Screw gift-giving to others. This season should be all about you! Treat yourself to something extraordinary that, naturally, you’d never consider budgeting for to give to anyone else. Don’t dwell on the stigma of selfishness–you deserve a reward! Sixty-hour work weeks with dreadful colleagues that collide headfirst into a binge of holiday family time; menacing Read More
![Cicely Tyson and Kathryn Chenault. [Patrick McMullan]](http://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/lfrqdqj.jpg?w=100)
Two hundred years is a hell of a long time for a nonprofit to have existed, Shindigger thought as we crept into the Pierre hotel on the chilly evening of December 12 to attend the New York City Mission Society’s bicentennial gala. NYCMS had invited an agglomeration of Harlem and uptown notables to the ever-swanky Read More
Last Thursday, more than 1,100 people packed the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Midtown for the 32nd Annual Muse Awards of the New York Women in Film and Television. This wasn’t your typical ladies-who-lunch affair, as a dazzling gaggle of silver screen honorees were acknowledged for their “outstanding vision and achievement.”
The Observer has attended many a high-powered New York City event, but at this one the atmosphere seemed a bit more genuine with enthusiasm and pride. And no wonder, given how deserving those honored were. Awardees filmmaker Lisa F. Jackson, Kim Martin of WE TV, Lucy Liu and Mariska Hargitay were all celebrated for being women who have persevered, not only having achieved professional success, but having demonstrated commitment towards improving the lives of others. For an industry famed for its self-indulgence, celebrating these women for the opposite was a welcome change.
Debra Zimmerman, executive director of nonprofit Women Make Movies, received the Loreen Arbus award. Read More
It’s quite something to behold a bare-chested man jumping around in a cherry red kangaroo suit. As we entered the youthful domain of the New Victory Theater’s gala honoring the Australia Council for the Arts, there he was.
A hodgepodge of theater philanthropists and celebrities entered slowly behind us, passing not only kangaroo-man but an assembly of cast members from Melbourne’s Circus Oz, the current holiday show at the venue. Read More
When Shindigger brushes shoulders with Mayor Michael Bloomberg during our frolics about town, it’s generally a sign we’re in the right place. This was most certainly the case last Monday evening at the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation Life Without Lupus black-tie gala. Hizzoner was one of 700 of New York City’s finest philanthropic fat cats who Read More
Our phone exploded with calls as we hurried, en retard, to the Plaza in a cab. The French, while not Swiss in their precision, are considerably more punctual than socially overwhelmed New Yorkers.
“Benjamin, tu arrives?” questioned the frazzled voice of one publicist with great concern just as we entered the famed hotel.
Shindigger has Read More
As we sloshed, caked with snow flurries, into the Mandarin Oriental for the 2012 Phoenix House Fashion award dinner last Wednesday evening, we couldn’t determine whether it was the way-too-early winter outside, the Sandy-forced relocation or the early start after an endless election season, but at first glance, things looked a bit quiet. (In retrospect, we appreciated the venue upgrade, considering it was originally slated to take place at Pier 60.)
“Well there’s Linda Fargo, at least …” we uttered to a weary-eyed publicist as she sashayed passed us in a crisp black sheath dress, before we sauntered downstairs to cocktail hour.
Below, on the 35th floor, the considerably more lively and notable fashion crowd imbibed, heedless of the blizzard-like winds that howled without mercy on the commoners struggling to get around Columbus Circle.
With the exception of Glenda Bailey, this didn’t feel like a typical fashion event; nay, it was considerably more corporate—a bit cliquey, but not necessarily in a bad way. Dashing executives (well mostly dashing) in flamboyant tailored suits sipped scotch and red wine, while a more demure population of women squawked about recent highs and lows. Read More
Just when we were sick and tired of cinema screenings and movie premiere parties (Hello nomination-baiting season!), The Cinema Society alongside Dior and Vanity Fair hosted one of its best shindigs yet, at the legendary Indochine restaurant following a showing of the Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard’s 2012 French-Belgian film, which stars Marion Cotillard and dizzyingly sexy Matthias Schoenaerts.
“I’m gonna need eight glasses of Champagne to lift myself up from that one!” one power publicist bellowed to The Observer over the roaring crowd.
“But Marion Cotillard was just amazing!”
This writer unfortunately missed the screening in order to support wounded U.S. servicemen and women uptown for Stand Up For Heroes event, which featured performances by John Mayer, Roger Waters and Bruce Springsteen.
We were hoping for a sighting and perhaps to bavarder with the Oscar-winner.
“Marion had to immediately catch an international flight,” one social stalwart dutifully informed us. Of course she had plenty of time to pose for the cameras in her Dior couture, flashing her wondrous baby-bump. Read More
We were exhausted—it was our third night in a row at The Plaza, and, quite frankly, we were becoming a little too familiar with the hotel’s ornate ballrooms at fund-raiser after frilly fund-raiser. The Observer loves schmoozing, but of late our calendar has left us rather harried—perhaps even unappreciative. As we arrived at the bedazzled edifice for the seventh annual Children’s Rights Benefit this past Wednesday, we quickly took notice of rapper Nick Cannon, slipping coolly out of a large black SUV with an entourage and bodyguards. At last, something seemed fresh, and unpredictable. While hip-hop stars and R&B producers are certainly no strangers to this old-school bastion of New York excess, it’s always exciting to see a touch of, er, young blood among traditional notions of prestige and privilege. With producer Kasseem David Dean a k a “Swizz Beatz” up for top honors that night, we anticipated that the hotel would be getting a much-needed dose of swagger. Read More
Our city was under siege—and all we wanted was a glass of Champagne.
Just before noon last Tuesday, we traipsed into the Pierre Hotel for Fashion 4 Development’s Second Annual First Ladies’ Luncheon. Before nearly everyone threatened or warned of nuclear war, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showcased his artistic inclinations, we joined the wives of the U.N.’s leading men as they paraded into the ballroom of Taj Resorts and Palaces of India’s U.S. flagship on East 61st.
In a world rife with crisis—the Middle East and Africa were among the week’s major talking points—we had but one imminent concern: we had missed the better part of a cocktail reception.
And it seemed we weren’t alone in not being particularly focused on the state of international affairs. Read More
