The Elephant Family, the charity dedicated to saving some of the most endangered wildlife on the planet, played host at the Animal Ball at Clarence House last month, in the presence of TRH The Prince of Wales & The Duchess of Cornwall with guests including Cara Delevigne, Jerry Hall and Rupert Everett. Guests donned animal kingdom-inspired masks to mark the occasion. In addition to recruiting some of the world’s top milliners, designers and artists like Diane von Furstenberg, Jasper Conran, Manolo Blahnik and Mario Testino to create specially crafted masks, The Elephant Family approached The Backscratchers in an effort to feature some of Britain’s top up-and-coming talent.
Not only were the masks our crew created sported on the night, but they also made their way through London with exhibitions at Sotheby’s and Selfridges and were featured in the likes of the Evening Standard and Daily Mail.
Meet the designers who did us proud here:
Mary Stephenson, a versatile art director known for her nail and installation art, created a beautiful glass and mirror rhino mask.
Milliner Lena Gunnarsson’s design was a powerful yet playful take on the endangered Monarch butterfly. She’s says, “Had it not been for The Backscratchers, I would not have been aware of the possibility to submit a mask for the Animal Ball."
Our third member to take up the challenge was Alice Fayle. Alice is a womenswear and print designer based in London whose work is inspired by British folklore, fairy tales and wildlife. She told us, "I was inspired to create the two badger masks after the recent call to cull badgers in the UK.” Aiming to raise awareness and support in order to help protect them, she said, “badgers are a much-loved symbol of British heritage and an icon of British wildlife - an animal that certainly deserves to be protected.”
The ball has raised over £600,000 for conservation projects across Asia, including a project to secure a habitat corridor in Assam, India - a lifeline for over 1,500 endangered Asian elephants. If you’d like to find out more about their work, visit http://www.elephantfamily.org/