People & Parties

Hattie Elliott is one of those girls that all the guys love and all the girls want to be friends with. She’s personable, energetic, gorgeous, and a young New York professional with an enviable network of really cool people that she calls her friends.   Luckily for other New York singles, Hattie brings all her single friends and all of their friends together at monthly events she plans for her company save the date(ing).  Any of you gals or guys that have ever asked your friend to “hook you up” with their single friends will realize how genius this concept is.  Hattie also interviews and vets every person that joins so you’re pretty much guaranteed not to meet a creep. (more…)

Cross designer collaboration is nothing new but Roxy’s partnership with JBL created such a splash that all of New York’s A-List socialites came out to the Red Bull Space to celebrate the launch, which Vanity Fair listed as one of the top 3 parties from around the globe Tuesday night. We agree with VF that DJ style is definitely hot right now and think that Roxy/JBL’s neon on-ear headphones would look pretty foxy worn around the streets of New York City.  At the party, we caught sight of socialites Fabiola Bercasa, Byrdie Bell, Derek Blasberg, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, and Genevieve Jones as well as Erin Lucas from The City and Misshapes DJ turned model, Leigh Lezark. (more…)

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the one year anniversary party and celebration of achievement for BanQ, a contemporary French/Asian fusion restaurant in Boston’s South End. Within the past couple of years, the South End has sprouted with new eclectic restaurants; however, what makes BanQ so noteworthy is not limited to their delicious food, but their award-winning interior design. Thus, this celebration was in combination with Wallpaper Magazine, who awarded BanQ with their “best new restaurant” award in 2009.

The party’s attendees included Boston area public relations professionals, beauty insiders, and interior designers among others. I brought my friend and coworker, Leighann Farrelly, who is the Director of Marketing in Boston for Yelp.com. I knew this party was right up her alley, and she was more than enthused to attend! Before mingling and chatting, we hit up the bar, where they were featuring four delicious-sounding cocktails. We both opted for the Deerhunter, BanQ’s version of a gingery-mojito, concocted with Goslings Bermuda Rum, ginger beer, blood orange puree, mint, and lime. This cocktail was strikingly similar to a cocktail I’ve requested at Drink multiple times. Perhaps I’ve started a Boston cocktail trend? (more…)

I have the pleasure of going to a lot of events working here at TDO but very few match the significance of the Joyful Heart Gala, which I attended a couple weeks ago as a guest of philosophy.  Joyful Heart Foundation is a philanthropy founded by Law & Order star Mariska Hargitay whose mission is to help survivors of child abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence through providing programs, guidance and support. The gala, hosted by Hargitay and her friend Debra Messing was inspiring but at the same time jarring and eyeopening.  Supporters of the cause who were in attendance included Hilary Swank, Chris Meloni, Marcia Gay Harden, Peter Hermann, Ice T and Julianna Margulies.  It was awe inspiring to be seated so close to these stars who so passionately supported the message of Joyful Heart. (more…)

On Sunday night, Amanda Lepore and some of her Club Kid friends celebrated the launch of Lepore’s new fragrance, a $950 extravaganza created exclusively for Artware Editions. The eponymous fragrance, Amanda, is encrusted with 1,000 Swarovski crystals and will host a limited run of only 5,000 bottles.

My friend and I stopped by the upstairs of Hiro Ballroom to congratulate Amanda on her new fragrance and learned a few lessons from the transexual glamour icon along the way.

1. Know how to work a room.  Lepore wore a Marie Antoinette bouffant and glittery, body hugging silver dress that made sure all the eyes on the room were focused on her.  Yet she was extremely friendly and gracious, stopping by to make everyone feel welcome at her party.

2. If you’re going to go out, go all out.  The atmosphere included a cotton candy machine, platters of red velvet cupcakes, signature red Amanda drinks,  a giant disco ball, and a full screen  which debuted Lepore’s music video.   But of course, the main attraction of the night aside from Lepore herself, was a  glass encased display of her perfume. (more…)

Tech got even sexier last night as the fashionable crowd descended upon a private space to celebrate the launch of the new T-Mobile Sidekick LX. While this phone launches in May, party goers had the chance to play with the prototypes scattered around the rooms. My friend Wendy over at Nitrolicious gave up her trusty BlackBerry the second she got there (as I discovered by frantically trying to BBM her as I was heading over, to no avail) and spent the entire night tweeting the play by play from her Sidekick. The verdict? Pretty cool and it comes with great twittering abilities.

On any given (week)night in New York, there are at least 2 or 3 parties on my radar but a lot of them end up being pretty blah. Occasionally, there’s a really fun fashion fete but mostly it’s too much of a parade of “who’s who.”  Not to mention, any possible cute guy you spot surely has his eye on the models mingling about to pay you any attention.  So it was pretty refreshing to head over to a tech party instead where the techies, geeks, media crowd, fashionistas and the cool kids all co-mingle without the pressure of figuring out which bouncer you have to sweet talk to get into the VIP area.  The other big change I noticed?  No one is scared to eat!  I, too, joined the crowd and got in line to make myself a heap of nachos.  There was also a hot dog stand and three bars in addition to the obligatory presentation of chichi h’orderves passed around by male models. (more…)

FW might as well stand for Free-booze Week as liquor brands scramble to sponsor one of ten parties that could be going on any given evening.  Last season, I hopped five per night only to learn the hard way that there is such a thing as too many glasses of free bubbly. So I got a little smarter this time around and decided only to hit up a few good ones.  Last night, I brought my friend Jason Backe (of Ted Gibson Salon fame) to the Casa La Femme reopening – an intimate affair hosted by stylist Kithe Brewster with his friends  Lil Kim, Moby, and Khloe Kardashian among others in attendance.

Unlike most celeb heavy events, the opening was refreshingly minus a red carpet, excessive photographers and all that hoopla. The restaurant is completely shielded behind a wall of trees and the only tell tale sign of the soiree behind its dark windows was the girls with the clipboards outside the door. The famous and the commoners comingled in the sultry, spacious restaurant, feasting on Egyptian cuisine and marveling at the bellydancers that put on evening’s live entertainment. (more…)

Much like you are either a Betty or Veronica, on Team Heidi or Team Lauren, pro-Angelina or pro-Jennifer, there is a now new way to characterize what type of girl you are as yesterday’s New York Times pointed out: Barbie or Hello Kitty.  TDO Editor Carolyn is still undecided, but Kathleen has declared, after attending yesterday’s MAC x Hello Kitty party, that she is definitely and forever always a Hello Kitty girl.

Celebrating the launch of the new Hello Kitty line for MAC, which we have already reviewed here, we attended the launch party yesterday at Cedar Lake.  Upon entering the party, it was immediately apparent that this Hello Kitty would not be the innocent, naïve one that we remembered from our pinafore days.  With a jet black face instead of the traditional white one, this Hello Kitty was more grown up and aware, a ‘rawr’ instead of a ‘meow’, and her red bow was re-imagined to hot pink with a slight Lolita edge. (more…)

Last night’s party at the Bowery Ballroom hosted by Marc Jacobs to celebrate the launch of the Louis Vuitton Sprouse Collection is where all the cool kids were – though I have to admit I was a few glasses too deep into the Moet to hang for too long. Spotted in the incredibly fashionable crowd were Nina Garcia, Chanel Iman, Anna Sui, Donna Karan, Agyness Deyn, Erin Wassen (for a while I was dancing right next to the duo) and included a special performance by Debbie Harry (She sang, among other songs, Heart of Glass, one of my favorites).  The venue was completely decked out 80′s style with the party staff wearing neon print graffiti LV Sprouse tees. A lot of bright lights, hot crowd, great music,  and of course, the aforementioned free-flowing champagne.

Prior to the party, Louis Vuitton hosted two events: a private VIP shopping party at it’s Soho store and a fashion press preview at Deitch Projects where Sprouse LV pieces were chained down on display.  I attended with a few other fashion blogger friends and we admired the exhibit and caught up on gossip (Anna Wintour’s upcoming ambassadorship?).

This was the first fashion party that I attended since Fashion Week SS09 back in September, so I was excited to get decked out and mingle (and was reminded of why I love a good fashion party).  I have to say, I was very pleased with my sartorial choice of lace and leather.  I brought my own bright touch by wearing Estee Lauder’s new Fuschia nail polish.

Head to toe: Armani leather jacket, Graydn by Todd Magill lace dress, Valentino bow booties, Temperley London clutch.   Some of my personal photos behind the cut. (more…)

On Monday night, Amber, I (photo below the cut), and a couple friends attended the Boucheron 150 year anniversary party at Spiegelworld South Street Seaport.  Thinking we were going to be working a red carpet media line, we were fully surprised when we learned that this was simply a party! Though we didn’t have the opportunity to conduct interviews or greet the entire confirmed list, have no fear – the party was packed with celebs and their BFFs.

While at the bar, we spotted Melissa George.  This was our second sighting of her this week, as on Friday night she was upstairs at Socialista where I saw her for the first time.  I’ve always wanted to get the scoop on what it was like to make out with Michael Vartan (the hotness!), but our brief conversation with her last night centered around her fabulous marigold dress and stunning Boucheron sparkler (diamond serpent) and chandelier earrings. Melissa said she thought about belting her dress, but then decided it would be too busy.  We thought she looked fab, just the way she was. (more…)