Wardy Style Extravaganza in the Wings
Newport Beach retailer Amen Wardy, the man with a giant flair for fashion, will stage a fashion extravaganza for the April 17 membership luncheon hosted by the Women’s Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Delighted with Wardy’s participation, guild president Pat Mendel is calling the event “April With Amen.” It’s the first time the retailer has ever staged a fashion show outside of his own luxury complex and he promises to have 100 of his best designer fashions (from Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Bill Blass, Valentino and Chanel and more tip-top talents) on show on the runway of the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom. Wardy promises there may even be a peek into what’s coming up for fall.
Belle Owens is chairing the luncheon with co-chairman Marcia Koch. Then there’s Marion Laurie and Ruth March who are working on the decor; Beverly Firestein and Patty Liberman who are co-chairing the hostess committee; and Sue Recht and Nancy Rosenbloom who are in charge of membership. In between the fashion viewing and the socializing, the luncheon will have its serious side: the presentation of the guild’s new officers and board and the recipient of the annual Evelyn Clayburgh award for distinguished service.
Robert Zimmer flew out from Dallas and some heavy hotel negotiating to host a double-barrelled cocktail reception at the Hotel Bel-Air. Halfway through the party Zimmer, president of Rosewood Hotels, Caroline Hunt Schoellkopf’s bustling hotel empire, introduced the Bel-Air’s new managing director Kerman Beriker, Mrs. Beriker and the four interior designers who are responsible for the Bel-Air’s new decor--Louis Cataffo, Betty Garber, Kalef Alaton and James Northcutt. And then he welcomed officers and members of the County Museum of Art’s Decorative Arts Council whom he’ll welcome again in April when they arrive in Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth for private tours of Texas museums. Council members will be guests of two other Rosewood Hotels, the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and The Remington in Houston while on that art appreciation tour.
Showing up for the celebrating were council president Patricia Lester, Dr. Richard Baum, Elmer Samson, Mr. and Mrs. Irwin Moss and Rebecca and Ernest Lever. The Bel-Air’s neighbors included Mrs. Sidney Brody (announcing spring with the bunch of lilies of the valley that decorated her gray wool suit) with Rupert Allan and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Eversole, the Henry Bergers, Mrs. John I. Moore and John Wiegman, the Irving Stones. More enjoying the champagne and hors d’oeuvres--LACMA curator Leslie Greene Bowman, Ron and Carol Smith, House & Garden’s Joyce MacRae, the Westwood Marquis’ Jacques Camus, the Beverly Wilshire’s Helen Chaplin and CBS’ Huell Howser.
The Social Scramble: Jimmy Murphy will celebrate the culmination of the Beverly Hills St. Patrick’s Day Parade Sunday with a luncheon at his restaurant, Jimmy’s.
Marilyn and Harry Lewis, owners of the Hamburger Hamlet restaurants, are restoring a tradition--their annual Academy Awards black-tie gala at their home, March 23. Guest of honor is Chicago columnist Irv Kupcinet and the show biz crowd will be serenaded by Joe Moshay and his musicians.
The people watching was especially fascinating the other night at Morton’s where proprietor Peter Morton watched the proceedings looking fit after a holiday in St. Bart’s with his pink cashmere pullover setting off his Caribbean suntan. Over by the wall the combinations included producer Ray Stark and his wife Fran with 20th Century Fox chieftan Barry Diller; Rod Stewart stopped by to say hello to ex wife Alana who was dining with model-actress Lauren Hutton; MGM’s Alan Ladd was with his new associate Jay Kanter; the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Muriel Slatkin was with London’s Hilda and Stanley Rubin and David and Roberta Haft; Zsa Zsa Gabor, bundled up in sable, was with a tall, blonde doctor and Arnold Schwarzenegger dined with his steady Maria Shriver.
George Frelinghuysen is recovering from a recent bout of pneumonia up in his Honolulu penthouse. One bit of cheery news came from Santa Fe. His home there finally sold. Which means George may now be in the mood for house hunting in Montecito.
International banker and rancher Octaviano Longoria, better known as Chito, marks his 80th birthday next week with a Safari Mexicano, a three-day celebration planned by his wife Jeanette and hosted by the Longorias and their daughter Jeanettita. Friends will be coming from Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere for a schedule of parties that will include an opening-night black-tie affair in Nuevo Laredo with Eduardo Brittingham and Mario Padilla and their wives acting as anfitriones (masters of ceremonies). The next day it’s a Barbacoa Mexicana at Ranchos Longoria (hosts are Octaviano Longoria Penn and Ramon Salido Longoria). Sunday’s mass will be celebrated at the Iglesia del Espiritu Santo in Nuevo Laredo and the farewells come after the the Texas Bar-B-Q at Rancho la Paloma in Laredo on the Texas side of the border. By the time the partying is over Chito will be on his way to being 81.
Red Letter Days: May 2 when the KCET Women’s Council is the beneficiary of an evening of fashion, dining and dancing on the site of the new Nordstrom store at the Westside Pavilion; March 28 for the official opening party (in the evening) of the new Le Mondrian hotel and the unveiling (earlier in the day) of the giant “Hommage a Mondrian” by artist Yaacov Agam on the hotel’s facade (the artist used 490 gallons of paint in 54 colors) for this major work.
