In Full Bloom: The Gurus Beauty Awards Turn Manhattan Into a Garden
The second annual awards, co-hosted by Hilaria Baldwin and Derek Warburton at Docks Off Fifth, brought floral spectacle and a cross-section of the beauty industry together for an evening of honors.
The flowers arrived before the guests did. A wall-to-wall floral installation cascaded down the grand staircase at Docks Off Fifth, and inside, lifelike floral trees rose toward the ceiling, turning a Manhattan event space into something closer to a conservatory. It was a considerable commitment to a theme, and it established the register for the second annual Gurus Beauty Awards before a single award had been announced.
The evening was co-hosted by wellness expert Hilaria Baldwin and Derek Warburton, Publisher, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Gurus Magazine, and structured around recognition of innovation, artistry and leadership across the beauty and wellness industries. Now in its second year, the ceremony has assembled a constituency that spans beauty brands, entertainment, fashion and wellness, which made the botanical staging a shrewd choice. A garden is a place where different things grow next to one another.
That design logic ran through the venue. Guests gathered for photographs and interviews at the signature Gurus floral wall and an orange and fuchsia step-and-repeat, a color pairing with enough voltage to hold its own against the greenery. Tables carried rose-shaped floral napkins, gentlemen received custom Gurus logo pocket squares, and a dedicated garden room gave award recipients a setting for professional portraits after the ceremony, the sort of thoughtful provision that suggests the organizers understand how these evenings actually work.
The food matched the ambition of the room. Appetizers waited at the tables on arrival, including shrimp tempura, salmon sliders, sushi, and a watermelon, feta and arugula salad. Dinner was served family-style, with chicken parmesan over linguini, racks of lamb, and glazed salmon with rice and asparagus. Dessert arrived on a golden carousel, an assortment presented with as much theater as flavor.
Baldwin and Warburton opened the awards presentation, and the roster of presenters reflected the event’s reach beyond the beauty press. Kara Francis, the relationship expert, and Lauren Falcione, founder of The Blonde Italian, presented Best in Skin to Sunrider International for Oi-Lin Deep Moisture Lotion, accepted by Michele Hojsack, Senior Manager of Training and Development. Fashion designer Nicole Miller presented Best Beauty Accessories to Blissy, with celebrity makeup artist and beauty influencer Vjosa Pacuku accepting on the brand’s behalf.
Candace Bushnell, author and creator of Sex and the City, presented Celebrity Hairstylist of the Year to Eliut Rivera, founder of ELIUT Salon. Sutton Stracke of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills presented the Legacy Beauty Brand award to FACE Stockholm, accepted by CEO and Co-Founder Martina Arfwidson. Margaret Josephs of The Real Housewives of New Jersey presented Best in Hair Care to British M Matcha Shampoo, with Robyn Newmark, Hollywood Beauty Guru and Editor-in-Chief of Beauty Guru Magazine, accepting for the brand.
The room drew from a similarly wide field. Among the guests were fertility specialist Dr. David Smotrich of La Jolla IVF with his wife, socialite Miriam Smotrich; designer Yigal Azrouël; fashion expert and television personality Nolé Marin; Stephanie Winston Wolkoff and David Wolkoff of ZTA Entertainment; and Carmen Baldwin, daughter of the evening’s co-host. Members of the cast of The Trouble with Billy attended, including William McNamara, Claudia Charriez and Randall Batinkoff, who came with his wife, Hilary Batinkoff, alongside actor Nick Barrotta, Bill Wiedemann of Lumara Systems, and Vanessa Coppes, CEO of Bella Media.
Behind the production were Anna Rothschild PR and IE Group Co-Founder Jeff Krauss, with the floral installations by William Safkow of William NYC Flowers and hospitality handled by the team at Docks Off Fifth. The Gurus Media team, including Robyn Newmark, Ashley Foster-Kane, Marisa Hebert, Laura Pucker, Jennie Salmorin and Faye Molina, carried the evening’s countless details.
Beauty awards can easily become a procession of logos accepting trophies. What kept this one in balance was the mix on stage: a novelist handing a prize to a hairstylist, a fashion designer honoring a pillowcase brand, a Swedish company collecting recognition for longevity. The garden held them all.
