa Beste and PALMER’s Editorial Director Stefano Tonchi invited 100 guests to celebrate by hosting a fashion show and reception in the enchanting sculpture garden of The Norton Museum of Art. Akris showed off its Spring 2023 collection on the runway, giving guests a special preview before the clothes are available to shop in the Worth Avenue boutique. The collection—last seen during Paris Fashion Week against a backdrop featuring one Ugo Rondinone‘s rainbow sculptures—was all about what creative director Albert Kriemler dubbed “timeless modernity.” Rondinone’s work inspired the suite of chiffon dresses at the finale, each in a shade of his rainbow, as did the Akris archive, from which Kriemler pulled nine pieces to rework. As for the multicolored hearts seen in the collection and at the Norton, the pattern was the first made for Akris in the ’80s by Gianpaolo Ghioldi, a company which previously only worked for couture houses.

After the dazzling show, guests were invited on a private tour of “A Personal View on High Fashion & Street Style: Photographs from the Nicola Erni Collection, 1930s to Now” including works by Richard Avedon, Arthur Elgort, Horst P. Horst, Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Cindy Sherman, Albert Watson, and Esther Haase, on exhibit until February 12th.

Stefano Tonchi and Melissa Beste
Stefano Tonchi and Lorna James, wife of West Palm Beach mayor Keith James
Merrilyn Reckes and Hanan Besovic
Ellen Cunningham and Erin Cunningham
Lauren Day Roberts and Renee Steinberg
Sharon Milchovich, Gregg Bletesky and Lesa Joos
Joanna Davila and Dana Cohen
Melissa Psitos and Nolan Greenwald
Susan and Stu Bell
Alex Hamer and Hannah Selleck
Campion and Tatiana Platt
Nicole Atkins and Bettina Anderson
Patty Sacks and Beth Wilf
Mo Kanafain and Marley Kaplan
Eleanora Kennedy
Kevin Kendrich and Heather Munchin
Jean Shafiroff
Mary Dawkins and Grace Bender
Eda and Eric Viner
Pamela Taylor Yates, Tom Shafer, Cindy Rinfret and Shelly Tretter Lynch
Katherine Lande, Taylor Materio and Sarah Cooke
Sally Roosevelt and Martha Lamphere
Chrissy and Gene Pressman
Andrienne and Gigi Vittadini and Daisy Soros
Bettina Anderson and Yaz Hernandez
Kyle de Woody and Beth de Woody