5 posts tagged "Mary Alice Stephenson"
VERA: Changing the World, One Corset at a Time
Corsets, cell phones, fashion, and microfinance might seem like they’d make for strange bedfellows, but those things are all coming together for a good cause at tonight’s launch event for VERA, a new phone application (created by mobile-intelligence firm Validas) that targets wireless waste (unused minutes and data on your cellular bill) and donates that money to the Seven Bar Foundation—a group that aims to empower women in need around the globe with targeted business investments. Sounds complicated, but basically it’s an innovative way to give back and become a mini-philanthropist, if you will. In the past, Seven Bar has raised funds and awareness for its mission with unique lingerie runway shows. And tonight—at the United Nations, of all places—the organization will be hosting one such extravaganza. “If we’re going to launch this, we’re going to do it in true Seven Bar style,” the foundation’s founder, Renata Black, told Style.com.
Black and the team behind VERA recruited several fashion designers—Erin Fetherston, Zang Toi, Guy Laroche artistic director Marcel Marongiu, and Sarah Shotton of Agent Provocateur—to create corsets for the occasion. (Mary Alice Stephenson is the master of ceremonies, and Tennessee Thomas, Hannah Bronfman, Kelly Rutherford, and Jennifer Creel are among the expected attendees.) Why corsets? you might ask. “They’re traditionally associated with restriction, but we’ve asked the designers to reimagine them as inner armor for outer empowerment,” Black explained. The designers gave Style.com an exclusive sneak peek at the custom corsets that will parade down this evening’s runway. “I’m known for my feminine aesthetic and that comes through in the draped chiffon, embellishments, and sweet bow gathering in the back. It’s romantic and modern,” said Fetherston. Meanwhile, Toi looked to Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture for corset inspiration, and Shotton did a quintessentially Agent Provocateur (read: sexy) take on the undergarment. To top it all off, Imitation of Christ designer Tara Subkoff will give a live performance at tonight’s event. Known to dabble in all forms of film and theatrics, Subkoff will make her own corset on the spot, and promises that the result will be imaginative. Corsets for change—why not?
No Marchesa For The Princess Bride
(Plenty For The Others, Though)
The Apthorp is one of New York’s toniest addresses, so no surprise that the frills-and-all label Marchesa chose the West Seventies apartment complex—really more of a gated community, with enormous iron bars shielding its interior gardens from Broadway—to show both finery and its new flatware: its new bridal collection on one hand, and its second collection of dinner plates, cups, and serving pieces for Lenox on the other. A crowd including Courtney Love (the proverbial bull in the china shop, who arrived a fashionably-late ten minutes before the scheduled end time), Olivia Munn, Sanaa Lathan, and Mary Alice Stephenson all stopped in for a look.
Marchesa is known for weddings—designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig recently custom-designed frocks for brides Nicole Richie and Emily Blunt—but Craig dispelled rumors they’re in the running for this month’s royal affair. “I’m excited to see what she’s going to be wearing,” the English-born Craig said. “I think she’s a very stylish woman, and I think she’ll probably choose something beautiful and classic. I don’t think she’s going to go for anything too trend-based or crazy edgy. She’ll look like a princess!”
For princess brides, of course, there are plenty of frothy options. But there are others, too, for city brides, beach brides, and, really, any kind of bride you could mention (though City Hall bride might find herself a little overdressed). “We really try to think of different types of bride that are out there and try to have a dress for each different kind,” Craig said. She gestured to a favorite from the collection, a wasp-waisted, skintight number. “This one is much more fitted, there’s less corsetry inside,” she explained. “A lot those brides have spent six to eight months working on their body…this is a dress for that woman who really doesn’t need the structure of the corset, she just wants to show off.”
Mary-Kate And Ashley Olsen Support Art—Even When They Don’t Win It
On Friday night, it was Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen vs. Amy Sacco vs. Mary Alice Stephenson in a bidding war to the finish. The prize: Dan Colen’s One of Everything, a hotly contested lot at Free Arts NYC’s annual benefit auction. It had all the potential for a social throw-down of epic proportions—except that (we like to think, for the cause of party peace) a mysterious fourth bidder ended up taking the cake. Ah, well. The Row designers were hosts as well as bidders for the evening, and drew guests like Hilary Rhoda, Jason Wu, John Varvatos, and even third sister Elizabeth Olsen (namesake of Elizabeth and James). More than a few came away with a new acquisition, like Evan Yurman (whose company, David Yurman, co-sponsored with Vanity Fair) and benefit committee member Stephenson, who snagged a stencil-scrawled photo by Luca Babini. “This is New York, the cultural capital of the world, and 400,000 kids don’t have access to after-school art programs,” she said. The attending culturati did what they could to remedy that: The evening raised $550,000, and the hostesses Olsen donated enough between them to fund two days of after-school programming.
The Kids Are All Right
As nice as it was here in New York, plenty of fashion folks with children (David Neville and Gucci Westman, Jenna Lyons, and host Mary Alice Stephenson) spent Saturday afternoon inside at Milk Gallery at a fundraiser held by Planet Awesome Kid. The Web site is one part The Sartorialist for the under-12 set and another part party planner, and the beneficiary of the event was Global Action for Children, a charity whose honorary chair is Angelina Jolie. She and Brad weren’t in attendance, but there were models (like Dorothea Barth Jorgensen, pictured) and A-listers (Brooke Shields included) for moms and dads to ogle, while the kids watched break dancing by Kid Flash and Full Circle Soul, painted alongside the world-famous graffiti artist Aero, or got spotted for a fashion campaign. No word on whether it was coincidence or kismet that a KCD employee casting tots for a Benetton ad took a break from work upstairs to check out the party. Global Action for Children’s next project will be a celebrity auction on May 7 in honor of World AIDS Orphans Day at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
Cinema Society Keeps On Trucking
“It’s great to have a regular movie night!” said Michelle Monaghan at Friday night’s Cinema Society screening of her new film Trucker. Well, at least as regular as these things can get. Instead of a velvet-rope affair, the opening mixed it up downtown at the Village East Cinema, where regular fans noshed their popcorn alongside the likes of Arlenis Sosa and Karolina Kurkova—hitting her nine-month mark this week. Still, Monaghan had cleaned up for the occasion sporting head-to-toe Calvin Klein in honor of the night’s co-host. It’s a far glossier look than her character in the film, a tough truck driver who has to make room in her life for her estranged son. Afterward, the group headed to dinner at Charles in the West Village, where Mary Alice Stephenson surprised Monaghan with a French show tune sung by burlesque performer Lady Rizo. It was all in celebration of Monaghan’s role, which some are comparing to Sally Field in Norma Rae. “For me, this was the role of a lifetime,” said Monaghan. “It’s not often that you get to read characters that are not just one-dimensional.”