Party Pictures 1/11/06 - Going nuts for Coconuts

Going nuts for Coconuts

This past New Year's Eve, the legendary Coconuts held their annual legendary dance, a party that has been a fixture on the Palm Beach scene since the 1930s, at the Flagler. Originally conceived by Anthony J. (Tony) Drexel Biddle Jr. as a payback by himself and his group of social bachelors, the Coconuts New Year’s Eve Gala went dormant almost to the point of oblivion about fifteen years ago but now has transformed once again into Palm Beach's most coveted New Year’s Eve invitation.

Wanda Kim, Steven Stolman, and Allison Wagner

Selected in the same hush-hush manner as a private club, the Coconuts now number 25 and are chaired by Bob “Lighthouse” Leidy. New among the ranks this year are Wilbur Ross, restaurateur Michael McCarty and young John Ylvisaker.

A while back, when Pauline Pitt’s ex-husband Dixon Boardman was running the show, she asked her buddy, designer Steven Stolman to put some spit and polish on what had become a rather dusty dance at the Colony Hotel. Since then, Stolman has recreated El Morocco, Gilligan’s Island and even made it snow on the dance floor for the new millennium.

The Coconuts

This year, for the first time in the new soaring glass atrium, it was all sparkling silver branches, tables draped in silver “eyelash” lame and thousands of candles. There, among the throng: Ridgley and Mai Harrison, Chris and Grace Meigher, Maribeth and Ellen Welsh, Ed and Hope Gropper, Roberto and Joanne de Guardiola, Lucy Musso, Allan and Maggy (that’s Maggy with a “y”) Scherer, Frannie Scaife and Tom McCarter, John Mashek, Virginia Coleman, David and Polly Ober, Mark Gilbertson and about 400 others — many of whom flocked onto the terrace to catch the fireworks shooting off from Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago club downstream.

Laddy Merck with Maura and Bill Benjamin

Tom McCarter and Frances Scaife

Dana and Whitney Tower

Susan and John Wanamaker Leas

Piper Quinn and Michael McCarty

Flagler Pavilion

Bob Leidy

Laddy Merck , Blakley Paige, Chris Meigher, and John Mashek

Alex Fanjul with Alex and Renate Dreyfoos

Two nights before New Year’s, out there in snowy Aspen, André Leon Talley, Vogue’s editor-at-large read from his book A.L.T. 365+ at an intimate gathering at the Prada store in Aspen on December 29.

During the private soiree, André talked about his relationships with designers like Miuccia Prada, Karl Lagerfeld and Diana Vreeland and how they influenced his life, and his book, which is best described as a year in his life as a Vogue editor.

André Leon Talley

This visually appealing book includes snapshots of the people, places and moments that have "touched [his] heartstrings" over the course of a year and impresses fashionistas with details on the haute couture set and his close relationship with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

At the reading André disclosed about his good friend Mariah Carey, who he joined on a horse and carriage ride the evening before.

"Mariah pulls up in a flimsy gold lamé gown that is as thin as tissue paper — and it's freezing out! All I could say was 'You do make an effort for your friends,’” André said.

André was asked during the reading if he “styles” Mariah Carey. "I don't style Mariah Carey,” he said. “Mariah styles herself. I love her the way she is."

Talley did confess that he chose a Dior gown for Mariah to wear to a ball, the same gown Melania Trump wore to her wedding.

Following Talley’s discourse, the Stylish Set perused the store, checking out items like a $35,000 chinchilla blanket, a leather and steel backgammon set and a $14,000 fox lined sleeping bag that could cure even the chilliest snow bunny of haute froideur.