Daily Front Row

2010 March 5

Keeping the Peace

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Claire Danes, Dana Arbib, Farah Malik, and Matin Maulawizada
James Goldcrown View Gallery

(NEW YORK) “It’s like an amuse-bouche!” one guest exclaimed of the little white boxes tied with a bow on every guest’s plate at the Jane Hotel’s Café Gitane last night. An intimate group of chicsters led by host Claire Danes had gathered at the restaurant for a dinner in honor of A Peace Treaty, and while the boxes contained treats of the non-edible variety, guests seemed plenty happy with their hand-printed APT scarves. The actual amuse-bouche—er, first course—was a spread of treats from avocado toast to spicy orange and olive salad that guests tucked into while chatting about APT’s latest collection.

A bit of background on the line: A Peace Treaty was founded by Farah Malik, a Pakistani Muslim, and Dana Arbib, a Libyan Jew, and each season the duo travels to a region of the world facing socio-political conflict to find more than just their inspiration. Their new collection, Sozan Doz, was done in partnership with the organization Afghan Hands, with each scarf hand-embroidered by a widow in Afghanistan using traditional embroidery skills. “It wasn’t easy, because infrastructurally, Afghanistan is harder even than Iraq to work in,” said Malik. “We had to airlift fabric in. The whole project took three or four times longer than any of the other projects we’ve done. It was a total labor of love.”

Representing Afghan Hands at the dinner was Matin Maulawizada, who not-so-coincidentally moonlights as a makeup artist for starlets like Danes. “I’ve been friends with Matin for a long time,” the actress explained. “He’s done my makeup for years!” But Danes' presence at Café Gitane was owed to more than just a face of maquillage and a delicious dinner of grilled eggplant. “Whenever I buy a present for anybody, it’s always an Afghan handmade scarf,” she said, admitting that she herself has a "vast" collection. “They appease my more superficial self--and my higher, more altruistic self.”
EMILY GYBEN