From SoHo to Roma

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The huge crowd at Soho Synagogue's Miracle at Ground Zero

On a cool Thursday night in June, a crowd of 1800 guests were treated to 26 open bars and a sushi deck at the World Financial Center, which looked less like a business facility and more like a posh VIP room. They were there to celebrate the newly created SoHo Syngague.

The attire? Beyond black tie, as requested by hosts and SoHo Synagogue founders Dovi and Esty Scheiner. Some interpretations of the Beyond Black Tie Decree resulted in white tuxes, but a straw hat was seen floating around, too.

The crowd? Beyond beautiful and charming in the way that words cannot describe, (and writers cannot think of). Scott Kluge and Jessica Alper, Boaz Weinstein, Dan Lerner, Allison Fina, Jason Herman or the brothers Gohari (Daniel, Jason, and Arash), Arik Roshanzamir, Jason Hirsch, and Joseph Hedaya, to name only a very few.

The evening was called the Miracle at Ground Zero. There was the miracle of the space itself, large enough to hold more than 1800 guests and supporters. And that of Dovi and Esty Scheiner who created a community where none previously existed. They had been, coincidentally, married on 9/11/2001. Taking it as an auspicious sign, they decided to improve their surroundings and establish the SoHo Synagogue.

Abraham Kassin and Ikey Douek

Andrew Waranch and Boaz Weinstein

Alyson Berg and Michael Bretholz

BJ Levin and Jamie Shupak

Danielle Scetbon, Jonathan Ben-Hamou, and Elinor Gorenstein

David Aaron and Jessica Alper

Eliza Martinez and Christian Roesch

Elisa Mala

Jane Hegleman and Oren Sendowski

Alana Shultz and Robert Kenel

Neal Rick, Tiffany Marks, Martin Marks, and Jason Betesh

Lori Levine, Mark Fortner, and Kara Moskowitz

Tim Grant and Keren Eldad

Sara Greenspan, Dan Friedman, and Melissa Rothenberg

Micah Grossman and Samantha Thompson

Kate Kelso and Seth Goldberg

Jason Hirsch, Jennifer Salem, and Arik Roshanzamir

Miryam Bechtle,Tal Kohen, Natalie Rubinstein, and Amanda Richman

Scott and Jennifer Richler

Tali Asias and Anders Petersen

Olivier Sarfati and Shara Mendelson

I don’t think we’ve ever covered a party more than the 45th anniversary celebration of Valentino. Patrick Kinmouth and Antonio Manfreda who designed the AngloMania show at the Met last year, put together an exhibition of more than 300 of Valentino’s evening gowns at the Ara Paci monument which had been commissioned by Emperor Augustus way back in 9 BC.


Mark Gilbertson, Jill Roosevelt, and Tory Burch

Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino’s life long partner and business partner said of the Ara Paci: “The monument is so amazing ... We decided to create a pagan procession of women honoring the Ara Pacis.”

Mr. Valentino added that he’d “always followed my own sense of fashion, rather than prevailing trends. The two periods I hated most in fashion were ‘grunge' and ‘minimalism.’ Grunge was really outrageous and minimalism was an offense to women. Why look bad when you can look beautiful?''

The Valentino style is one of decoration and embellishment, bright colors, beaded embroidery, tulle and chiffon.

As the arch features sculpted images of Augustus and his family making offerings to the gods, the exhibition of Valentino’s collection represents his offerings to the women he spent his life designing for.

For this all roads led to Rome last weekend. You had to be there to fully get it, of course, and those who were are still talking about . It was one of those very rare ones.