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Fashion SchmashionSo I went to such a swell dinner party Monday night at my friend Sally Singer's (photographed examining her gorgeous John Derian table settings!). Sally, the esteemed features editor of Vogue, lives in the Chelsea Hotel and threw a really cute dinner in a penthouse there for our great friend Isabel Toledo to celebrate her gig taking over as chief designer for Anne Klein. Isabel told me that the folks at Anne Klein have given her the reins to redesign their entire image, from their space to their ready to wear! How fabulous this is going to be folks! The best is that she is starting with a blank palette since the company has not had a strong brand image since Donna Karan left.The dinner was very "family" for about 30 or so folks. Many attending were old friends....including Ruben and Isabel Toledo who, by the way, I have known for more than 25 years. I met Ruben when he was a salesperson at a Soho shop many years ago. Then he introduced me to his girlfriend Isabel who I immediately was smitten with and I've been jumping up and down, stomping and screaming about how great her clothes are ever since. More old friends? Joey Arias (seen in the photo with me and Susanne Bartsch) flew in for the night from his gig in Vegas hosting the Cirque du Soleil's "Zumanity." (Joey and I moved to NYC together driving across country from LA on black beauties in a pickup truck after I graduated college).The sweetheart Alber Elbaz (designer of Lanvin) was also there, visiting NY from Paris to shoot his campaign. Alber and I go way back (you can see me with Alber and Isabel in the photo here) also. I met Alber at least 15 years ago when he was working as Geoffrey Beene's assistant. I think Elbaz was Mr. Beene's favorite assistant. He adored him. And Elbaz certainly learned from the master, which shows in the flawless work he's creating for Lanvin these days.Suzanne Bartsch came upstairs for dinner too (she lives in the Chelsea and is also an old friend also of mine and the Toledos), looking to die for glamourous gorgeous. I sat next to Narciso Rodriguez (Cuban comrade and also a friend of the Toledos), who it turns out was born in Newark very close to where I was born. We're both Jersey girls! On my other side was Visionaire's Cecilia Dean who I've known for decades but never get a chance to see or talk to any more. Did you know that Cecilia was a model in the olden days of PAPER and was on one of our covers in the 80s? I also ended up talking to the greatest guy, who is Cecilia's boyfriend named David. He owns the four restaurants around the city called RICE. (We order from Rice all the time at PAPER!) I loved this guy!! We ended up talking politics and it turns out that he is a green guy who is not only building a green house in Red Hook to live in (that collects rainwater and and is solar and all that stuff) but David also has converted his delivery trucks to use cooking oil for fuel. He told me it cost him next to nothing to buy a diesel van and have it converted into burning veggie oil and that he saves so much money on gas etc also. He also told me that at he collects all the produce garbage (peels, skins, cores, leftover stuff) at his restuarants and donates it back to the produce providers to use as composte. He told me he saves tons of money getting rid of his oil and garbage this way. He also told me he's opening a sort of surf shop on Crosby Street with the artist Tom Sachs. I adored this guy!!! These photos are by my new friend who was also there, Ikram Goldman who has the most fabulous clothing shop in Chicago and has always sold Isabel's clothes. She flew in just for the occasion!
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