By Benjamin-Émile Le Hay 9/06/12 5:21pm

fashion week

Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta and Sarah Jessica Parker

The Oscar: De La Renta Honored by the Couture Council

Quelle chance that the venerable philanthropist and socialite Jean Shafiroff invited The Observer to wine and dine at her table at the David H. Koch Theater for Fashion Institute of Technology’s 2012 Couture Council of The Museum luncheon.  Despite the hefty $1,000-a-head price tag, around 600 guests, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Barbara Walters, Anna Wintour, Simon Doonan, Fe Fendi, Diane von Furstenberg, editrix and realty star Nina Garcia, Carolina Herrera, Mario Buatta, Yaz Hernandez, Martha Stewart, Dennis Basso, Ruben and Isabel Toledo, YUE editor Chiu-Ti Jansen and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, paraded uptown for the ruckus.  FIT’s clout was undeniable with so many powerful New Yorkers packed into the gold-leaf foyer. Truth be told, 2012 Couture Council Artistry of Fashion honoree Oscar de la Renta certainly deserved credit for the monumental turn-out. Read More

By Drew Grant 3/12/12 11:00am

Party Report

3rd Annual Diane Von Furstenberg Awards - Show

The 3rd Annual Diane Von Furstenberg Awards: Tina Brown Crushes Our Hand and DvF Calls Us “A Giant Tattoo”

After a week of Armory parties, museum galas, and movie premieres, a little perspective was in order. After all, there is more to life than reporting on the cultural whims of the city’s 1%, right? (What we wouldn’t give for a dive bar to drink away our Friday night.) We compromised by going to the United Nations and celebrating International Women’s Day–a day late, but the Women in the World Conferencem of which the night was a part of, lasts 72 hours, so technically we were just celebrating outside the illusion of time–at the 3rd Annual Diane von Furstenberg Awards.

Sure, the room was jam-packed with stars eating shrimp cocktail: Ms. von Furstenberg herself, husband Barry Diller, Tina Brown, Fran Lebowitz, Diane Sawyer, Lauren Bush, Debra Winger, Oprah(tm), and, just for funsies, Jessica Alba. But the evening, sponsored by the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation to honor five women from around the globe who had “demonstrated leadership, strength, and courage in their respective fields,” added an air of levity to the proceedings that might have been lacking at the Independent earlier in the week. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 3/09/12 8:00am

the eight-day week

Diane Von Furstenberg (Getty Images)

To Do Friday: Furst Lady

How beastly! Tina Brown’s news venture (we can’t still call it a venture after more than a vaguely successful year, can we?), the revamped Newsweek, hosts an awards ceremony as part of its Women in the World Summit. Diane von Furstenberg, noted gay ally, is to present the DVF Awards to five women who’ve helped Read More