Cursing the heavens Monday, The Observer spent the day sitting inside, watching from our window as the urban dwellers below suffered the unwanted ablutions of a peripatetic summer storm.
What to do on such a waterlogged evening? We brainstormed two rainy-day pursuits and resolved to both before the day was through. A movie and a museum, it was to be, though not in traditional fashion. Read More
At a pre-Tony Awards party last week, Best Actress in a Play nominee Tracie Bennett was in high spirits. “I will never forget this,” she told The Observer. “It’s been a privilege, it’s been an honor. I am bowled over by the respect. And I’m not crawling up anyone’s ass at all! The way the Read More
John Waters will not officiate your marriage, no matter how nicely you ask. “I don’t do that anymore,” he said firmly, at the after-party for the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards, held at Lincoln Center Monday night. “People expect me to write something. Besides, everybody’s in that church now!”
Mr. Waters became a legally recognized marriage celebrant of the Universal Life Church during the making of Cry-Baby, long before the Internet made ordination accessible to anyone with a wi-fi connection and $14.95. “If I’ve known you for 20 years, and it’s private, maybe I’ll do it.”
The director and author was in the unique position of accepting two awards on behalf of honorees in absentia—Johnny Depp (who was given the organization’s Fashion Icon Award) and Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo (who bagged the International Award). “Rei asked me first, so I said to Johnny, ‘You’re kidding! Rei asked me yesterday.’” Clad in an orange patterned Comme des Garçons suit jacket, Mr. Waters thus took the stage twice. “I was happy to be a double-feature for the evening.” Read More
“Vive la France!” Jamee Gregory triumphantly declared last Thursday night. Ms. Gregory, and an army of uptown sophistiquées stormed Lincoln Center for the New York City Ballet’s Spring Gala. With black-tie battle wear, the decidedly avec-culottes crowd celebrated La Republique, the evening’s theme and leitmotif. “As a Vassar French major it’s my favorite thing.” Ms. Gregory said of the country. “And I’ve loved everything French all my life.” Read More
Typically flanked by barrel-chested bouncers and clamoring paparazzi, The Observer was met with a much different welcoming party as we approached Cipriani 42nd Street last week. A rambunctious klezmer band was trumpeting, squeeze-boxing and beating their instruments in a chaotic, harem-scarem cacophony. Tapping Converse All-Star-clad feet to their own beats, the merry crew bleated an infectious gypsy harmony. Guests approaching the storied venue stopped and listened to the merry troupe before entering, chuckling roundly with the passive affection of the creative class for an out-of-context spectacle.
Inside, The Paris Review’s Spring Revel was just beginning to bloom. As usual, the stage was well-set: an armada of white-tailed attendants relieved guests of their early-April outerwear, and trays upon trays of tulip-like bellinis seemed always within arms reach. Read More
