Party Pictures 10/20/03 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering's 15th Anniversary Preview Party

Memorial Sloan-Kettering's 15th Anniversary Preview Party opens the Fall Season

Last Thursday night they held the 15th Annual Preview Party for the international Fine Art and Antiques Dealers Show which benefited the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In the lingo, it’s called the Antiques Show opening and it’s always Sloan-Kettering. It’s always a hot ticket for a couple of reasons: Some of the greatest dealers in New York, London and Paris exhibit there (this year, in aggregate, there are more than $250 million worth of furniture, art and objets on exhibition); and the gang at MSKCC bring out the swells bigtime.

So it’s become something of a tradition. Everyone comes dressed (cocktail dress), sometimes bejeweled and there is a lot of “seeing and being seen.” There are also buffet tables filled with scrumptious food which everybody practically lunges for (in a very chic and sophisticated way of course) because looks too good to avoid.

And then there are aisles and aisles of some of the most beautiful things you’ll ever see anywhere in the world — especially French, Continental, Russian and English art and furniture. Fifty-six dealers in all. The feeling while touring the collections is a combination of museum-going and peeking into the treasure troves of great houses.

There was also a Scavenger Hunt challenging all guests of the Preview Party to match 10 riddles to the names of some of the exhibiting dealers. The two top winners won a $1000 gift certificates from Saks Fifth Avenue and a 9-day art cruise on the luxurious River Cloud traveling from Amsterdam to Maastricht. There was also a stunning display from Graff Jewelers which, though no antiques in the commercial sense of the word, is every bit as stunning and astonishing as other displays in the vast armory hall. Saks and Graff were the two MSKCC sponsors of this year’s show.

Co-chairs were Jamee Gregory and Leslie Jones. Vice Chairmen were Courtney Arnot, Barbie Bancroft, Marie and Henri Barguirdjian, Susan Bodnar, Hilary Califano, Jan Calloway, Jennifer Creel, Andi Davis, Jackie Drake, Webb Egerton-Warburton, Emilia Fanjul, Somers Farkas, Libby Fitzgerald, Anne Eisenhower Flöttl, Pemmy Frick, Jane Gammill, Hilary Geary, Sallie Giordano, Kate Gubelmann, Bambi de la Gueronniere, Thomas Guinzburg, Gail Hilson, Kathy Hilton, Melanie Seymour Holland, Rachel Hovnanian, Coco Kopelman, Carol Mack, Karen May, Ashley McDermott, Grace Meigher, Toni Peebler, Leslie Perkin, Alexandra Lind Rose, Alexia Hamm Ryan, Helen Schifter, Christine Schwarzman, Lavinia Snyder, Andrea Stark, Felicia Taylor, Patsy Warner, Clelia Zacharias, and Bettina Zilkha.

Connoisseur Chairmen were Pat Buckley, Nan Kempner, and Jamie Niven. Honorary Chairmen were Jessie Araskog, Muffie Potter Aston, Susan Burke, Virginia Burke, Mary Carpenter, Mary Davidson, Joanne de Guardiola, Julia and David Koch, Evelyn Lauder, Karen LeFrak, Nicole Limbocker, Carroll Petrie, Betty Sherrill, Daisy Soros, and Blaine Trump.

Leslie Jones and Jamee Gregory

Invitations designed and printed by:

• Bloomberg

Additional support from:

• Barnes Group
• Charmer Industries
• Davidson Kempner
Advisers Inc.
• Departures Magazine
• Domain Chandon
• Events Around the World &
Michel Witmer
• Fattoria Petrolo
• Fiji Natural Artesian Water
• Hilton Realty
• JP Morgan Chase
• St. Francis Winery

Alexia Hamm Ryan and Hilary Geary

Alex Lind, Alvin Valley, and Tinsley Mortimer

Blaine Trump and Joanne de Guardiola

Cynthia and Dan Lufkin

Julia and David Koch

Honorary chairs means that they’ve labored hard in past years to make the Preview opening a very successful fund-raiser. And they work.

MSKCC is one of those organizations where if you don’t prove your mettle, you’re wasting your time and theirs. As a result they’ve been very successful – very. This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest of the MSKCC’s annual fundraisers and over the years they’ve raised millions for their cause assisting Memorial Sloan-Kettering in a variety of important ways including patient care and research and education programs.

This year they had, as usual, many acceptances from philanthropic shoppers include Julia and David Koch, Evelyn Lauder, Henry and Marie-Josee Kravis, Carroll Petrie, Anne Bass, Laurance Rockefeller, Adolfo, Ivana Trump, Joanne de Guardiola, Jessie Araskog, Virginia Burke, Karen LeFrak, Daisy Soros, Jamie Niven, Allison Stern, Kathy Hilton, Adrienne Vittadini, Somers Farkas, Emilia Fanjul, Alexandra Lind Rose, Ashley McDermott, Helen Schifter, Hilary Dick, the Junior Collectors Chairman, Bettina Zilkha, Hilary Geary, Helen Schifter, Emilia and Pepe Fanjul, Rachel Hovnanian, Kate Gubelmann, Ashley McDermott, and Christine Schwarzman.