Black and White Ball Invitation

In 1966 following the publication of his novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote decided to throw a large party in honor of Washington Post publisher, Katherine Graham. The ball was to be held for celebrities and important socialites of New York City in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel. Capote is best known for being slightly controversial and often was critical of the idea of fame.

This invitation was designed to capture the idea of Capote's criticism of fame and his intentions of making a statement through the Black & White Ball. Capote made a public statement saying, "The point and fun of giving a party is about those you don't invite" he was reported to have invited husbands of households while not inviting their wives simply because he didn't like them. Capote wanted to make sure everyone knew about the details of this party, even if they were not invited. He had hopes of people bargaining to get an invite and even had hopes of crowds trying to sneak in the day of the event. 

The design of this invitation was intended to play on the idea of revealing whether you were invited to the ball or you were not. Once you open the gates of the card, an invitation is revealed including the details of the event. Once you remove the invite, an additional invitation is found behind. Once the viewer removes the paper mask, boxes are revealed indicating whether or not they were invited. If a guest WAS invited the black card would reveal a dress code on the front and Capote's famous quote ("The point and fun of giving a party is about those you don't invite") on the back.

For this project, I explored the use of the Glowforge laser cutter. I designed the card overlay by creating an Illustrator file with precise cut marks on each side of the paper, leaving a central space for the invitation to be glued. The AI file also included embedded fold marks to indicate where the "gate" would hinge and fold on the invite.