Rolando Santana sample sale

 

About 200 guests joined Sabrina Chapman PR  at the networking event she planned on January 27th to lift up spirits  and  have her guests enjoy (not freely which seemd a bit confusing for some)  apple cider and bavarian pretzels  just for the heck of it for the . The event was held at the unfamous Destination bar – aka as the social media geek hangout (remember your last obliterati party nerds!) to encourage and create synergy within a diverse and interesting crowd  from music, fashion and journalism

First guests to join in the fun received gift bags including the usual pack of Popchips (love them!), Posh fitness training session,Paper Trail Notecards, and two tickets to see comedian Ted Greenberg in The Complete Performer.

The teachers of Harlem Yoga gave 3 classes in a row for which you had to book your spot in advance. The New York skyline views in addition to the warmth provided by the sun coming through the windows made the class a real treat. Before and after the class attendees were welcome to join the lovely reception featuring food and refreshments provided by the recently opened 97th street Whole Food. Chef Ali made a yummy butternut squash soup for which you can find the recipe at the Examiner

I will update this post as soon as I obtain images. In the meantime the pics by Tsunami Roberts at GoaG

No lists at the door to fit in with the open minded spirit of Blip.tv gave you access to a fun evening with industry insiders, journalists mixed with Blip.tv fans. Everyone enjoyed Peroni and Bulldog Gin Cocktails and left witha gift bag filled with goodies from Popchips, Moosewood, Mocca Lounge and Honest Tea.

Random Night out owner and photographer Nick McGlynn covered the event along with Steven Ekerovich

I stopped by a few days ago on a rainy day for a friends & family reception celebrating the launch of  FreeFingers by Nina Wexler a gorgeous collection of “Fingerfree” handwoven gloves.

I have been enjoying a lovely pair of earrings from Kara Ross collection and I can say the brand will stay on my “to watch” list especially in the “vintage meets modern” area.

Host committee members and Real Housewives of New York City, Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps, Alex McCord ( along with Simon Van Kempen)  all attended and mingled with socialites,fashionistas and NFL Brandon Short (at least when Ramona and Alex where not screaming at each other!).

Guests started enjoying the copious buffet while listening to the gorgeous MacDella Copper’s speech on her foundation, its purposes and actions which lead to a lovely fashion showing by Lalesso.

  

More images coming when I figure out some wordpress isuees- In the meantime check out more red carpet pictures on Guest Of A Guest and snapshots from to27.com (my fave Hamptons dedicated site)

Mostly focusing on upcoming projects I haven’t been out much besides attending the lovely Bryce Gruber’s Bday bash at Empire Hotel rooftop and the more recently St Jude’s”Chocolat au Vin” at Capitale as well as the annual award gala for the National Organization for Rare Diseases in DC.

The feeling that anything in life should be considered as an event is convincing me that this site will slightly be moving to more lifestyle oriented posts as your life is as eventful as you want it to be.

As usual you will find plenty of pictures from this lovely get together anticipating the summer on Famegame and the usual GoaG review and more…

Last but not least, one of the sponsor, MINT- reminded me of the European car renting concept that has been implemented in several cities across Europe for years. The convenience of on demand smart cars is now available at http://drivemint.com/.

Overall the get together was smaller than I expected but very enjoyable- a perfect starter for a Thursday night at B8.

Since I am slowly resuming my event-going I chose to stop by Greenhouse for Poull Briaen’s NYC Television Industry cocktail reception followed by the ZooZoom Fashion Wars at Ultra last Thursday. I took upon myself to brave the cold and I have to admit that when I saw the line I almost got back into my town car- I have rarely seen such a long line in the middle of  the winter at barely 9.20pm ( Running late is always a given when you are expected to an event maybe not an hour and a half late -but somewhat late at least… hehe! ).
I headed inadvertantly straight to the VIP section and before I knew it I already had gotten involved in many interesting media and fashion conversations and been ask for quite an amount a business card. It seemed that everyone who had spent more than 15 minutes in the tiny but cozy section which  was supposed to be VIP had ran out of business cards. The ambiance up there was propice to networking and chatting but looking down at the main crowd one would have had to admit that Greenhouse was a bit over-packed.
I was quite happy when a cute guy couple offered to bring me a drink of either Lucid Absinthe or Unibroue organic beer from the bar as I had given up on the idea to reach that part of the club.
Not very surprisingly most people starting leaving around 10pm as the Open Bar ended and I left not much later as I was meeting a couple of girlfriends at Ultra for Zoozoom.com Fashion Wars party.
Before I tell you a little bit about Ultra I want to give a special shout out to Poull Brian – not because I had a great time – but because the email I received today made my day:
“It has come to my attention that there were some crashers. I know, f&%$ those dicks, right? Well believe me fan club I used my special powers and found out who one of them was. And I’d like to take this moment to call him out, right here, in this highly important international beacon of nightlife and entertainment. Apparently his name is Adrian Grenier and he says he’s like some actor or something. Well Mr. Grenier I’ll have you know that I run a tight ship over here buddy boy. And next time if you’d like to attend one of my deliriously engaging social functions I suggest you rsvp and get on the guest list like everyone else.”
Thanks again Poull as I have to say I sort of appreciate your “I don’t give a sh** who you are attitude”. I am still left wondering if this is some sort of PR stunt in partnership with Adrien’s peeps or and he made it inside without much trouble or not. I have to admit I didn’t say him but that doesn’t mean anything as I never notice the supposed stars I apparently often rub shoulders with.

Check out Adrien chatting up the door girl on Poull’s website
Other pics on the montage include Poull Brian himself – apparently self dubbed “Mr. Amazing”(right upper corner) and debuting actor Bradley White-Dale (left bottom corner)

A quick cab drive with some fellow event goers I had just met and who had outlined the same sequence of events as me I arrived at Ultra where I didn’t stay long because because I had my picture taken one too many times and I am not very much fond of picture. Although my friend insisted that we took a picture for the “Fashion Wars” – You can vote for your favorite attendees’ look at www.fashionwars.zoozoom.com until February 11th. I don’t really like having my picture taken if it is not by our dear Patrick Mc Mullan and it was definitely not the type of events he would have covered. No open bar and a $10 cover for the “non VIPs” but quite a good mix of creative people made it an OK place to spent an hour before going to a soiree.

Pics of this arecoming as soon as I figure out the bug with my NextGen gallery

On my way to a downtown cocktail

Your Eventista

I am planning my schedule of next week’s events …so stay tuned…

I am not really right when I say I went to Citrine as I didn’t have enough patience to wait on line in the cold. The party was supposed to start at 8 and I got there approximately at that time – but they were running late – so late that when I left -at almost 8.30pm no one had gotten in yet. It is too bad because I have heard great reviews from the event plus I really enjoy GRADIENT magazine.

 

Later in the month I went to  8th anniversary of Flute Gramercy -as I work on 18th and 5th and it was just extremely convenient  and I had a couple of friends who pretty much forced me to meet them there.
As one could expect it was a very simple yet nice event. Nothing fancy – just drank lot of bubbly while I wishing the girl standing next to the fireplace would move and let me warm up.

 

   

As soon as I got there I was offered to put on a pair of ice skate to try out a sport I haven’t practiced in since childhood. But like many attendees I chose to go towards the buffet which was quite complete, pasta station,bagel station, salad, mushrooms, eggplants- everything I tried was very god- especially the desserts including the passed mini eclairs and chocolate dipped strawberries.

Being careful of not eating too much in order to be able to take advantage of one of the first few times I knew I would put on a pair of ice skate and take the risk to fall on ice with my camera – which I had to take to write a little blurb about this event- The rest of my stuff was safely hold in a free loaned locker.
All the skating attendees looked lie they were having an amazing time on the rink despite the freezing cold. I guess the planners organized everything according the weather forecast as ti was one of the first extremely cold day of the season.

Among the other perks was their id picture machine giving away free shot for the night (very popular apparently- personally it make me feel like I am taking a photo for a passport renewal or something very official) and a booth where you could rock the mic for a voice over on movies such as Shrek – group of friends and colleagues seemed to have enjoy this as well- as for me my English is not good enough so I refused to purposely make a fool of myself.

I sipped PINK vodka and tasted a cup of absinthe and even attempted to bench press under the supervision of a cute trainer who also took me on a grand tour of the gym while most guest where mesmerized by the demo from the Spigelworld cast and all the sculpted bodies pretending to use the weight and cardio machines.

I left with the T-shirt they were giving away -and even though it was sort of cute – I gave it to a friend who could actually use it – one of my many NYC gym maniacs friends.

12►

I ended up leaving knowing that I could actually have a good time in a gym. Who knows… maybe that is the beginning of me joining the crowd of treadmills and weight machines addicts…!

I am still learning how to use Wordpress but you will see that after a couple of weeks of hiatus -during which I didn’t do much Eventwise- I chose to add a style section which I will start very soon.

Below are a few old pics from that Lladro store event as well as the Esquire one that I briefly mentioned in my last post.

Coming up Crunch opening on Lafayette and the season opening of the Wollman Rink.

Your Eventista

I only have a few minutes before a rush out to Media Meshing- the media party organized by Richard Blakely from Gawker.com but I have to admit that I didn’t do much these past few days besides stopping by an small Esquire event at Saks 5th ave , a Lladro Store Event, a NYC Parks lecture and a Radar magazine. I will definitely try to find some time to give you more details soon– if not we’ll just go straight to the next happenings!

I arrived under the rain and the handsome kid in charge of the list had stepped inside leaving several guests waiting under the rain. He came out after a few minutes and let me in with a large grin- I walked in the long and dark entry hallway to open a tiny door on a overcrowded space- from what I have seen in the 15 minutes I stayed there they had closed�the downstairs area – which will serve as piano bar and welcome live bands.
- I� did like the general vibe of the place decorated predominantly black and red with some touches of white�(not really original you’d say…and you’d be right) but what really did the trick were the wall decorations – including the giant Chanel No 5 poster behind the retro flower print couches at the end of the bar and a few lovely touches here and there -thanks to designer Carleton Varney skills.
As far as�their yummy specialty cocktails (which involve yummy muddled fruits) were concerned only a few were being offered on trays ( and you surely know about these vultures who go out ONLY for the free stuff…) and the ones guests ordered at the bar had to be paid- which I found quite surprising for an opening. I did noticed a few trays of hors d’oeuvres being past around and from the look on people’s faces it seemed to have been quite good- but I refrained myself from trying as I had to leave promptly to have dinner.

I didn’t bother to take pictures but I liked the ones RareDaily previewed on September 25th :http://www.raredaily.com/leisure/ella_nyc/- in case you’d like to have a look.
I will certainly come back in a few days-or most likely a few weeks to see how the place evolve.

I chose to start downtown at the loft like Red Bull space on 40 Thompson St and stayed a little�less than an hour while I got a nice blackberry hand massage from Oasis Day Spa NYC- I also got tricked into having my pictures taken at their photo booth for some type of online mag they will publish on NYmag.com or something- no one seemed to really know the details about these pics but attendees seemed to enjoy it.
I spent the quick 10 minute wait for my hand massage�nibbling on veggies dips and flipping through New York may and New York mag :The Look.
On my way out I was handed a bright pink Samsonite umbrella courtesy of Stylelist.com which I used right away as I had to walk to 40 Thompson under a few drops of rain to find a cab – Going to Barney’s- for the Allure magazine event which was almost over by the time my cab got out off traffic.

So I just grabbed a glass of white wine and headed to get my make up done- While I was focusing on trying not�stay still while Mascara was being applied �a lovely Barney’s staffer handed me a gift bag- filled mostly with useless�samples but saved by the included copy of Allure Spa magazine. From what I overheard you were supposed to spend at least $50 at the beauty counter to get that gift bag- definitely not worth it !

There I was all pretty and ready for the next stop- a short walk away- Saks 5th Ave where a law firm was having a private spa event for their clients. Mini stations of mani/pedi/facial/hair/hand massage and more were set up thorough the tiny but lovely reserved space on the 5th Floor. The staff was extremely pleasant and I left with an additional goody bag to carry home- and I took advantage of the tiny %15 discount to treat myself to a mini morning after Rebecca Minkoff handbag.

So this Tuesday I had to get somewhere after work which made me�miss out on the Manhattan media launch party- to which I was looking forward. Since Tuesday I haven’t even had a chance neither to read the reviews on Guest Of A�Guest nor to ask�my friends who attended the celebration at�The Rainbow Room.

While I�was required to be around Union Square I choose to quickly stop by the Puma store for a quick overview of their “Fashionably Fit” shopping event hosted by LUCKY.

As much as I knew it would not be my type of event I decided to find out what it was all about besides the 20% shopping discount, the drinks �which were limited to Smirnoff Vodka and white wine, the food which was extremely plain and almost tasteless

Now – back to events- as always wit the lovely launch of Black Brown 1826 by Lord and Taylor in association with on of my fave men’s mags (along with the great Esquire) GQ!

It definitely liked the fact that the celebration took place on the store rooftop as these are the last day to enjoy the outside.

Everything was very lovely. Nothing super exciting though.
Gorgeous male models on display in the entryway- past the red carpet. many cameras obviously- �but like my online acquaintance Miss Brill I don’t really noticed them. My out of town friend was amazed by the fact that we stood right next to Jeremy Piven- who is actually really short – and not very hot. And I can confirm the look he gave to some of the blond bimbos posing with him was not really respectful – as Von mentioned on www.sociallysuperlative.com

The only “problem” is that because I don’t get starstruck I couldn’t ask him to take a picture and would have been to ashamed of doing it without him seeing me- which would have most likely turned out to be a bad picture anyway. I do promise that I will find out a solution to this issue for future encounters so I can share these celebrities images with you.

I really enjoyed the crowd- quite fashiony- some designers such as Betsey Johnson, a few Project Runway contestants from previous seasons apparently, some socialites as always- among them my favorite, Kristian Laliberte. Social photographer Patrick McMullan was obviously present with another photographer from his company- you know you’ll can browse all thes pics at www.patrickmcmullan.com

Guest of a Guest.com obviously covered the event as well.
Lots of cameras, bubbly and fabulous people made this an evening I will remember for a little while
I chose to leave around midnight because�I�had promised�to join a group of friends at these Summer Thursdays at Tavern on the Green- and I always keep my word. I am too good about that actually. But that’s a whole different story.

Back to what matters- being out there-

I kept a low profile this past month and didn’t attend many fancy parties but I did have a very pleasurable time at Kiki De Montparnasse on August 12th.

Author Lauren Frances, founder of the Institute for Romantic Research was hosting this nice event – I tend to attend quite a few of the cocktail parties they organize there as I love this store sooo much. It makes me want to spend my month salary in fancy sex accessories and super sexy lingerie. They tend to stick to Champagne only which is my without a doubt my drink of choice so it only add to the pleasure of going there- and the crowd usually consist in a diverse mix of interesting people.

Yesterday I wasn’t quite�sure which event to attend but I set my mind on a�refreshing Brazilian fashion show for the exotic sound of it. It was presented by M shop NYC and Daisy Cabrera at The Park penthouse.

I got there quite early- but not enough to be in the first hundred attendees- they were to only ones who scored a goody bag- which I think is not really a good way to handle the goody bags- either you do it – if you can’t afford to give one to everyone you should�simply create a vip status and gift only these people.

The fashion show was at 8pm so I lounged while chatting to a few people here and there while sipping an assortment of delicious rum cocktails courtesy of Agua Luca until it started.

The bright colors used were really fun and pretty and most of�the looks�were very sexy�.��The whole collection was apparently tempting to the most daring from the audience.

The whole event was quite nicely but together -but I would give a “could do better” grade on the quality of the crowd as well as the bar manager skills but these little flaws didn’t seem to prevent anyone from having a good time.

I was so looking forward to get out of my apartment and therefore� was simply hoping�for a nice time, enjoy a drink and relax. That was without thinking that I was on my way to a rooftop cocktail party hosted by Coralie Charriol Paul, Kelly Killoren-Bensimon a few other socialites types -such as Kipton Cronkite- and QUINTESSENTIALLY for the launch of www.hamptonsundercover.com , the social networking website dedicated to all things Hamptons!
Celebrities and socialites mingled on the nice rooftop of Highbar while pictures were constantly being taken.
Once again several of BRAVO ‘ NYC Real Housewives were present, as well as Olivia Palermo,�our dear Devorah Rose from Social Life and Tatiana Platt
Karen Miller, the designer of all my favorite cocktail dresses was in attendance as well.
I spoke to Patrick McMullan’s son , Liam for the first time and he was such a sweetheart.

Read more about the�event�and the list of�of��and the after party at Bijoux�- which I couldn’t unfortunately attend- at these great sites:

http://guestofaguest.com/nyc-events/hamptons-undercover-at-highbar-uncovers-all-of-nys-finest-socials/

http://blogs.fashionweekdaily.com/?p=5150

but my favorite can be found here : http://sociallysuperlative.com/?p=732

and not so much about the event in itself but worth reading : http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/hamptons-undercover/3509/

All the social pics on Patrick McMullan website at : http://www.patrickmcmullan.com/website/pmc_screens/event_Selects.aspx?Event_Id=12046

Earlier today I was googling�someone I recently met�and I came across the Patrick McMullan pics of the�House of Campari event �that took place on May 29th.

I had a great time despite the fact that I couldn’t stay long enough to fully appreciate� all the nice details of the cocktail party as my friends were anxious to leave because it was insanely hot inside. But the selection of Campari cocktails was quite good and the art:

More pictures and details from the evening from my friends at Guest Of a Guest – as they posted soon enough for their memory to be still fresh
http://guestofaguest.com/nyc-arts/house-of-camparis-defining-a-moment-25-new-york-artists/

But I am becoming better and soon won’t have that issue anymore- so you can get as much info as my brain can recall.

When I got to the building the construction elevator in�the “hard hat area” didn’t take us to the rooftop but to a low middle level terrace where there was no pool!�I am not so used to being deceived and I was going to leave but a quick look around made me realize I could have a great time there. The waiters were gorgeous, the djette was good, and the Mojito were delicious. Found a few friends and acquaintances with whom�I chatted for a bit.
I was feeling much better about that reception until I had a need to use the ladies rooms and found out I had to take the freight elevator back downstairs with one of the construction worker to get to these construction sites “bathrooms”- That was the sign I had to leave. Seriously I couldn’t take a chance to use these while wearing a fancy cocktail dress

Luckily I have a few events I haven’t posted yet so I will be able to share them with you and I will quite likely be posting more about event planning and some random fun things that can be seen out there.

End of May (the 28th to be more precise) I attended the Fingerpaint  reception hosted by Blackbook and at the Dia Gallery.

Great and interesting artsy crowd mixed with social types all gathered together in this nice loft-like space featuring artwork from selected talented artist – among them was my favorite - Shepard Fairey – that were being auctioning to benefit the Make It Right Foundation, cured by Brad Pitt.

Check out Guest of a Guest for a complete who’s who attendance list� http://guestofaguest.com/nyc-arts/its-time-to-fingerpaint-kids/ and http://guestofaguest.com/nyc-events/fingerpaint-the-details/ which links you to more pics as well.

Let me first go back to May 8th which was a very interesting evening.

I started at the Asher Edelman Gallery in midtown where I feel like a child among a groovy bunch of marionettes.

Dennis Oppenheim creations were very interesting and so much fun. Everything made you want to play with it.

After a glass of wine and with the wonderful feeling of having discover something new I headed to the new venue, Hudson Terrace to see what they had to offer.

First thing first – the view was quite beautiful and the passed hors d’oeuvre were not pretty good. I also enjoyed a couple of tropical cocktails while one of the manager took me on a tour of the venue explained the numerous party opportunities they can offer- and I have to say that I after that evening I am keeping this upcoming place in mind for a big upcoming party I want to throw sometimes soon.

Finally I hesitated a bit to go to a privately held fundraising downtown- but my fellow party goers wouldn’t let me go home and get the well deserved rest I was hoping for- I now have to thank them as we went to a private loft where a charity event was being held.

The place was quite nice and fun while the crowd had been boiled down to an intimate groovy but interesting mix.

Art and other goods were auctioned wile some attendees enjoyed the nice weather on the rooftop.

Despite its remote location-all the way west on 28th� – Point of View gallery is always worth the journey. Co-operated by Emmanuel Fremin, a former french model who also runs EFG investment gallery�and photgrapher Amelie Sourget

The recent opening of Drew Tal and Nanjo exibithion featured several eye catching pieces.

Drew Tal latest “facing East” photographs were a eye delight while I was pleased to discover Nanjo installation and cutting edge peacful imagery.

Everyone had a wonderful time discovering Jane’s fabulous Qipaos.

Half designer- half custom tailor Jane perfectly master the art of this traditional chinese outfit. Qipaos are all about combining glamour and comfort as “It is made to your shape and your shape only”.

Jane insisted that “what is more important to [her] is that [her] customer feels beautiful when wearing her qipao.”

If you are traveling to China don’t forget to grab their May issue of Vogue to see what’s new with Jane.