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Fashion
week has begun in New York and there is excitement
and anticipation in the air, with crowds gathered around and
about the tents in Bryant Park day and night.
Thursday I went to lunch at Michael’s with Alice Mason.
Two tables over, two of the most popular blondes in New York, Felicia
Taylor and Patricia Duff were lunching.
Oh, to be a fly on that wall. They’re two of the most fun and
interesting women in Manhattan. And nice too. And usually in the
midst of a relationship with some eligible or otherwise enthusiastic
dude/bachelor.
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DPC,
Steve Millington, and Alice Mason
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I think they’re
both traveling solo right now but between the two of them they
could write a book about the men who’ve fallen all over themselves
(or wanted to) just to be by their side. Friendly, bright, curious,
worldly, they both are easy to smile and laugh and, hard to believe
as it might be, without pretense. Really.
Both also pretty much stayed out of the social scene this summer.
Ms. Taylor went off on a program of, shall we say, health-oriented
austerity, and re-emerged her svelte, effervescent self. And Mrs.
Duff ...? Well, she said she’d tell me later.
I brought my camera along, thinking I was going over to Bergdorf’s
to someone’s fashion opening. Michael McCarty,
the restaurant’s proprietor, wanted to try out the Digital
by taking a picture of us. We invited Steve Millington,
the restaurant’s manager/maitre d’ to join us.
Afterwards I went over to Bergdorf’s looking for the trunk
show of Mina Poe, a/k/a Countess Philippe
d’Ornano. I couldn’t find it, hence no pictures
there.
Jill
Spalding gave a cocktail party that evening for the Count
and Countess, whom I’d not met before. The countess has one
of the most charming and popular boutiques in Paris on the Faubourg
St. Honore where she sells her unique line of knitted cashmere
jackets, scarves and accessories.
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Jill
Spalding and Countess (wearing Mina Poe), and Count
Philippe d'Ornano
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Crafts people
came to Bergdorf’s from far and wide to see her work because
it’s considered by many to be the most superb knitted pieces,
authentic high end craft.
So what are they like this young French count and countess? Like
a young American business couple in their focus, but also warm and
friendly. Mina articulates the artistic, creative side with her style
and open, outgoing personality. Philippe seemed entirely interested
in his wife’s business.
The d’Ornanos are an old French title and have a most famous,
much photographed hunting lodge outside Paris where the international
who’s who has visited for generations. Philippe’s father Count
Hubert is the CEO of Sisley, one of the most successful
companies in the international cosmetic industry. Countess
Hubert, Isabelle, considered one of the most elegant women
in the world, is Vice Chairman of the Board and responsible for creative
development. Philippe is Executive Vice President of the family company
and their daughter Christine is in charge of the
Mexican and British subsidiaries.
I spent most of my time talking to the d’Ornanos about web
sites, endlessly boring except to those who have one.
Then Libby Kabler and daughter, and Beth
DeWoody and daughter came by to look at Mina Poe’s
things, so I took a picture of them with one of the scarves. |
Kyle
DeWoody, Beth DeWoody, and Libby Kabler with her daughter modeling
a Mina Poe scarf
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Friday
night, Ferragamo’s had the opening of their
new Fifth Avenue flagship store. Which I missed. I heard there
were lines around the block waiting to get in to rub elbows
and what-else with the hipsters, fashionistas and fashionuhbles.
Afterwards a select crew went over to Bungalow 8 for a very
private public party. I missed all of it.
Saturday night I went over to Bryant
Park to see Jennifer Nicholson’s
show. Called for nine, the lights didn’t dim
and then Come Up until almost ten. Ms. Nicholson, who
has a very famous father of the same name out in Hollywood,
has a famous shop on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica
called Pearl.
She’s been so popular with her clothes that someone decided
she should start manufacturing them. This was her first New York
show. Micro-mini, ruffles, flourishes, bare flesh, Baby Doll, Baby
Jane, Jane baby, it was very young and sexy. We’ll have pictures
of a lot of the line on the Diary sometime this week.
Afterwards Cornelia Guest gave a party for her friend
Ms. Nicholson with sixty or seventy guests in the library of Soho
House, the hot new private club on 13th and Ninth. This was my first
trip to the much talked about (and written about) club, the New York
branch of the English establishment.
It opened last June and everyone wants to belong. Or at least go
there. It is “by membership only” however. There’s
a dining room, game rooms, a screening room, guest bedrooms for out
of town visitors, and on the roof a fabulous deck and pool. The décor
is very “60s and 70s,” and although I lived in the 60s
and the 70s, I don’t know what that means. Then again, in the
60s and 70s, we often described things as very 30s or 20s (never
40s or 50s – everyone just wanted to get away from those).
However, SoHo House doesn’t allow cameras so I couldn’t
take a picture which in this case would be better than ten thousand
of my words.
The club is in a large, old building on a corner of what used to
be the Meat District in the lower West Side of Manhattan. From the
outside, it looks solid, and newly refurbished, five or six stories.
The entrance/lobby is small and undistinguished. Then you get into
the elevators with the dark green leather tufted panels, press the
silver directory for your destination and off you go into that movie
that is your life.
That entire part of town, locale, is now jumping, and considered
very cool by those who determine cool. When I left SoHo House about
quarter to midnight, there were crowds on the sidewalks, in the streets,
in the restaurants and bars nearby. Very cool. Cool evening. Less
than a mile from Ground Zero. Always there, stuck in your craw; life
moves along. |
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