Walking on a pier along the Hudson River. 5:15 PM. Photo: JH.

On the sixth anniversary of the attack and complete obliteration of the World Trade Center towers, we’ve not come a long way, except for the enhancement of our fears. There was a photograph on the front page of one section of the New York Times last weekend of a young red-headed woman talking to James Gandolfini about serving in Iraq. I don’t know what she said. I could only see that this young woman, at the beginning of her life, has lost her right arm and shoulder in a “war” that somehow emerged from the rubble of the WTC Towers. Looking at the photograph in the Times, I was thinking that there are things about the ways of men (and women) that I will never understand, no matter how long I live. I was thinking that this particular young woman who’d paid with her flesh and bone ... will probably never understand either. The American songwriter Lorenz Hart wrote a lyric that often passes through my thoughts apropos so much of what is happening around us: “... the self-deception that believes the lie ... ” It is Fashion Week in New York until tomorrow. Yesterday afternoon Oscar de la Renta showed his early Spring. Someone explained to me that there are really four seasons in the business now – autumn, winter, early spring, spring-summer. That’s partly because so much of the population moves around in warmer climates year round. This de la Renta runway show was a mile or so up and over from the Bryant Park tents: in the Christian Scientist Church on Park Avenue and 63rd Street. The building itself was designed, interior and exterior by Delano and Aldrich, the same men who designed the Knickerbocker Club on 62nd and Fifth. In other words, it’s a beautiful building, made more beautiful recently through renovation and refurbishment by Louis Rose, a young and imaginative New York real estate developer. The church remains a church every weekend but during the week it will be a high-end events venue. For the next six seasons, I was told, Mr. de la Renta & company have exclusive rights to show fashion there. Oscar de la Renta had been showing in a much larger space in the main Bryant Park tent for years. This is a real departure and on entering the building for the first time, I was intrigued as well as drawn to it. It was almost empty when I arrived. The show was called for one, but at 1:20, they were still piling in. First Victoria Beckham a/k/a Posh Spice arrived and was seated at the front of the arc-shaped white runway. She’s a tiny woman with a little bobbed nose and a shock of flat blonde hair covering one side of her face, kinda like Vidal Sassoon doing Veronica Lake. The hordes of photographers went nuts over Mrs. Spice Beckham and she very accommodatingly stood there and posed by herself and then with Mr. de la Renta. Everyone filtering in was taking it all in. We love our celebrities especially if they’re new, and Mrs. Spice B is definitely new to New York “society” (yes, there really still is a “society — you have to call it something.) Then it was going around that Roger Federer was coming with Anna Wintour. Andre Leon Talley who always  comes to the Oscar show with Mrs. Wintour was already there, talking on his cell. And there were three or four empty seats next to him. Finally Mrs. Wintour, wearing a trenchcoat over her Oscar, came in by the rear entrance, to avoid the clamoring crowds. And shortly behind her was Mr. Federer who is tall, with a thick shock of dark-hair and a very pleasant countenance. He looked amused by this experience of ... going to the Oscar de la Renta Show with the editor of Vogue with the crowd cheering at the sight of him. I’m reading all of this into it, don’t forget. After all, that’s what celebrities are for, and this is Mr. Federer’s moment. He’s a hero right now, a star, a great athlete. A friend of mine who is an avid tennis fan thinks there’s more than meets the eye to this Wintour-Federer duet. No, no, none of that stuff. My friend thinks that Federer’s wearing black is Wintour’s influence to make him look cooler than his ordinarily conservative Swiss self.  And because he admires her, he took her advice. My friend thinks that Mrs. Wintour is wild about tennis and now wildest about the greatest tennis star. You know how we all get about celebrities.

Looking across 58th and Ffth Avenue where Gucci is preparing to move in. Photo: DPC.

Once they were seated, next to Andre Leon Talley, the photographers descended in throbbing clusters, so forget about me and my little Casio Exilim. Fortunately I’m taller than a lot of them, so I just held it up high. Mrs. Wintour is looking very well, somehow more “revealed,” if that’s the word. It has been said that she and her longtime companion Mr. Bryan consult en duo with the same consultibles and from that the bloom remains upon the rose (covered cottage). Meanwhile there were other editors there; lots, including Glenda Bailey of Harpers Bazaar, Teri Agins of Wall Street Journal, Graydon Carter and his wife: Carine Roitfeld, the editor of French Vogue who some people believe is the best-dressed woman in the world today. Ms. Roitfeld was seated next to Cathy Horyn, the brilliant fashion editor of the New York Times. Mrs. de la Renta was there with her friends Mrs. Kissinger, Mica Ertegun, Diana Taylor, Lally Weymouth, Donna Acquavella, Catie Marion; and Jamee Gregory, Gaetana Enders, Stephanie Krieger, Jo Hallingby, Emilia Saint Amand, Pat Altschul, Hilary Geary Ross, Robin Gerstner. Also Serena Boardman, the Lauder sisters, Aerin and Jane, Marina Rust, Lauren Dupont, Marjorie Gubelmann, Amanda Brooks. At about 1:30, the runway lights came up, went down, came up again. It was time. The musicians all wearing the white choir robes but looking suspiciously un-church choir-like, gathered together on the podium, took up their instruments, including the electric violins and guitars, and on came the music -- big, raucous rock-n-roll music – and then a moment later, out came the de la Renta models, sleek and narrow, chignons, sauntering like a million bucks used to look. Oscar de la Renta, as the world knows, makes some of the world’s most beautiful clothes. Women look chic and smart and sophisticated and rich and glamorous and even hip, in his clothes. That’s quite an achievement to perform year in and year out, all the while making it seem to be just a matter of fact.

A look around the Christian Scientist Church on Park Avenue and 63rd Street; Anna Wintour looking on.

Emilia Saint-Amand

Andre Leon Talley

Suzy Menkes

Lally Weymouth, Boaz Mazor, and Gaetana Enders

Marcia Mishaan

Stephanie Krieger, Pat Altschul, and Jo Hallingby

Ellin Salzman and Alex Lind Rose

Teri Agins and Judy Licht

Alex Lind Rose and Louis Rose

Anna Scott and Graydon Carter

Pamela Fiori

Victoria Beckham a/k/a Posh Spice

Hilary Geary Ross and Jamee Gregory

Lynn Nesbit turns to talk to Nancy Kissinger

Ashley McDermott and Gaetana Enders

Cathy Horyn of the New York Times and Carine Roitfeld of French Vogue

Anna Wintour and Roger Federer, black on black

Linda Wells

The bank of photographers

On to the show ...

Postcard from Shanghai, #3

Two panaromic views of Shanghai.

Shanghai: I cannot get over how much I love this city, the culture, the French Concession, the Bund, the warmth, hospitality and intelligence of the people, and of course the ART!!! The First Annual Shanghai Art Fair is being held in the former Russian Embassy, build in 1950. As we approached the embassy, I was taken aback by the grandeur of the fountains which rose from a pool of gold lily pods.

Clockwise from top left: The Exhibition Hall; The Cappo's with UBS corporate sponsors; Three views (two by day, one by night) from the Exhibition Hall.

Upon ascending the marble staircase into the grand hall, the electricity in the air was overwhelming! I had the unique pleasure of meeting quite a few VIPs of the Chinese art world. Even had my picture taken with Zeng Fanzhi, one of the top 5 Chinese Contemporary artists. At the dinner after the Gala at Jean-Georges on the Bund, we (Joanna and John Cappo, our art consultant, Helen Zha and I) ran into Han Feng.

Artists in the exhibition.

Clockwise from top left: Zeng Fanzhi and gallery owner Joyce Liang; Zhou Chunya and his green dog; City view; A Zeng Fanzhi work; Zhou Chunya and Joyce Liang.

Most of yesterday was spent at the Fair. Late afternoon we went to an important opening at the Red Bridge Gallery. I met many more very important artists, including Zhou Chunya, known for his Green Dog series, and again with Zeng Fanzhi. He was with Joyce, who owns the # 1 gallery in Hong Kong. That was a star studded party, held at 41 Heng Shan ... a luxe party place! I finally climbed into bed after 1am, exhausted but exhilarated. — Judy A.

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