On the eve of summer blockbuster season and the opening of the latest Jurassic Park Installment, word on the street was that springtime box office champion and critical darling Black Panther would emerge victorious with several MTV Movie Awards…the one award show/Hollywood lovefest openly embracing movies as pop culture first and foremost—even if the artistry of the filmmakers and actors happened to be excellent.
Secret Room Events’ MTV 2018 Red Carpet Style Lounge, perhaps appropriately, featured a fleet of sponsors the characters of the marvelous Marvel Comics-inspired movie would have approved. Products showcased were a mix of affordable but technically advanced safety devices by SABRE (sabrered.com), fierce fashion footwear statements by Exotics by Cedrick (exoticsbycedrick.com) and Japanese sports shoe company Ccilu (ccilu.com), coveted genetics kits from platinum sponsor 23andMe (23andme.com), life-affirming fashion from Bubblelingo (bubblelingo.com), modern nutrition marvel NutraMilk for homemade shakes and nut butters (thenutramilk.com), and hair styling tools and products by Copperhed by Hedlux (hedlux.com/copperhed-hair-care-system) that promise hair as shiny as the packaging.
(Copperhed display, top, and Actor James DuMont, bottom)
U.K. company Baroque & Rose (baroqueandrose.co.uk), meanwhile, gave the international K-beauty facemask trend a modern twist with ultra-portable travel kits with beauty formulas and condensed paper masks that expand when you combine them. V.I.P.s, meanwhile, went home with some extra essentials, from adorable socks by Wovenpear (wovenpear.com) to a stack of inspirational magazines and a gift certificate for some swanky dining room furnishings from Canadel (canadel.com).
Other vendors fused practicality, creativity, and safety in an almost “MacGyver”-ish way. The Etsy-crowd pleasing and portable Sizzix Sidekick (http://www.sizzix.com) die cut machine and art supply kit was a popular draw, as was cool 3-D printed chocolates and home accessories by Makelab (makelab.nyc). The “ONE” condom line (globalprotection.com) managed to make the necessary product strangely and appealingly cook with artist-designed collectible tins and packaging. The creators of the outdoor picnic essential Porto Vino Wine Purse (porto-vino.com) returned with a fun nautical canvas bag (in which you could store excellent California wines by Rock Wall Wine Company (rockwallwines.com) non-alcoholic Welch’s sparkling rose, and classic Now & Later candy for the kids.
Though the emphasis of the event was on feature films, there were plenty of people representing from the television world (including Sadie Sink of Netflix’s Stranger Things) and music.
