Gonna party like it's 2003

Looking from Fifth Avenue and East 72nd across to Central Park South. Photo: JH.

July 24, 2009. Subtropical rainstorms off the Atlantic brought grey skies and cooler air and finally rain to New York yesterday. Coming up tomorrow in Watermill is the 16th annual Watermill Summer Benefit of the Byrd Hoffman Watermille Foundation and Watermill Center. This gala is one of the highlights of the social season in the Hamptons. It gets a big, supportive crowd, and Robert Wilson and his artists create an experience for the guests.

Looking through our archives yesterday, I found the Diary entry we did for the 10th annual in 2003. Coincidentally there was some rainy weather back then also. However, rain or shine, it was so interesting to see who was there and how they looked that we decided to take you back with us.

Watermill Center’s exhibition space was far from completion six years ago.

The Center’s exhibition space was far from completion six years ago, not much more than a shell of its former structure. Today, as the picture shows, it is now an active exhibition space and work space, the fruits of all those galas that have garnered all that support for Robert Wilson and his vision.

You’ll see that some people, most prominently and regrettably, Nan Kempner, are no longer with us, and of course some couples are no longer couples. Some hairstyles have changed. Some have not. Some faces have changed too, and not just from Mother Nature’s hand.

Social Diary 8.5.03: Those summertime heavy grey skies, hot, humid, threatened and followed by thunderstorms, heavy rains, cooling breezes coming off the river. There always a certain thrill of torrential summer rains washing the streets and leaves, cleansing us all.


	Robert Wilson

Last Saturday’s party at the Watermill Center, I am told is everything I thought it would be and more. Even Nina Griscom, the Glorious Glamorous, long not oft-seen in these parts since she’s taken up with a new inamorata, was present and alluded to.

And the place was fulla celebrities, Manhattan-style: Sarah Jessica Parker, Isabella Rossellini, Harvey Keitel, Russell and Kimora Simmons, Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook, Miranda Richardson, Marisa Berenson, Laura Elena Haring, Annie Leibowitz, Susan Sontag, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Vivienne Tam, Bianca Jagger, Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller, Kate and Andy Spade, Lars Nielson, Edward Albee, Richard Meier, Kim Heirston, Bob Colacello, Ingrid Sischy and Sandra Brant, Rufus Wainwright, Dorothy Lichtenstein, Lisa de Koonig.

Not to mention the social set of which the aforementioned are certified cross-overs: Anh Duong, Samantha Boardman, Eleanor Lembo, Marjorie Gubelmann Raien, and Vanessa von Bismarck, and all of whom were dressed in Louis Vuitton (the clothes of course). Also, also, more, more, Todd Meister, Tiffany and Louis Dubin, Tim and Helen Lee Schifter, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Carol Mack, Prince Dmitri (of the former Yugoslavia).

There was a live auction, as there often is at these big galas nowadays. But this one was spectacular. Simon de Pury, the international auctioneer extraordinaire had the crowd going nuts bidding their bulging purses. Someone paid $75,000 for a portrait by Anh Duong. There was original artwork by Tom Sachs, Roy Lichtenstein, Chuck Close and Ross Bleckner, to name only a few.


Simon de Pury and Kimora Lee Simmons

There was a one-of-a-kind Robert Wilson-designed Louis Vuitton case containing fifteen limited edition lithographs by Robert Wilson. Sixteen thousand bucks later, it went to the highest bidder. There was also a silent auction featuring the artwork donated by Vanessa Beecroft, Annie Leibowitz and Cindy Sherman.

Louis Vuitton was the underwriter/sponsor of the gala, in case you haven’t figured that out yet.

They raised $550,000 for the Watermill Center which was founded in 1992 by Robert Wilson. Since its inception, young artists have joined Mr. Wilson in develop projects in theater, opera, film, architecture, design and visual arts. Mr. Wilson is a one-of-a-kind himself. Artist, writer, creator/guru, he serves as the piped piper to many aspiring artists and a bevy of very well fixed patrons who live and breathe his every word and wish, and, as I’ve said before, have the checkbooks to do it.

I kid you not. And, his annual benefits are also fabulous parties where everybody gets to partake of the Wilson touch, the likes of which most of us don’t see much, if ever; the kind of which will be remembered at a later time, as an articulate part of an era.

Simon de Pury, Anh Duong, and friend

Donna Karan

Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg

Mrs. and Mr. Peter Marino

Anne Hearst and Marty Bregman

Billy and Kathy Rayner

Beth De Woody

Lee and Beauchamp Carr

Carol Mack and Nan Kempner

Pietro Cicognani and friend

Kim Heirston

Left to right: Princess Elena Infanta of Spain; Nan Kempner, Bob Colacello, and Wendy Lehman; Barbara Goldsmith and friend.

Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Keitel

Marissa Bregman and Amanda Hearst

Calvin Klein and Bianca Jagger

Frances Hayward and friend

Enter your email address below to subscribe to NYSD's newsletter. It's free!

The Southampton Hospital’s annual summer gala brought out more than 1200 in the final tally and they took in more than a million dollars for the Emergency Room.

The details. Lisa Jackson and Alex Papachristidis did the décor. Jackson used an underwater theme that included candle-lit, coral centerpieces which went along with the warm steamy evening, (ahaha) (sop). Robbins Wolfe Eventeurs provided the buffet: roast leg of lamb, grilled salmon and a salad of baby spinach. Thelma (“Don’t Leave me This Way”) Houston, who was a star long before she was Whitney’s aunt, was the special guest performer. Alex Donner and his orchestra provided the music.

Others in attendance, including many who hit both parties that night: Bianca Jagger, Vera Wang and Arthur Becker; Marty Richards, Kathy and Rick Hilton, Tory and Christopher Burch, Pamela Gross and James Finkelstein, Lisa and Donald Jackson, Laura and Harry Slatkin, Dr. Howard Sobel, Dr. Kelly Posner, Michelle Gerber Klein, Ophelia & William Rudin, Lally Weymouth, Harry and Laura Slatkin, Martin and Patty Raynes. Enough already? A few more we can’t forget: Jonathan and Somers Farkas, Charlotte Ford, Dan and Cynthia Lufkin, Dr. Dan Baker, Mai Harrison; Keith and Rose Lee Reinhard, George and Daisy Soros, Simon Doonan, Dana Hammond, Howard and Lynette Gittis, Mark Gilbertson, Jamee and Peter Gregory, Dina Merrill, Chappy Morris, Madeline Mortimer, Julie Dannenberg, Betty and Virgil Sherrill, Bettina Zilkha, Hillary Geary and Wilbur Ross; Seaman Schepps’ Anthony Hopenhajm and Coleen Caslin; and Southampton Hospital President Annette Leahy.

Bianca Jagger

David and Julia Koch

Dina Merrill

DPC and Charlotte Ford

The auction items included:

• A Day of Beauty at Dr. Howard Sobel’s Skin & Spa on Park Avenue

• Seaman Schepps Jumping Frog Brooch

• Mercedes Benz Sport Cruiser Bicycle

• The Cover of Dan’s Paper’s

• JetBlue to West Palm

• 2003 Sapphire Blue VESPA ET2 “ The Plaza Sweet”

Raffle prizes included Seaman Schepps Shell Earrings, Canyon Ranch Spa Vacation for Two, Dennis Basso Fashion Fur, One-Year Lease of a Mercedes Benz C240.

This year’s major sponsor was internationally renowned jeweler Seaman Schepps, known for their use of exotic stones including Sapphires and Diamonds in their signature Shell Earrings. Other corporate sponsors included Jet Blue Airways, Kaufmann de Suisse, The Printery, Michael Formica, Eagle Auto Mall, The Plaza, East End Motorsports, Chez Touche, and Antique Rug Gallery.

Southampton Hospital is a non-profit facility founded in 1909 by Dr. Robert H. Ely. With over 230 physicians, dentists and allied health professionals on staff, the Hospital has evolved into eastern Long Island’s largest hospital. Recognizing the need for community outreach, the hospital has established 11 satellite facilities in the Hamptons that provide health services including primary care, women’s reproductive health care, dental and HIV/AIDS care as well as radiology, laboratory dialysis and sports rehabilitation services.