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Don’t
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| October 2007 l Issue Ten |
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Myra Walker and Giorgio Armani
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There's nothing that thrills me more than meeting a famous fashion designer. Well, maybe one or two things thrill me more, but it's right up there. Giorgio Armani came to town to do a fashion show and luncheon at downtown Neiman Marcus and a book signing at the NorthPark Neiman's. I detest luncheons and wasn't invited anyway, but I did manage to worm my way into the book signing. My assistant Jeane, my son Dallas and I rode the escalator to the second floor at Neiman's Northpark and were greeted by a girl with a clip board who informed us that our names were not on the list. Of course our names weren't on the list, we were crashing. The list consisted of 300 people, all of whom were instructed to purchase the book in advance and were told that Mr. Armani would not sign anything but that particular book. Fortunately, women’s couture manager, Cynthia Denton, came to the rescue and ushered us in and secured two books for me. I had also brought another, larger book on Armani, but Malcom Ruben, the store manager, insisted that I could not get it signed. The three of us were waiting around for Armani to come out and then Gabrielle DePapp, Neiman's PR manager, spotted us and said that Dallas and I could get our picture taken with Armani and that I could feel free to take as many pictures as I liked of the event.
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Dallas loves meeting designers as much as I do, so he was excited and actually went home and wrote about the experience in his journal for school under the heading, "The Three Most Exciting Things that Have Happened to Me". Unfortunately, I had just come from car pool and, therefore, wasn't exactly decked out in sartorial splendor. After our private photo-op, we were instructed to go and stand in line for the signing, which didn't make any sense because we were already up there, so why not just let us get our books signed? Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. We stood in line for about 45 minutes with Connie Dieb, Myra Walker, Elizabeth Norton, Robyn Wilkes, and Rocky Ommen. Myra had brought the same book that I had, so when we got up to the head of the line, Malcom told us again that Armani would not sign anything but the book purchased at Neiman's. Myra spoke her mind and Malcom relented, so we got all of our books signed. Some of Myra's fashion design students came and one of them brought a sewing machine to have signed. That threw everyone into a tizzy, but Mr. Armani intervened and happily signed the machine. My friends all wanted me to take a picture of them with Armani, so I was snapping away and ended up having a little run-in with one of the paparazzi. He said my flash was ruining his pictures. His flash was ruining my pictures! |
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Oscar nominated actress Keira Knightley always draws a large audience, so much so that several hundred people came out on a hot Monday night at the Chanel store in Highland Park Village just to see the premier of her television spot for Coco Mademoiselle, Chanel's oriental scent created by master perfumer Jacques Polge in 2001.
The film was shot in five days in Paris with Knightley and Joe Wright, whose directorial debut was Pride & Prejudice. In the film, Ms. Knightley plays the role of a modern day Coco Chanel - a mysterious and independent woman that takes destiny into her own hands. Knightley is first seen slipping off a man's shirt she is wearing, and puts on a long red silk dress. She smiles, conjuring up a man of her fantasies, whose image briefly appears. Her mischievous sensuality leads her to the Musee d'Art Moderne. She is carefree and confident as she makes her way through a crowd of admirers and escapes down a staircase to Place Vendôme. Alone on the avenue she looks directly at the camera with a capricious smile and then disappears into the dark of the night, happy and proud of her freedom. If that doesn't sell you on the fragrance, I don't know what will.
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Ruthis Vexler, Annie Buck
and Lee Jowett |
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The Chanel store at Highland Park Village was packed and rocking to the tunes that DJ Lucy Wrubel was spinning. To add to the excitement, some pieces of the Chanel Fine Jewelry were brought in for everyone to ogle. The one disappointment of the evening is that Thom Faust, former Chanel Boutique manager was supposed to make an appearance, but had to cancel at the last minute. He's now super busy running all of the fine jewelry boutiques for Chanel. We miss you Thom! |
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Terry and Janet Kafka |
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Monday night must be the new Thursday night because that same evening I had to rush over to Janet and Terry Kafka's house for the announcement party for the Fashion Group International's Rising Star Awards, which will be held at Hotel Palomar on November 9. Janet is the Honorary Consul of Spain and is this year's honorary chair for the black tie event. Each year, FGI recognizes people in the fashion and beauty industry for their achievements. This year's honorees are John Irvin from JC Penney, Career Achievement in Fashion; Jan Showers, Jan Showers & Associates, Career achievement in Home & Interiors; Myra Walker, Fashion Innovation Award; Moi, Inspiration Award; JD Miller, Reflections Fine Art, Art Award; Pat Parsi, Billy Jealousy, Beauty Award; Georgina Esteffani, Georgina Esteffani Luxury Knits, Fashion Design Award; Kristen De Rocha, Hotslings, Fashion Design Children's Accessories Award; and Joanne Snodgrass, VIA Pelle Luxury Accessories & Boutique, New Community Retailer Award.
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Speaking of awards galas, Gina Grant, mastermind behind the company Women that Soar, came up with the idea to have an event that honored notable Texas women and that would benefit Dress for Success Dallas. Gina got fund-raising veteran Susanne Bock to be the chair and Lance Avery Morgan of Brilliant Magazine to be the media sponsor of the evening entitled: Brilliantly You; Women that Soar. Lance and WFAA's Debbie Denmon emceed the show. Thirteen "brilliant" women were selected from around the state including Kim Askew, Nancy Lieberman, Rene Syler, Myrna Schlegel, Moi, Kim Schlegel-Whitman, Gloria Campos, Carolyn Farb, Anita Perry, Ann Williams, Kari Schlegel and Krystal Schlegel. Ebby Halliday received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" and entertained everyone with a tune on her ukulele. I have to confess, I was very nervous about my acceptance speech because of the company I was in - that's a pretty impressive line-up of women. It all went well and I felt fabulous in my Oscar de la Renta gown.
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Connie Karkins, Douglas Newby,
Bill Dillon and Moi |
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