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The Hotness
The tiki torches were lit, the Champagne was flowing, and the cocktail-hour entertainment was covered in head-to-toe paint. For its 17th annual summer benefit, the Watermill Center threw an alfresco party with an Italian title, Paradiso, and a Fellini-esque mood. It started with a transporting climb up saw grass-lined steps, past costumed “snow monkeys” handing out samples of a scent that perfumer Loc Dong had created for the occasion. Beyond the wide courtyard, guests including Calvin Klein, Marisa Berenson, and Amanda Hearst toured installations of silver-painted performers and a violinist perched up in a tree. “It’s like walking into a temple, after getting out of your car and away from your GPS,” Elise Øverland noted.
In line with that Paradiso theme, more than a few guests wore angel’s wings. But apparently, nature didn’t get the memo—it was hot as you-know-what. “We started to get bitten by mosquitoes, so it was a quick walk through the woods,” Klein reported. Later, Sharon Stone interrupted her hosting duties during dinner to announce that a bug had flown up her dress. “What an awkward moment—for the bug,” she quipped. Stone auctioned off works by Marina Abramovic and Donald Judd and got Alec Baldwin to shell out $50,000 for a private performance by Rufus Wainwright, who had belted out an a cappella version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to get the bidding going.
That was more than anyone was hearing from Terence Koh, who indicated with his fingers that he was on day 35 of his vow of silence. But with 600 guests packing the dinner tent, there was more than enough buzzing to go around.
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
The Hotness
The tiki torches were lit, the Champagne was flowing, and the cocktail-hour entertainment was covered in head-to-toe paint. For its 17th annual summer benefit, the Watermill Center threw an alfresco party with an Italian title, Paradiso, and a Fellini-esque mood. It started with a transporting climb up saw grass-lined steps, past costumed “snow monkeys” handing out samples of a scent that perfumer Loc Dong had created for the occasion. Beyond the wide courtyard, guests including Calvin Klein, Marisa Berenson, and Amanda Hearst toured installations of silver-painted performers and a violinist perched up in a tree. “It’s like walking into a temple, after getting out of your car and away from your GPS,” Elise Øverland noted.
In line with that Paradiso theme, more than a few guests wore angel’s wings. But apparently, nature didn’t get the memo—it was hot as you-know-what. “We started to get bitten by mosquitoes, so it was a quick walk through the woods,” Klein reported. Later, Sharon Stone interrupted her hosting duties during dinner to announce that a bug had flown up her dress. “What an awkward moment—for the bug,” she quipped. Stone auctioned off works by Marina Abramovic and Donald Judd and got Alec Baldwin to shell out $50,000 for a private performance by Rufus Wainwright, who had belted out an a cappella version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to get the bidding going.
That was more than anyone was hearing from Terence Koh, who indicated with his fingers that he was on day 35 of his vow of silence. But with 600 guests packing the dinner tent, there was more than enough buzzing to go around.
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Updos to Beat the Heat
—Celia Ellenberg Continue reading
Gray Gingham
—Matthew Schneier Continue reading
Mulberry in Movieland
In town to fête her Fall ’10 collection, Mulberry creative director Emma Hill arrived in the City of Angels with a little extra baggage—the label’s signature glittery leopards, which held court at each end of the pool at the Chateau Marmont. Label muse Alexa Chung (toting her namesake bag, of course) was in town to play DJ for fellow It Brits like Kelly Osbourne and Cat Deeley. During dinner, Jessica Joffe and stylist Jessica de Ruiter sat at one end of the long table, while 90210‘s Jessica Stroup and Shenae Grimes snapped Polaroids of themselves with Gia Coppola and Nathalie Love at the other, and sliding into the seat next to Hill—fashionably late—was Kate Bosworth.
Hill, for her part, was reveling in the number of Angeleno fans on hand. Though she kept mum on whether there was a new L.A. store on the horizon, an expanded production schedule means that we will see more Mulberry bags and ready-to-wear stateside (the latter is currently only available on the label’s Web site and at its Madison Avenue location). Reflecting on the overwhelming demand for the Alexa and, lately, the Neely bags, Hill shrugged sheepishly, “It’s really a high-class problem, now, isn’t it?” Clutching her own Margaret bag (named for the wild royal), the designer did hint at what’s to come. “We’re definitely going to continue to push for more leathers and start to make the line more cohesive, using hardware from the handbags on the clothes and shoes,” she said, as someone complimented her coral booties with Bayswater hardware (due out in August). “They’re kind of ridiculous, aren’t they?” The kind that should fly off shelves, yes.
—Alexis Brunswick Continue reading