Comité Colbert has touched down in New York, and celebrated on Tuesday evening with a cocktail party to kick off the opening of an exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. 

Located at The Shed, “Hidden Treasures, 250 Years of Franco-American Luxury Stories” features items from 65 French luxury brands that highlight the centuries-long special relationship between France and the U.S. 

Guests including Pat Cleveland, J.Crew’s Olympia Gayot, Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch, Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Maye Musk, Olivier Bron and Pierre-Yves Roussel gathered on the top floor of The Shed for a glass of Veuve Clicquot, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a chance to walk through the exhibition on its first day. 

“Both excited and exhausted” was how Bénédicte Épinay, president and chief executive officer of Comité Colbert, was feeling. “I’m so proud to be here in New York to host that exhibition we worked on for a year.”

The exhibition contains many high value items, including a pink Givenchy coat worn by U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and a piece by Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé, not to mention jewels and objets from Boucheron, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.

“Everything was difficult,” Épinay said of the process of getting the pieces to New York. “You have all these pieces, to transport them with the insurance, with the security, with the temperature, so many difficulties to solve. Some artifacts need a certain light, some others need humidity, some others no humidity.”

“What strikes me most probably is not really what we’re celebrating tonight. It’s what we’re continuing to build here in the U.S. again, as we have in the past,” said Laurent Bili, the ambassador of France to the U.S., in his opening remarks ahead of the ribbon cutting. “It’s creating a living bridge between heritage and modernity, but as well as between our two nations.” 

He summarized his sentiments for the evening with a message he saw earlier in the evening “on one of the crates in the back.” 

“It said, ‘created in France, loved in America,’” he said. “And I love that a lot.”