Introduction

In the tradition of New Orleans, Montgomery’s Krewe of The Phantom Hosts celebrates Mardi Gras with an annual debutante ball. The queen’s family is expected to host a midnight breakfast in honor of her reign following the ball. When Queen Helen was selected as queen of the 2020 Phantom Host ball, the Queen Mother came to Stamp for a logo, invitations, hospitality pack, and swag that embraced both the heritage of the event and a spunky queen who was ready shake-up tradition.

Background

2020’s Ball theme was based on Truman Capote’s Black & White Ball. Much like Capote, our client, the Queen Mother, wanted the breakfast to be an over-the-top affair. The list of honored guests included friends, family, Krewe members and, perhaps most important to Helen, her trusted ladies in waiting—a band of her Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sisters who were prepared to hang like royalty. The Queen Mother tasked us with designing swag and a hospitality pack Helen’s sorority sisters would love. The event also needed to stand out from what had been done in previous years and create a unique experience that would be special for Helen and her friends.

Reasoning

A party for a modern queen should be elegant and sophisticated, but also edgy to reflect her personality.

Challenges

Queen Helen and her family are fun-loving with large personalities. All materials connected to her reign and festivities should be branded boldly. Since Helen is no ordinary queen, the event needed to complement her vivacious and fun-loving personality, balancing the traditions of the Phantom Host ball with an edgier attitude that would resonate with the queen and her lively ladies. Our job was to create event materials that reflected Helen in every way--elegant, tasteful and a bit sassy. Since the Queen’s Breakfast would be held in conjunction with the Phantom Host Ball, we also needed to ensure that the event materials would incorporate themes from the ball as well.

The Queen Mother was planning a sumptuous feast to be served at midnight. The invitation had to convey the kind of elegance and delight that guests would experience at the extravagant breakfast. It needed to make the invited feel they must not miss this party—even if it meant staying up late.

With the invitation, we incorporated gold with the black and white for a warm, luxurious feel and built excitement by playing off of the bursting radial pattern from the “Queen Helen” mark. Since the queen’s identity would not be revealed until the night of the ball, we utilized elements from the mark for the design on the front of the invitation which grandly announces, “It’s Good to Be Queen.” A custom stamp serves as the perfect finishing touch, and simple, elegant thank you stationery complement the invitation.