Red Is Sexiest, David Hayes Tells Women
Red is the sexiest color a woman can wear, said designer David Hayes at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel. “Definitely. It makes a woman feel good, have a good attitude. Attitude is ageless. And ageless is what my clothes are all about.”
Members of the Laguna Committee of the Women’s Committees of the Orange County Philharmonic Society had gathered last week in the hotel’s swank ballroom to play host to the Los Angeles designer (Nancy Reagan has worn his suits) for the second consecutive year. “I do a soft tailor,” Hayes said before the benefit fashion show. “The hard lines of a man’s suit were not meant for a woman. Woman have curves and so do my suits.”
After a luncheon guaranteed to throw a few curves--dessert was “decadent chocolate mousse torte”--committee members and guests settled back to view the designer’s spring and summer line and get a glimpse of what’s new for fall.
Eight-ply silk--guaranteed not to wrinkle, Hayes said--was the predominant fabric used in the designer’s suits, dresses and gowns. Two had already been ordered, Hayes said, by “Audrey Hepburn (a billowy, lipstick-red two-piece) and Cyd Charisse (a ruffly cha-cha dress in black).”
Cotton-candy pink paired with chocolate brown was the newest color combo, Hayes said.
“And dinner suits are what’s hot for fall. Dinner suits with ruffles. Dinner suits with peplums. Dinner suits with double-tiered peplums. A dinner suit is so versatile, it can even go to lunch!”
Proceeds from the $40-per-person event were estimated at $9,500. Kay Wittmack was chairman. Committee members included Mary Brooks, Ann Crowl, Billie Hansen, Dorothy Murton, Shirley Schnitzer, Eloise Seymour, Serena Sullivan, Gloria Thrailkill and Laura Little. Virginia Franks is chairman of the group. Violinist Eric Shiflett, 16, entertained.
Singer Norma Zimmer, formerly with the “Lawrence Welk Show,” was an honored guest at a fashion show at the Grand Hotel in Anaheim on Sunday to benefit Help for Brain Injured Children Inc., a nonprofit facility in La Habra. Because of a recent illness, Zimmer, a La Habra resident, did not perform at the affair. But she enjoyed the fashion show and luncheon that brought $5,000 to the facility.
Cleta Harder founded the facility 20 years ago when she became aware that two friends with brain injured children had no local place for their children’s therapy. “They had to go all the way to San Diego,” she said.
The therapy--sensory motor stimulation that helps build new cell pathways to the brain--was making such a dramatic impact on her friend’s children, Harder said, she simply had to see local children have the same opportunity.
“We helped 186 families last year,” Harder said. Thirty percent of them were accident victims. We see a lot of automobile and motorcycle accidents, dune buggies, shotguns. . . . We see just about everything.”
After the brain-injured are tested for the extent of their injuries, they embark on a program that begins with stimulation at the lowest level needed to build new pathways. “We stimulate the unused brain cells to take over the function of those that are injured,” Harder said.
Newport Beach resident Muriel Reynolds was named Woman of the Year by Orange County Magazine on Tuesday at a luncheon at the Irvine Hilton. Reynolds was honored for a “community service career that began in 1936,” magazine publisher Susan McFadden told the nearly 300 guests.
Four finalists also saluted for community service at the affair were Dot Clock of Newport Beach, Nora Jorgensen of Corona del Mar, Carol H. Kawanami of Villa Park and Betty Belden of Orange.
Reynolds received $1,000. McFadden said the money will be donated to Reynolds’ two favorite charities--South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach and Designing Women, a support group of the Art Institute of Southern California in Laguna Beach.
Garden Grove Mayor Jonathan H. Cannon was host for a fund-raiser in his home recently for the Garden Grove Symphony. “Croissants in Concert” drew nearly 200 guests.
During the garden party, symphony conductor Edward Peterson presented Cannon with a newly released album featuring the 85-member symphony with pianist Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters. Both Cannon and Carpenter are honorary symphony board members. Proceeds from the event were estimated at $2,000. Among guests were Richard Hain, symphony board president, and Ray Powell, Jack Reynolds, Gerald Margolin, Geraldine Kessler, Jan Dunn, Thomas Houlihan and Roy Horton.
