“Firm, Full, Sweaty”: Inside Bottega Veneta’s BUTT Magazine Launch Party

Last Friday, as King Charles crowned his brother Prince Edward the new Duke of Edinburgh, Bottega Veneta revealed the latest edition of BUTT in a smuttier ceremony of pomp and circumstance at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Issue 32, which debuted earlier this month, continues BUTT’s sex-positive ideology, curating a naughty mix of content that features gay literary luminaries like Brontez Purnell, political activist and sex professional Sharok, visual artist Wolfgang Tillmans, LSDXOXO, and others. From front to crack, the newest zine packs an alluring, Koolaid-colored punch, enhanced by exclusive Bottega Veneta ads that marry Matthieu Blazy’s intricate leather wears and the anachronistic, overgrown bushes you’d find in a Bruce LaBruce flick. 

In honor of the magazine’s royal derrière, the ICA lit up with a thousand and one Grindr notifications as London’s queer community descended upon the museum for a raucous affair that brought the pages of the pink publication to life. The evening was equal parts salon, arthouse cinema, and rave, a winning trifecta as partygoers patrolled the building’s chambered hallways like stormtroopers aboard the Death Star, marching back and forth between the theatre (screening indie shorts like Antonio Hens’ Doors Cut Down) and the dance floor where bodies swayed to musical sets by the likes of TAAHLIAH, Big Gay Idiot DJ, and Evita Manji. Between pints of ale and cigarette smoke, we got down to business, asking guests the question on everybody’s mind: dead or alive, whose BUTT do they admire most? Their cheeky answers, among party pictures by Roxy Lee, sit below.

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“Chris Evans. His bum in his Fantastic Four costume really sealed the deal for me.” — @cosimoschirinzi, designer

“A Tyrannosaurus rex’s [butt] with the little hands and the butt sticking out all the time. It’s a vibe, the body was made to have that ass out.” — @albertoalbanese, photographer

“I most definitely admire my own the most!” — @akataahliah, DJ

“Ron Athey’s, the performance artist.” — @glamrou, writer, director, and drag artist

“Any corgi’s bum.” — @lauranycole, curator of @newbottega 

“Spiderman’s, it’s spunky.” — @michaeldarlington, stylist and Interview contributor

“I couldn’t possibly limit myself to one butt. Not a particular one, [so] as long as it’s big, juicy and rather fat…[a] hairy one always makes me happier but not exclusively.” — @kuba_ryniewicz, photographer 

“Joe Dallasendro’s because there wouldn’t be [my publication] Little Joe without it.” — @iamsamashby, artist and editor

“Paul Mescal’s for me – that scene in Aftersun, pure wow.” — @servinglamb, designer

“My brother‘s.” — @louisquinze, editor 

“Any firm, full, sweaty BUTT!” — @frapln, interior designer and dealer

“My friend Filip’s. During quarantine, he really got down to business and put in the work for his butt.” — @ahhhbie, partnership manager 

“John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s, obviously” — @lasherx, agent

“Random but the image of Arnold Schwarzenegger totally naked in The Terminator never quite left my teenage brain — a perfect butt never to be forgotten.” — @patricktcherno, global head of PR, Palace Skateboards