A “return” to the city

Central Park gathering. Photo: JH. 5:00 PM.

September 10th, 2009. Yesterday was cloudy all day with patches of Sun. I thought of taking an umbrella when I went out at 11:30 in the morning, but changed my mind. Didn’t need it.

At that hour there were police cars everywhere on the East Side, including along the FDR Drive, two and three at a time. That always means something, and there is at least a brief sense of alarm for that kind of “something,” unknown when it is.


	The program for the Memorial Service Celebrating the life of Walter Cronkite

I later learned that they were all there for President Obama who was in town for the Walter Cronkite Memorial at Lincoln Center. The sight of so many police cars reminded that UN Week is on its way and what that will mean All of those big guys (and girls) will be in town and the town will be tied up in a knot. It’s hideous.

There was a rumor going around that agents for Muammar al-Gaddifi were considering renting Joan Rivers’ duplex just off Fifth Avenue for $250,000 for the week. Joan’s duplex is just this side of real palatial. Some friends advised that she not since god knows what shape it would be in when returned. This is not unusual.

People who pay big rents like that often take don’t seem to care about the other person’s (or hotel’s) property. Plus there’s the entourage and their presence (sometimes a crowd). That’s a lot of dough although Joan doesn’t need the money. In fact Joan could lay out that kind of money and rent some potentate’s palace for a week, or even two or three.

Many New Yorkers could do a fifteen minute riff-n-rant on “politicians” coming to town, from the President on down. The so-called security to protect those people from US is absurd. This started after John Kennedy was murdered (in an open car on a planned route) in Dallas. Now these people have armies of armed guards and security police and parades of black vans pushing everybody else out of the way while they go out for a cuppa coffee. I realize this is no one’s fault, per se, but it is also an example of how we’ve lost sight of ourselves as a community.

President Obama addresses the guests at Avery Fisher Hall.

Wynton Marsalis leads the Jazz at Lincoln Center Sextet.

The United States Marine Band playing "God of Our Fathers."

There, now that you’ve had my riff-n-rant, we can turn to better things. I did not attend the Cronkite Memorial although I did see Nick Clooney’s eulogy and I saw Mr. Clinton’s and Mr. Obama’s, all courtesy of Gawker. Mr. Clooney’s was the most poignant and of course the most Irish, god love ‘em. Mr. Clinton’s was also an excellent portrait of the goodness of the man, and he ended it with the simple truth: He was a good man.

I’m always amazed at how young Mr. Obama looks. I don’t see him that much because I don’t watch television, but when I do, he almost looks like he’s not old enough to be President. That is not a political or editorial comment for those who might be inclined to read something else into it.

The security force outside Lincoln Center.

Later, thinking about Mr. Cronkite whom I knew only by three degrees of separation but knew personally by his years of reporting the news on CBS: He struck me as the kind of man who would have been amused if not perhaps slightly uncomfortable with all the encomiums laid at his side.

Cronkite, of course, knew who he was. He knew he wasn't all of those things all the time or maybe all those things or some of those things even some of the time. Those years in broadcasting made him very aware of the road on which he traveled. But he was decent by nature, and inclined to the truth of the matter. That’s very old fashioned these days. Very. So old-fashioned that some people think such decency was always just a myth. The cynics. And so when he cried in front of us when JFK died, he expressed that human emotion of grief that overwhelms because it is overwhelming. It wasn't political, as people would call it nowadays. It was a man connected. His memorial could serve as a reminder to us.

NYSD had the good fortune, however, to have NYSD Associate Editor Jill Krementz present to record the man's remarkable memorial service and some of the many attendants.

Roger Friedman and Peggy Siegal

ABC's World News Anchor Charles Gibson

George Stevens, Jr.

Dan Rather, Anchor, Editor-in-Chief of Dan Rather Reports, HDNet

Susan Zirinsky, Executive Producer of CBS's 48 Hours with her husband, Joe Peyronnin

Dan Rather and Harry Smith

Bob Schieffer, Anchor, Face the Nation

Bob and Patricia Schieffer

Meredith and Tom Brokaw, Anchor Emeritus of NBC Nightly News

Carl and Christine Bernstein

Steve Kroft and Jenny Conant

Tyne Daly

Peter Lorenz, Assistant Director Building Operations at CBS Black Rock on 52nd Street

Richard Wald with Maurie Perl, head of PR for Conde Nast

Meanwhile, back to business. My cab got off the Drive at the top of the 34th Street exit, onto 39th Street and up to 42nd Street. I was going to the Couture Council luncheon at Cipriani 42nd Street. Among other things, this is the first big social/benefit event of the season. The first day of school, so to speak.

It was the Couture Council of the Museum at FIT’s annual Award for Artistry of Fashion Luncheon. And from the looks of it, it brought out the town. There was a feeling in the place that it was a “return” to the city.


	The invite

	Dries Van Noten and Maggie Gyllenhaal

The Couture Council was started a few years ago by Liz Peek and friends as a way of raising funds for the Museum which is really the only one of its kind in New York. Their luncheon now marks the opening of the Fashion Week Calendar.

There was excitement in the air, not unlike that excitement you felt as a kid anticipating another school year. Anticipating the new. In the fashion industry it is tradition that people buy new clothes for the new cold and colder weather.

Maggie Gyllenhal was called on to present the 2009 Couture Council Award to Dries Van Noten. Mr. Van Noten has been in business for a long time now. He’s not a name that falls along the gilded fashion paths of de la Renta or Blass or Carolina or Marc Jacobs, etc. But he’s lasted. Simon Doonan who was the emcee made this clear before introducing a vid clip of Van Noten’s runway collection.

The man’s style is a departure from any of the other leading designers. A lot of mixing of colors and shapes and fabrics. Watching the vid I was thinking how his clothes demand a creative eye because they are unconventional in their message. I was sitting next to Deborah Needleman, the editor of the late Domino magazine.

I asked her if she liked his work. Answer: yes. I asked her what it was that appealed to her. She told me that it was all the things – the colors, shapes, styles, but also that his clothes were often admired but a woman might also say: oh, but I could never wear that. Then, according to Needleman, a woman tries it on and likes it.

Maggie Gyllenhal told how she’d been long a fan of his. So when she was getting married she asked him to design a wedding dress for her. He agreed. In the meantime, she told us, she began to think about her “dream” wedding dress, anticipating what Dries was going to design for her. She ran down the list of her thoughts for us. Then the dress arrived, completed.

She open up the box, removed it and ... it was nothing like she’d imagined her “dream” wedding dress would be. In fact, she couldn’t imagine getting married in the dress.

She was very alarmed. A crise was born.

Cocktail hour.

Luncheon hour.

Then someone, maybe her mother, suggested she at least try it on. Disheartened but brave, she did. And ... she loved it. She loved wearing it. It was perfect.

Then up came Mr. Van Noten, to accept Ms. Gyllenhal’s congratulation and his award. He’s a very modest man in his presentation. An artist in a suit jacket and tie. His acceptance was quick. Thank you very much for this, in so many words.

Last year the Couture Council honored Ruben and Isabel Toledo, as you may remember. After that, coincidentally, Ms. Toledo was selected to design the Inauguration Day Ceremony dress for Michelle Obama. The Council is on to something with the Artistry of Fashion.

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Dr. Joyce Brown

Iman and Simon Doonan

Liz Peek thanked Glenda Bailey of Harpers Bazaar for her unstinting help is getting this project going. They’ve recruited assistance from all ages and styles on the New York scene. You can see that FIT’s Museum is becoming a force in the New York fashion world and it is a good idea.

Honorary Luncheon Chair was The Honorable Anne Cox Chambers. Chairs were Liz Peek, Yaz Hernandez and Sarah Wolfe. Founding Luncheon Chair was Charlotte Moss. Luncheon Chairs were Vanessa Fata, Kimberly Kassel, Nadine Kasuga, Jacqueline Sackler. Junior Luncheon Chairs were Amanda Hearst, Samantha Thomas, Alexis Tobin, Whitney Wolfe.

At this moment people are uneasy about the times economically and financially. Aside from personal experiences, those who are working in fundraising for philanthropic and cultural causes, are very concerned about the future of their efforts. Yesterday’s luncheon was a great success if only in the message of the turnout.

Iman and Simon Doonan pose for the vid cam.

Fe Fendi, Yaz Hernandez, Simon Doonan, Joyce Brown, and Pamela Fiori

In the huge crowd: Iris Apfel, Amy Astley, Glenda Bailey, Lynn Ban, Debbie Bancroft, Fabiola Beracasa, Melissa Berkelhammer, Vera Blinken, Hamish Bowles, Alison Brod, Amanda Brooks, Dr. Joyce Brown, Alyson Cafiero, Lea Carpenter Brokaw, Arnold Scaasi, Jean Shafiroff, Tina Sloan McPherson, Leslie Stevens, Sheila Stevenson, Georgia Tapert, Lizzie Tisch, Barbara Tober, Alexis Tobin, Antony Todd, Ruben and Isabel Toledo, Stefano Tonchi, Diane Van Amerogen, Vanessa Von Bismarck, Diane Von Furstenberg, Christopher Walling, Jeannette Watson Sanger, Sarah Wolfe, Whitney Wolfe, Lynn Yaeger, Kohle Yohannen, Frank Zambrelli, Wen Zhou, Bettina Zilka, Iman.

More: Lisa Cashin, Alina Cho, Barbara Cirkva, Suzanne Cochran, Amy Fine Collins, Dori Cooperman, Victor De Souza, Jackie Drake, Bonnie Dudley, Mary Durkin, Renaud Dutreil, Lisa Falcone, Linda Fargo, Fe Fendi, Pamela Fiori, Bruce Fischer, Bridget Foley, Frank Foley, Marcos Galvani, Nina Garcia, Tom Gates, Barbara Georgescu, Claudia Lebenthal, Ann LeConey, Dalia Leeds, Patrick Li, John Lindsey, Jeremy Lipkin, Linda Lloyd Lambert, Susan Lyne, Chris Madden, Kevin Madden, Susan Magrino Dunning, Allyn Magrino Holmberg, Frederic Malle, Catherine Marron.

And this isn’t the half of it: Ghislaine Maxwell, Kitty McKnight, Patricia Mears, Gillian Miniter, Charlotte Moss, Michael Musto, Deborah Needleman, Lorry Newhouse, Lars Nilsson, Alexandra Pappas, Jeff Peek, Lauren Platt, Rosemary Ponzo, Ambassador Herman Portocarero, Bettina Prentice, Michelle Gerber Klein, Jill Gilmour, Tom Gold, Thelma Golden, Jamee Gregory, Daphne Guinness, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sharon Handler, Nicole Hanley, Amanda Hearst, Yaz Hernandez, Rita Jammet, Mariana Kaufman, Eleanora Kennedy, Pat Kerr, Harold Koda, Parker Ladd, Margo Langenberg, Alexandra Lebenthal, Judy Price, Ann Rapp, Marjorie Reed Gordon, Marjorie Rosen, Angel Sanchez Rivera. And thousands more, just like ‘em. (And all well-dressed.)

Jamee Gregory and Fe Fendi

Marjorie Reed Gordon, Jean Shafiroff, and Margo Langenberg

Antony Todd talking to Alina Cho

Vera Blinken

Marjorie Reed Gordon and Linda Lambert

Arnold Scaasi and friend

Mark Gilbertson and Kitty McKnight

Isabel Toledo

Judy Price and Bonnie Dudley

Gillian Miniter, Patricia Shiah, and Fe Fendi

Kohle Yohannen, Amy Fine Collins, and Ghislaine Maxell

Antony Todd and Linda Fargo

Alyson Cafiero

Christopher Walling and Charlotte Moss

Eleanora Kennedy and Liz Peek

Alexandra Lebenthal and Gillian Miniter

Hamish Bowles

Nicole Hanley and Michael Bruno

Yaz Hernandez

Susan Magrino and Allyn Magrino Holmberg

Lars Nilsson

Charlotte Moss

Jamee Gregory next to her Dries raffle prize

Pat Kerr

Marjorie Rosen and Deborah Needleman

Harold Koda and Sarah Wolfe

Bettia Zilkha

Fabiola Beracasa

Yaz Hernandez and Pamela Fiori

Dr. Joyce Brown and Rosemary Ponzo

Fern Mallis

Ruben and Isabel Toledo

Michele Gerber Klein

Lisa Boone and Barbara Tober

Diane von Furstenberg

Ann Rapp

Valerie Steel and friends

Amanda Hearst

Dries Van Noten and Iman

Lizzie Tisch

Yesterday, the day before the official beginning of the Mercedes-Benz IMG Fashion shows beneath the tents in Bryant Park (the last season at this location), fashionistas had already begun celebrating and showing their Collections.

New-comer Designer Jillian Lewis, and Brazilian Iodice, hosted presentations of their work through models posing on turntables and mannequins. Jillian demonstrated intricately pieced, stretch with feminine ruffles, and Iodice gave major attention to glorious structured backs as well as fronts.

Designer Iodice with models wearing his designs.

Rear detailing Iodice designs.

Jillian Lewis: Models on Turntable.

Designer Jillian Lewis at the Audi Showroom.

The major kick-off party was hosted by Saks Fifth Avenue, unveiling their third floor with red carpet arrivals, a cocktail reception and dinner – showcasing 32 one-of-a-kind cocktail dresses created by major designers for the launch (many of these exclusive to Saks).

All was executed with Saks signature impeccable taste. Among the guests: Anna Wintour, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Zac Posen, Vera Wang, Bruce Weber, Laura Bush, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos. — Jill Lynne