At Allure, They Love A Man In Uniform
We had a bake sale here at CondéNet, but over at 4 Times Square they really know how to celebrate the holiday. Allure staffers all dressed up like their creative director, Paul Cavaco, in his signature white oxford, jeans, and glasses. Happy Halloween!
costume drama: after being dressed down by the post, lydia hearst dresses up
There are two ways to handle a scandal. Option one is to hunker down. Option two is to think Halloween. Lydia Hearst, for example, made a costume out of the recent foofaraw about her now-defunct column at the New York Post, showing up to Alex and Ani founder Carolyn Rafaelian’s pre-Halloween bash last night dressed as “Lyin’ Lydia.” “Well, a headline like that, you can either cry about it or laugh about it,” said Hearst, who got spiked by Page Six this week for embellishing the truth behind her decision to quit her reporting gig at the paper. Hearst, for the record, is sticking to her story, and last night kept the embellishments to her costume. She and several friends were adding some bedazzle to their outfits by stacking on Alex and Ani bangles before heading to the Interview magazine bash at 1Oak. Rafaelian had turned her Tribeca loft into something of a staging area for the Interview do. Makeup artists were zombie-fying guests in the back, and up front by the bar, a smattering of aliens and sexy nurses (and one giant gold buddha) worked on the pre-party buzz. But Hearst, for her part, seemed destined to make a stop at some other staging area down the line. “Actually,” she reported (honestly) of her “Lyin’ Lydia” getup, “this is only my first costume of the night. By the time I get to Interview, I’ll be Poison Ivy.”
blasblog: richard avedon’s former home gets a second life as party central
Although Barbara Bui and Charlotte Sarkozy are technically new acquaintances, they have all the makings of a fabulous fashion friendship: “We have many friends in common and she looks fantastic in my dresses,” Bui explained. “And her house is perfect for parties.” Sarkozy, whose husband, Olivier, is the half brother of a rather famous French politician, made good on all counts Thursday evening when she hosted a small party at her Upper East Side town house—a rather important pile of bricks, since its previous occupant was Richard Avedon, who lived and worked in the same space for three decades. Among the guests were Amanda Ross, Shala Monroque, Joanna Coles, Cory Kennedy, Genevieve Jones, and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, the last two of whom proclaimed they were working a Givenchy retrospective for the evening (Jones was in 1970′s Givenchy couture, and Restoin-Roitfeld was in a Riccardo Tisci-designed lace number from Fall). And while the party was for Bui—with many of the evening’s ladies in dresses from the designer, and Bui herself wearing a large, attention-grabbing neck piece—for many it was all about the digs. “This place is fantastic,” Jones sighed as the Sarkozy children, dressed in pj’s with hair wet from a shower, scurried around the party. “Not just in real estate terms, but in the realm of fashion history,” she added. As a testament to the house’s previous occupant—the Sarkozys moved in after Avedon died and renovated the residential floors two and a half years ago, but they left his street-level studio relatively untouched—the photographer’s infamous image of an eerily vulnerable Marilyn Monroe holds a place of honor near the kitchen table. “We could have had Avedon’s giant three-picture collage of Andy Warhol and the Factory,” Olivier Sarkozy explained. “But I don’t think my wife would have wanted the kids to look at a couple of naked transvestites every morning at breakfast.” Trannies and cereal don’t mix, but apparently Avedon and a handful of Keith Harings do.
A Detail-Oriented Haunted House
In the midst of Chelsea’s gallery glut, Julie Trotta has carved out a big reputation for curating intellectually expansive shows in an 80-square-foot former utility closet. Now, Trotta and co-curator Glynnis McDaris are taking over a whole house for God Is in the Details, opening November 2. The 14 artists Trotta and McDavis have enlisted to fill a historic (and alledgedly haunted) New Orleans Victorian mansion keep their ambitions scaled down with work that focuses on, as the title of the show suggests, details. So Liz Goldwyn’s photograph of a vibrant young nude wearing a string of animal vertebrae like a rope of pearls down her back takes a small part of each of us and makes it represent the fragility of everyone’s life as a whole. Also employing an accessory to showstopping effect, Gloria Maximo creates elaborate ornate paintings using nail polish. And Ruben Cox’s photographs of romantic plumes of smoke leave the origins of the fire unspecified, while making clear all that we need to know—this show is smokin’.
total recall: narciso rodriguez launches a book about his career so far
Yesterday evening, Narciso Rodriguez launched his new self-titled book, published by Rizzoli (with contributions from New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn, photographer Cindy Sherman, and artist Betsy Berne), in a corner of Bergdorf Goodman, where some of his collections are sold. Celebrity friends and fashion insiders in attendance took a stroll down memory lane with the designer, whose name over the past two and a half decades has become one of American fashion’s most recognizable signatures.
Julianna Margulies, Actress
I first met Narciso around 13 years ago when I was first on ER and he was designing for Cerruti. He was nominated for a CFDA Award and asked me to go with him. He made me this stunning dress. That was sort of our first date and we became good friends. I still have that Cerruti coat—and I wear it all the time—that I wore on our first CFDA Awards together. I would still wear the dress, too, except that he took it back because it had to go into some museum somewhere.
Robert Burke, Principal, Robert Burke Associates
Seeing him here, I remember eight years ago when my office was right there in that corner. This was back when Narciso smoked. He was smoking in my office, having a trunk show and a PA and a party here, all at the same time. He’s the same person as he was eight years ago, which is just wonderful.
Reed Krakoff, Creative Director, Coach
I’ve known Narciso for 21 years. He was my first boss, actually. I was an intern when I was at Parsons and he was design director at Anne Klein. So I’ve known him forever and he’s become a good, close friend. I think he will always be known for exquisite style, incredible precision, and amazing taste. He’s still pretty young, though, to be doing a book like this!
Linda Fargo, Senior Vice President, Bergdorf Goodman
Something that I always look for in a designer—and Narciso has it in spades—is a clear signature. He doesn’t have an identity crisis every season: He knows who he is. He refines himself, experiments in new materials. As a client, as a customer, as a cult—a Narciso cult!—person, you start to almost collect his pieces. He delivers so consistently.
Narciso Rodriguez
Doing a book like this, it’s a very emotional thing. You start to see how your work evolved: where the good parts were, where the hard times were, where the great times were. It’s a learning experience.