Classy Clothes, Classy Cars for 2 Classy Events
It was out of the ballroom and into the living room--well, in one case, the museum--for supporters of two Orange County charities last week.
On Thursday, Suzy and Herb Sutton welcomed about 50 members of the Fashionables, a support group for Chapman College, into their glassy 7,000-square-foot Lido Isle home.
And on Sunday, Willa Dean and William Lyon greeted 300 guests, patrons of the Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance, into their regal 15,000-square-foot Classic Automobile Museum (which sits next to their Tara-esque 20,000-square-foot Coto de Caza mansion).
Both were stunning affairs. Both were perfect examples of party-giving at the manse, which, by the way, is considered more chic than ever. (Call it the fine art of cocooning.)
At the Suttons, guests were greeted by a cadre of valets and piles of pretty food--catered by Turnip Rose--presented among towering bouquets of orchids.
And, as the name of the group implies, all guests were attired fashionably: Jerry Richards, president of the Men’s Committee of the Fashionables, for example, wore a Milano-made silk suit the color of the water off of Positano. “I told the tailor to put some wool in it,” he said. “To give it some body!”
Rusty Hood swept in wearing a butter-colored “Oscar.” (Any Fashionable worth his weight knows the rest of that name is de la Renta.) Mary Lou Hornsby, president of the club since founder Mildred Mead relinquished the gavel four years ago, wore a black cocktail suit splattered with hot-fuschia dots. Patty Brennan donned slinky black silk with a pouf of ostrich feathers. Ginny Smallwood played it down with a simple suit. But Virginia Knott Bender went all out in a flaming purple ensemble. Nora Jorgensen wore white lace and a white fox fling. And Mildred Mead, always a pacesetter, knocked them out in a puckered floral sheath by Ungaro.
Entertainment? A Bullocks Wilshire fashion show coordinated by Kitty Leslie of Fashion Island, of course.
All in all, it was an exclusive little bash. “The only time of the year that we have a members-only party,” chirped Hornsby, attending with husband Scott.
Also on the guest list: Mary Dell Barkouras, Paul Bender, Betty Moss, Stan and Ollie Hill, Bill Hood, JoAnne and Gene Mix, Jean Tandowsky, and Mary Ann and Lon Wells.
William Lyon looked pretty fashionable himself when he welcomed guests into his automobile museum (containing no less than 55 polished-to-perfection breath-takers) on a sunny afternoon. His dark silk tie featured Mercedeses motoring all over the place. “Just like the one I’m entering in the Concours,” he said. “A 540K Cabriolet.”
Actually, Lyon said he would enter two cars in the Concours, set for Oct. 2 at Aldrich Park at UC Irvine to benefit the Assessment and Treatment Services Center: the Cabriolet, on vacation from the museum for detailing, and a one-of-a-kind, clover-green 540K Mercedes, built in 1939. “We took it apart,” said Lyon, gently opening the door of the 49-year-old classic. “Every piece in it is original. The idea is to take it back to its original authenticity.”
Guests ogled the gleaming autos as they sipped drinks and oohed over the appetizers--an array of fruit tarts and exotic appetizers (like salmon-mousse stuffed endive with a hazelnut finish) catered by Hemingway’s.
John and Anabel Konwiser said they plan to enter their 1913 Rauch and Lang in the Concours next month, but they have already packed off their 1897 Delahaye for London. London? The Konwisers plan to enter the car in the London-to-Brighton race Nov. 6. The race commemorates the day in 1904 when “a man no longer had to wave a red flag in front of a horseless carriage (to warn pedestrians and horses of its approach),” John said.
“To participate in the London-to-Brighton, your car has to have been made in 1904 or earlier,” he added. The Konwisers believe their Delahaye to be the oldest car in Orange County.
Also at the Lyonses: Tom Mouradick of Indian Wells, whose 1919 Pierce Arrow is the poster car for this year’s Concours (a painting of the car, by Harold Cleworth, was unveiled at the party); Lynda and Peter Shea (she is chairwoman of the Concours, he owns Entrepreneur magazine); Carol and Kent Wilken, in charge of field operations for the Concours, and Norman Loats, president of ATSC, a juvenile diversion program.
Concours committee members include Lani Straman, Jerilyn Morris, Pamela Ramsaeir, Sharon French, Catherine Thyen, Tish Simmons, Debbie Johnson, Susan Mehrtens, Betty Klein, Judy Hemley, Jeanne Carmack, Helen Berge, Paula Millman and Angela Monroe.
