Category Archives for Uncategorized
Charity Buzz
“Every comedian’s dream is an audience more famous than he is,” Jay Leno noted drily at the 32nd anniversary Carousel of Hope gala in Beverly Hills on Saturday night. With Tom Hanks, Stevie Wonder, Sidney Poitier, and Anjelica Huston in the crowd, not to mention Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez making their first official appearance as a couple, there was certainly enough star power to keep the Tonight Show host on his toes. Picking up the benefit’s Brass Ring Award, California First Lady Maria Shriver explained, “You can’t say no to Mrs. Davis.” The Mrs. D in question is Barbara Davis, who founded the biennial event with her late husband, Marvin, and has raised more than $75 million for diabetes research and care. This year’s festivities, which included a silent auction that spanned multiple ballrooms, a live auction, and dance-inducing performances from Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Gladys Knight, and Akon, raised close to $2.5 million for the cause. “It really is the highlight of the charity season in L.A.,” Rita Wilson said. And even in a town built on competitive one-upmanship, no one was arguing.
—Victoria Namkung Continue reading
About Face
—Celia Ellenberg Continue reading
Paris, California
“Only Vanessa Bruno could get me to wear leather shorts,” remarked Minnie Driver at the opening of the French designer’s Los Angeles boutique last night. The platinum blonde Bruno, in town from Paris, welcomed guests like Rosario Dawson, Lisa Eisner, Tracee Ellis Ross, Leslie Mann, Kelly Lynch, and Élodie Bouchez to the Melrose Avenue store. “I love her contradiction,” Erin Wasson said. “Her feminine pieces are extremely feminine, but she injects some androgyny in others.”
The airy, gallerylike shop—Bruno’s first in the U.S.—houses the signature collection, footwear, handbags, and the diffusion line, Athé. “It was important for the store to have a French spirit even though we’re in L.A,” Bruno said. Enter Chabert. The Paris-based artist began a mural in the store yesterday afternoon and continued painting after the party finished. His canvas will be divvied up and sections will be mailed to guests as a souvenir. Beats an Eiffel Tower key chain.
—Victoria Namkung Continue reading
Night at the Roxy
It’s been almost 40 years since Bryan Ferry first blazed across the pop cultural heavens as Roxy Music’s glittering centerpiece, four decades that add up to a whole lot of scenes he’s made, “in” crowds he’s been in with. All of them were represented—from fashion nabob Sir Philip Green to design legends Antony Price and Stephen Jones to a serious muso contingent led by David Gilmour—at Tuesday night’s dinner at London’s Dean Street Townhouse to celebrate Olympia, Ferry’s latest album.
The glamorous, glorious tradition of Roxy/Ferry cover icons is upheld on the new release by a Dior-clad Kate Moss. The supermodel spent the evening huddled with dinner companion Lucian Freud. That cross-generational meeting of minds was emblematic of the event and the music, which sees Ferry supported by Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera from his Roxy days, by members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Scissor Sisters, and Groove Armada, and by his 21-year-old son Tara on drums and Tallulah Harlech, also 21, on backing vocals. Having so many handsome young men in his life (there are three more chips off the old block) has brought a youthful edge to Ferry’s society coterie of Guinnesses and Somersets, but his girlfriend, Amanda Sheppard, who organized the dinner, further helped gild the lily last night with friends like Jacquetta Wheeler, Caroline Sieber, and the Delevingne sisters. Also in the mix: Manolo Blahnik, who once served time on a Ferry album sleeve (1974’s Another Time, Another Place, for the record), and Daphne Guinness, wearing a riveting outfit apparently inspired by “silence.”
—Tim Blanks Continue reading
Rocket Man
The going rate to dine with Anderson Cooper? $70,000. The silver-haired TV journalist hosted the Elton John AIDS Foundation annual benefit for the fourth consecutive year last night, and during the live-auction portion of the event, he offered himself up as a lunch date. “I’ll pay for lunch—that’s appetizer, main, and dessert, the whole bit. Now I don’t do a lot on a first date,” he teased, “but on a second, who knows?”
Luckily for losing bidders, the pricey anchor wasn’t the gala’s only attraction. There was further eye candy in the form of benefit committee member Hugh Jackman, and on the piano: the Rocket Man himself, accompanied by special guest Leon Russell. (John and Russell have just released a joint album, The Union.) Among those humming along in the audience: Petra Nemcova, who said she’s seen Elton perform in London, L.A., Toronto, and now New York.
Performances aside, the positive tenor of the night was capped by special honors for Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, Victor and Elena Pinchuk, and Jimmy Choo’s Tamara Mellon for their breadth of good deeds. (Mellon has raised $3.5 million to support the foundation’s work in South Africa.) “I suspect there are many pairs of Jimmy Choos on our gorgeous guests tonight,” Sir Elton said to a crowd that included Ivanka Trump and Christina Ricci. “Unfortunately, Tamara doesn’t make men’s shoes.”
—Bee-Shyuan Chang Continue reading
New York Welcomes The Rileys
Bella’s come a long way from Forks, Washington. In her latest film, Welcome to the Rileys, Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame plays a down-and-out underage prostitute. “We shot in real places in New Orleans, so strange things would happen all the time,” the actress said at last night’s Cinema Society screening.
The movie, which hits theaters next month, tells the story of Doug (James Gandolfini) and Lois Riley (Melissa Leo), who are grieving the death of their teenage daughter, and the runaway (Stewart) who revitalizes their marriage after they take her under their wings. According to the director, Jake Scott (Ridley’s son), the cast got an extra dose of perspective when a violent incident involving two local teens halted their filming for a day. “It was one of those moments in your life where it puts everything we’re doing in context,” he said.
Guests including Gerard Butler, Christina Hendricks, and Russell Simmons welcomed a lighter mood at the after-party at the Soho Grand’s new Club Room. Stewart had swapped the Spring 2011 Valentino dress she wore on the red carpet for gray jeans, a beanie, and a T-shirt. She was Bella all over again.
—Kristin Studeman Continue reading
Different Strokes
It wasn’t necessarily all about baring flesh at the New York Academy of Art’s Take Home a Nude auction benefit at Sotheby’s last night, but there were plenty of opportunities to appreciate the unclad human body. “Everything is in a nude—form, light, shape, geometry,” NYAA president David Kratz pointed out. He forgot to mention pastries. “I’ve been putting cakes on people’s heads recently—meringues, macarons, chocolate,” Will Cotton said. A commissioned portrait by Cotton, who painted Katy Perry in the buff for her latest album cover, was one of the evening’s auction lots; others included two Herb Ritts photos of torsos and a shot by Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel was one of the evening’s sponsors) of his favorite model, Baptiste, by a pool.
Over at the Museum of Arts and Design’s MetalBall, where the guiding theme was the element group beloved by rockers and industrialists, both the art and the outfits were harder-plated. Timo Weiland’s metallic accent of choice was his blazer’s brass buttons. “It’s a humble metal,” he shrugged. Among the offerings for sale were a copper cuff by House of Waris, a bronze camera replica by Michael Stipe, and a stainless steel sculpture by Richard Meier. Co-host Hannelore Knuts, who had collaborated on a video involving a giant magnet, was modeling a $2,500 hand-studded jean jacket by Christian Joy on the dance floor. “I would like for someone to buy it,” she said, “although I’ll get a cold going home.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading