Friday evening we headed up to
Barneys New York for a cocktail celebration in honor of Balenciaga designer
Nicolas Ghesquiere. It was the first opportunity to catch up with folks from the fashion herd after the summer. We were sipping a glass of champagne and nibbling on a tasty bit of caviar when we took a step back and nearly stumbled over a stroller. The first thought, of course, was who on earth is hauling a baby around to cocktail parties. Goodness knows that we shouldn't have been surprised to see a baby since editors bounce babies on their laps all the time at shows. (We just hope that they've got some baby earplugs to dampen some of the deafening music.) It's not our favorite thing because we're sort of old school and believe that there are some places where children belong and other places where they simply should not be. We don't want to hear the titter-titter of toddler giggles when we're drowning our fashion sorrows at a bar, for instance.
Ghesquiere design(Maria Valentino for The Washington Post)
But we digress. Back to Barneys and the baby carriage, which turned out not to have a baby at all but rather a Maltese. Now who would bring a dog to a cocktail party? Who would bring a dog to a cocktail party in a stroller? Crazy fashion people.
We made a brief stop at the
Nicole Miller show and said a big hello to company president
Bud Konheim who just might be the only executive on Seventh Avenue who actually speaks the unvarnished truth in the sort of exceptional sound bites that make a reporter's heart go pitter-patter. Truth is a beautiful thing and is far more impressive than the umptee-umth trapeze dresses we have already seen on the runway.
The evening ended at the Museum of the City of New York for the party in celebration of the exhibition
"Black Fashion Now." There was a crowd of people outside the museum when we arrived and following the first rule of fashion -- never wait in the line -- we immediately went in search of someone with a headset or a clipboard. Yay! The velvet rope is drawn back and we are in.
The museum was packed with people and was mighty steamy inside. After an almost two-hour hunt, we still never managed to actually lay eyes on the bars. They were buried behind crowds at least 10 people deep.
Essence's
Susan Taylor and popular culture's
Sean "Diddy" Combs were two of the hosts for the evening. Taylor, with her signature braids, was wearing a long white strapless gown and seemed to have her own makeup artist trailing her around who gave her a little powder touch-up right there in the middle of the crowded cocktail party. Couldn't they have taken that to the bathroom? We had our own personal hanky which we used to dab our brow.
Diddy arrived sometime around 9:30. In preparation for his arrival, a museum security guard went around to guests standing by the door asking them to clear the way because "a Puffy Dad" was coming through. Apparently "Puffy Dad" required a good 20 feet of clearance before he could enter the room.
We enjoyed the part of the exhibit that we saw, although it was disappointing that it was so heavily focused on hip- hop, giving the impression that all modern black style somehow emanates from that aesthetic. More of the nitty-gritty of the exhibit later.
To conclude the glamorous evening, we taxied home, walked the dog and had a slice of pizza.
