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 Fashion's Night Out in New York
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| From the outside looking in on the Oscar de la Renta store on Madison Avenue, waiting for Sarah Jessica in her Manolos. 8:00 PM. Photo: DPC. |
Friday, September 9, 2011. Yesterday was warm (and slightly humid), and sunny after days of rain. Skies were overcast again by early evening, with cooler temperatures and more rains in the forecast.
Last night was Fashion Week’s Fashion's Night Out where many retail businesses are open for after-hours of parties and receptions. They were all over the town, up and down. I chose the easiest route according to proximity to my own neighborhood, and that was Madison Avenue.
Madison Avenue must be the longest avenue of luxury retail in America. And lots of restaurants too. The avenue is very much part of the neighborhood that extends from 59th Street to 96th, with Fifth and Park Avenues one block over, west and east. Many of the neighbors shop the avenue for everything they need from chocolates to diamonds (and sapphires, as you’ll soon see). And even a cuppa coffee and a tuna melt. |
| 6:45, the crowds gathering at the Carolina Herrera boutique on Madison and 75th Street. |
So Fashion's Night Out on Madison Avenue is kinda like a block party. Manhattan-style. I started out on 79th Street, walking south (Carolina Herrera on the corner of 75th where the guests were quaffing the champagne and taking in Carolina’s fabulous clothes. Carolina is glamour, no matter what.
Moving south, the sidewalks got busier. Until they were packed. I stopped in to the new David Webb where Samantha Boardman Rosen and Lizzie Tisch were hosting a cocktail party on the second floor which is also where the workshops are.
I’d never seen a jeweler’s workshop, and Mark Emanuel, one of the new owners of the business, gave me a tour. The workrooms at David Webb are lit by crystal chandeliers, which seems very appropriate, considering the creations blazing forth. |
| The entrance of the new David Webb store on Madison and 74th. |
The principals of the new David Webb: Robert Sadian, Mark Emanuel and Sima Ghadamian. |
| A David Webb jewelry artisan. |
Mark showed me one of the largest sapphires in the world. It is astounding – there’s no other word for it -- just to see because of its size and extraordinary beauty. It will be set in a David Webb design held up by a wave of diamonds. It’s not completed, so I’m guessing here.
The workrooms are equally as fascinating with the craftsman and artisans at work at their desks (a courtesy extended by them, no doubt, for the evening). My lifelong imagination’s picture of a jeweler’s workroom was been transformed by this white and crystal state-of-the-art modern environment. For art is what is produced here.
I’d been invited to a number of different stores’ parties. It was soon obvious, so little time, so much to see. So I’d set a time limit for myself: two hours, and spent most of it taking pictures for you to see. I also saw quite a few people I know. |
| Mark Emanuel holding one of largest sapphires in the world next to the model of what will hold it (design in the drawer of the desk). |
| The workroom where the staff creates the beauty. |
I met Natalie Cole at Dennis Basso’s. I just missed Murphy Brown doing karaoke with her daughter Chloe Malle at Valentino. I also just missed Valentino too. Someone told me that Sarah Jessica Parker was going to be appearing at Oscar de la Renta but they didn’t have my name at the door and I can live without seeing Sarah Jessica Parker across a crowded room.
She was also at Manolo Blahnik and fortunately Gail Karr, our NYSD sales director got some pictures of her there. |
| Sima modeling a David Webb design. |
Ellin Saltzman at Milly's waiting for Milly. |
| One of the windows in the Ralph Lauren Women's Collection. |
| A passing bus on Madison and 72nd between the two Ralph Lauren stores. |
| "You go to my head and you linger like a haunting refrain; And I find you spinning round in my brain, Like the bubbles in a glass of champagne..." |
| It looked like they were having some kind of “White Sale” at Frette and the place was mobbed. As was Agent Provacateur which I didn’t know about until last night. Filled with a lot of provocateuring garb and garments. Another mob scene. I saw George Hamilton making his way through the crowd dressed very casually, jacket-less, open cotton shirt worn out, light blue jeans and what looked like a gym bag which I’d guess is where he was coming from. |
| Michele Gerber Klein and friends. |
Marisa Berenson with her book at Donna Karan. |
| I missed Milly at Milly’s (where I took the picture of Ellin Saltzman). I saw Marisa Berenson at Donna Karan, signing copies of her book. There was the lone saleswoman at the pocket sized Mrs. John L. Strong Stationers. Not a party spot like so many others, but a game girl, Mrs. Strong. And, after all, this is her neighborhood and you find her stationery in all the best houses and co-ops. |
| Emma Snowdon-Jones. |
La Perla. |
| It was a scene and traffic up along the avenue was bumper to bumper with lots of lookers (and oglers) therein. New York was having a good time last night, partying like nobody’s business with lots of ogling (and texting no doubt); lots of the local women dressed as smartly as you would imagine they do. Lots of young people and even young couples with their infants who should have been home in bed instead of enduring the melee of Madison. |
| Natalie Cole and and Dennis Basso. |
Jane and Joe Pontarelli. |
| Anna Safir and Eleanora Kennedy. |
Chris and Grace Meigher. |
The Calvin Klein store had We Love Lara charcoaled on its windows. I know a Lara but I’m sure it’s not the same one they’re referring to. You probably know. Soon it was well after eight and I realized I missed seeing the great Vicky Tiel making a rare appearance at Bergdorf’s. Vicky first came to fame in the 1960s when the world was changing the way it looked and walked and talked and she was still a kid, directing the fashion on the avenue.
I have no idea what it was like downtown although you can be sure that it was eye-popping, everybody pulling out all the stops.
Elsewhere at FNO ...
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| Ken Downing helping Jen Creason choose a pair of Louboutins at Bergdorfs. |
| The clamoring crowd outside Manolo hoping for a glimpse of Sarah Jessica Parker. |
| Sarah Jessica Parker at Manolo Blahnik. |
| George Malkemus. |
Tony Yurgaitis works the line. |
| George Malkemus and Sarah Jessica Parker. |
| Hollye Jacobs. |
Stephanie Rosenbloom for The New York Times. |
Seymour Glass ... look at his heels. |
| Andre Leon Talley and Tony. |
| Bottega Veneta's fragrance launch. |
| Rose Byrne at BV. |
Nate Poeschl and Abrima Erwiah at BV. |
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Just a note: On today’s HOUSE we are re-running an interview JH and I did with Ultra Violet way back around 2001. For those of you born after the great 1960s, Ultra was one of the early members of the Andy Warhol Factory.
In those days Ultra lived in a great penthouse on top of an Art Deco apartment building overlooking the top of the Guggenheim Museum and Central Park. Actually her views ran from south to north and to the west which was the spectacular side. Her apartment was a small two-story house.
During the interview when we were in her kitchen, JH asked her about the Campbell Soup cans lined up on a high shell, an obvious paean to her friend, and she said to JH: “Do you know what those represent?”
He wasn’t sure what answer she was asking for aside of the obvious – Campbell Soup, and/or Andy Warhol.
“They are a portrait of the American Landscape, just as Seurat, Pisarro, Monet made portraits of the landscapes of their countries.” |
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Comments? Contact DPC here. |
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