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Casio dropped some serious cash last night on a lengthy press conference and Absolut-fueled, monster-sized party at Midtown's Manhattan Center. Dubbed Shock the World 2010 and celebrating the company's G-Shock and Baby-G watch brands, along with a range of new offshoots and collaborations, the private event featured a six-speaker press conference and a full, eight-set song by the intriguing—if rather polarizing—Ke$ha.
The event started with an exhibit of the full product line as well as special showcases for colorful new collaborations with Dee and Ricky (remember Kanye's Lego brooches?), Hellz (women's streetwear), and Alife.
Amped-up and often adorable offerings from Baby-G are due in part to Miss Ke$ha. Nope, she wasn't just the hired entertainment—the perpetually hung-over popstress took the podium to introduce herself as a Baby-G Brand Ambassador and future collaborative designer. Why? Because Baby-G, like Ke$ha, is "Tough + Feminine = Contradiction." Yeah, whatever, we don't know either—the watches will be in stores next summer.
Her remarks were a welcome jolt after heavily-accented if not heavily-interesting speeches by two corporate figureheads; a bumbling, muttering mess of a speech by professional skateboarder Stevie Williams; a plug for new brand Edifice with race car control panel-inspired wristwear repped by some guy from How To Make It In America (really?); and fragrance-shilling Lamar Odom who plays basketball, is attracted to Kardashians, and stands 6'10".
Post-litanies, guests were treated to four (our kind of party!) open Absolut vodka bars, '80s pop-dance classics, sliders, sushi and Ke$ha's surprisingly impressive if only politely applauded set. Eight-songs long—that's practically her whole album—the singer's vocals were on point and the set, complete with dismembered mannequin heads and acres of tinsel, was a pop-goth-'80s-glam playground. Elsewhere, Casio decorated with columns of faux-sand carved with watch-face hieroglyphics and adorable little robots with watch faces for heads. The decorations, like the party, were kind of strange, kind of great, and definitely expensive—pretty refreshing for an August evening in post-bust New York.
· Casio Timepieces [Official Site]