The Ladies have been doing lotsa lunching (though rarely actually munching) to catch up and celebrate. Barbara Brookins-Schneider invited her sartorial sisters to the Balboa Café for a “Fashionista Lunch” of opinions and updates by Dr. Isha Abdullah (whose fashion house, Ungaro, had just hired Lindsay Lohan as a muse), Trish Stevens, Sally Debenham, and Urannia Ristow.
Meanwhile best-dressed OJ Shansby and Peggy Trethewey celebrated the decorating delights of Suzanne Tucker with forty sartorially superlative sisters at the Epic Roasthouse in honor of Tucker’s new book, Rooms to Remember. The Shansby’s serene living room is featured on the cover, which also offers a peek into local luminaries’ lairs. Yuri Pascarella, Sloan Barnett, Barbara Brookins-Schneider, Merriwether Mc-Gettigan, Lucinda Crocker, Sue Fisher King, Margot deWildt, and Diane Chapman all turned out in the best bib and tucker (sorry) to toast the elegance and intellect of their friend “Suzy,” who has shared her luxe look with many in the room.
The well turned-out ladies also turned out for the Arthritis Foundation Fashion Show and Luncheon, which highlighted the designs of Lily Samii at the Westin Hotel. With security tighter than bad Botox (due to the President’s visit later that day), the mood was up and the coffers were filled to the brim. Samii, who celebrated twenty years in business to the day on that occasion, provided a taste of spring 2010 and a retrospective on gowns worn by local ladies, whose photos appeared on the jumbo screen as the models sashayed down the runway. Gayle deMartini and Jane Inch chaired the event, which was filled with front-row favorites Diane Rubin, Victoria Yeager-Sawyer, honorary co-chair Layne Gray, arthritis auxiliary Sallie Huntting, Carol Doll, Wilkes Bashford (featured in last year’s fashion show), Judy Jorgensen, and mistress of ceremonies Sydnie Kohara. The show featured bold solid colors of pink, red, and aqua, and shiny fish-scale prints that are sure to be seen at the next gala. In the dramatic denouement, where the model arrived with an armful of fabric that turned out to be the tremendous train on her gown. Applause all around.
The applause was equally audible at United Nations Plaza where the St. Anthony Foundation raised a tented roof and funds at its Raising the Roof dinner for some of San Francisco’s neediest. A “Sister Act” cover group of real Sisters kicked off the event with enthusiasm, which increased over dinner and live auction and the urging of board chair Father John Hardin. The big draw? A private tour of the new Bay Bridge from the contractor’s point of view, an insider experience that provided priceless bragging rights to three sets of donors whose toll offered a FasTrack to heaven. Matched by abundant donations from honorary co-chairs Sandy & Paul Otellini, Bank of America and Wells Fargo banks, the evening raised funds for the Tenderloin Technology Center, which offers training courses and critical access to the computers for all. Robert Fountain’s fall décor and Dan McCall’s dinner were appreciated by St. Anthony stalwarts Sandy & Paul Otellini, Nancy & Joachim Bechtel, Ruth & Herb Myers, Bishop William Justice, Ann Alioto, Suzanne & Lou Giraudo, MC Pam Moore, Mabel & Jeff Bialik, Bernard Hagan, and Dr. Martin Brotman, who dined with the knowledge that they were enabling many others to do the same.
When you have an acclaimed building by Renzo Piano, an albino alligator in your atrium, and over two million visitors in your first year, what do you do to celebrate? You pull out all the stops with a Big Bang (gala, that is), which is exactly what the California Academy of Sciences did to mark its first anniversary reopening in Golden Gate Park. Event co-chairs Janet McKinley and Susan Oberndorf opened the Academy’s doors and displays for a three-tier party that offered a private dinner, buffet supper, or dessert spread before a concert by cool conservationist Chris Isaac. Cocktails were served throughout the Academy, whose scientists and interpreters were stationed at every turn for immersion in the wonderful worlds of birds, bees, bugs, bears, and every imaginable biomorph. (I triumphed at Sea Otter Trivia but was trumped in the Terrarium.) Guests were invited to wear “green, recycled, or reused” clothing, which they did to great effect, decorating their duds with leaves and sheaves of various vegetation. Happily harvesting the rewards were Bob & Randi Fisher, Diana Nelson & John Atwater, Ken & Judy Seibel (fresh from tending to two new granddaughters, including first baby Montana Newsom), Kate Kelly, Jean & Greg Farrington, Wendy Bingham, Eva & Bill Price, Ned & Carol Spieker, Bobbie & Mike Wilsey, John & Laura Fisher, Laura & Michael Lazarus, Karen & Ned Gihuly, Dawn Yates Black & Ryan Yates, Mary & Jerome Vascellaro, Elizabeth & David Evins, Doug Ogden, Blair & Rick Shane, Zeray Alemsegad, Bev & Dave Kavanaugh, Susan & Jim Strahorn, Regina & John Scully, Laura & John Fisher, Susan & Bill Oberndorf, Liebe & Bill Patterson, and many, many happy hominids.
On a personal note, apologies if I’ve been a little absent from the scene; the “action” has been happening down on the Peninsula and in Reno, where yours truly is costume designer for a feature-length Hollywood comedy, Melvin Smarty. The absurdly hilarious plot interweaves star-crossed lovers thwarted by tacky casino owners, pot-bellied pigs, aliens, televangelists, and a hit man played by the dashing George Hamilton. A cast of Hollywood veterans, such as Ken Davitian (that guy from Borat), William Sadler (Platoon, The Shawshank Redemption), and Creed Bratton (“The Office”), shares the big screen with up-and-comers Helena Mattsson, Tyler Hoechlin, Taylor Cole, Rob Mayes, and Mark Matkevich. Perks of the job include having gorgeous young actors remove their clothing at my behest, and being regaled by tales of Old Hollywood by the surprisingly comic Hamilton, who is as entertaining as he is tanned. It’s an exhilarating peek into the sheer complexity and exhaustion of “movie magic,” working a sixteen-hour day to make three minutes of screen time appear effortless. My bit part as an annoyingly dumb telephone operator makes me supremely respectful of the real stars in front of and behind the camera. Cut!
Jennifer Raiser is burning the candle at both ends…and it’s battery powered.
