Party Pictures 2/28/03 - Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York's Toast to the Dazzling 1920s

The chairmen: Andrew Roosevelt, Cynthia Lufkin, Calvert Moore, Mark Gilbertson, Rachel Hovnanian, and Allison Rockefeller.

The mood of the city wherever I go these days is affected by the generally depressing state of the world very possibly on the brink of war. All this is no doubt exacerbated by the gray days of winter with little sunshine. Snow, promised again tonight by the weather man does lift the spirits somewhat.

Last Tuesday night up at the Museum of the City of New York on Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street, where the Director’s Council hosted their annual Winter Ball with a “Toast to the Dazzling 1920s” with an invitation that called for Black or White Tie, spirits were lifted considerably for a few fabulous hours. These past few months have seen a small number of requests for “white tie.” I have to say, it’s a bit of a pick-me-up to see and certainly adds to the fun of glamour.

The Winter Ball was chaired by Mark Forrest Gilbertson, Mrs. Ara K. (Rachel) Hovnanian, Mrs. Peter C. (Allison) Rockefeller, Mrs. George Braniff (Calvert) Moore, Mr. Andrew E. Roosevelt and Mrs. Dan (Cynthia) Lufkin. I know all of the above give a lot of their free time to the success of this event but Mark Gilbertson has been the impresario of Museum of the City of NY events for so long now that I always think of these parties as his. Although his intent, at least most of the time, is entirely social in nature, he’s a real pro at giving a party, a good party, and a good party is good for what ails any if not all of us.

This year’s party brought in 530 for dinner and another 300 at 9:30 for dancing, and they netted $225,000. This ticket (with a $500 top) is one of the more reasonable ones on the social circuit. This was the first year, however, that they served a sit-down dinner, which was up the grand staircase on the second floor, and it seemed to add something more to the evening.

Helen and Tim Schifter with Barbara Cirkva

Marina Rust Connor

David Anton

Chanel sponsored the evening and there were at least twenty of the women on the committee list who were wearing Chanel couture including Renee Rockefeller, Allison Rockefeller, Tara Rockefeller, Karen Groos, Rachel Hovnanian, Alexia Hamm, Tory Burch, Sara Ayres, Samantha Boardman and Cynthia Lufkin, along with Coco Kopelman, of course and her daughter Jill Kopelman Kargman, wife and daughter respectively of Arie Kopelman who is head of Chanel here in New York.

Mr. Kopelman was quoted afterwards as saying he was probably the oldest guest at the party. I know of one or two who were older than he but we’ll leave it at that. It was a “young” group, young being relative in this case – probably 20s and 30s and then on into the 40s and 50s. This is the group that gained attention in New York for calling themselves “the Junior group,” which nowadays may only mean they aren’t card carrying members of AARF. Most of them anyway. It was also a great group of good-looking people – “not a dog among ‘em,” cracked someone who shall remain nameless but accurate in assessment. When the girls get up in beautiful long dresses and their jeweled accessories and the boys get up in their black tie and white shirt fronts (and the occasional white tie).

Hors d'oeuvres during cocktail hour

There was a long cocktail hour in the museum’s entrance gallery where everyone could catch a glimpse of the arrivals. In the rotunda Alex Donner’s quintet turned out the Porter, Berlin, Kern, Rodgers, etc. infusing everyone with a sense of party hightime.

I saw, in the big crowd: Lillian and Damian von Stauffenberg, Chris and Allison Brown, Valesca Hermes, Anh Duong, George Brokaw, Marina Rust Conner, Jane Lauder, Ann Fahey, Ann and Bruce Colley, Tina and Anthony Addison, Chappie Morris, Debbie Bancroft, Courtney Arnot, Harry LeFrak, Charlie and Sara Ayres, Jay Aston, Philip Warner, Anne Grauso, Mary and Guy van Pelt, Amy Fine Collins, Badgley and Mischka whose work was well represented also; Margot and Ashton de Peyster, Wendy Carduner, Grace Hightower, Trevor Traina, Nathalie and Ed Kaplan, Bettina Zilkha, Helen and Tim Schifter, Roz and Fran Lesperance, Phoebe and Tantivy Gubelmann, Stewart and Bill Manger, James and Whitney Fairchild, Pam Van Ingen, Lisa and Alexander Guest, Leigh Keno, brother Leslie and his wife Emily Keno, George and Carol McFadden, Harry Crosby, Peter Pennoyer, Olivia Chantecaille, Dayssi and Paul Kanavos, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Harry and Christina Davison, Helena Lehane, Avi and Gigi Mortimer, Jessica and Basil Zirinis, Fernanda Kellogg and Kirk Henckels, Tony Ingrao and Randy Kemper, Jay and Tracey Snyder, Evelyn Tompkins Mandy, Samantha Topping, Lise Arliss, Lloyd and Christina Gerry, Charles Rockefeller, Alexandra Kotur, Larry and Jennifer Creel, and hundreds more along those lines and curves. JH got as many as he could during the cocktail hour.

The dinner was catered by Peter Callahan, invitations were designed and provided by Tiffany & Company (on 100% recovered cotton fiber paper), after dinner dancing was dj-ed by Chris Ford and for a few hours there a very good time was had by all at what was the best Winter Ball they’ve ever had at the Museum.

The evening’s theme anticipated the museum’s newest exhibition: Roaring Into the 1920s: the New New York Woman, which is scheduled to open March 22nd. On the back of the invite was printed the following copy:

Bracketed by the Crash of the stock market, the 1920s was a decade of spectacle and excess, dazzling scientific and creative achievements, post-war euphoria andd unmatched economic growth. Through the collections of the Museum, the exhibition will make use of rare memorabilia, never before exhibited costumes, photographs, artifacts, documents and audio and video to provide a dramatic context for this explosive decade.

The Museum of the City of New York was founded in that decade – in 1923. It was the first museum in the U.S. dedicated to illustrating the history of a single city.