New Perfume Makes Premiere as Champagne Corks Pop

Meryl Streep adores it. So does Diana Ross. And Madonna. And Jacqueline Bisset.

And so did the fashionable flock who attended the luncheon for 273--Giorgio creator Fred Hayman’s new fragrance--staged by Bullock’s last week at the ultra-fashionable Center Club.

“Hmmmmmm, heavenly!” said one guest, shutting her shadowed eyes as she inhaled the sweet essence. “Subtle. More quiet than Giorgio.”

“What does 273 stand for?” wondered another, as she secured a glittering rhinestone 273 pin to the breast of her smart suit. “ Can’t be Fred’s age. Or his weight. Must be his IQ.”

“None of the above,” chirped Worthy McCartney, Hayman’s vice president of fragrance. “It’s the address of Mr. Hayman’s boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.”

Well, of course. And evidence of the prestigious numbers were everywhere--on the souvenir pins fastened to the pure white luncheon napkins, on the ruby-red ribbon that curled around the souvenir canary-yellow perfume boxes. And before they knew it, all over the guests as they dabbed the fragrance behind their jeweled earlobes and sported the glittering brooches as they tossed down Moet Chandon.

Welcome to a new kind of party, the all-out commercial, non-benefit, kind. It has a place in Orange County society, especially when it can boast a guest of honor like the silver-haired and debonair Fred Hayman.

He charmed the women as he sipped towering glasses of ice tea (“I never do alcohol at lunch,” he explained), reminisced about the old Giorgio days and squirted a fragrance-in-progress on his wrist and invited reactions.

“It’s delicious,” swooned one woman. “When will it hit the market?”

“Not for a long time,” answered Hayman, adding that 273 took 300 submissions to the French perfumer who created Opium for Yves Saint Laurent and Oscar de la Renta’s signature fragrance. “You have to send it back over and over to get it just right,” he said.

After the champagne reception, which included a mariachi serenade (“Mr. Hayman loves mariachis,” McCartney said. “They have such a happy sound!”), guests were seated at tables decorated with red-and-yellow Mickey Mouse tulips (the exact color combination of Hayman’s perfume boxes) and dined on sauteed John Dory with red and gold (what else?) pepper vinaigrette and a reserve Chardonnay. Dessert? Poached pears served up in swirls of red and yellow fruit sauce with the numbers 273 done up in dark chocolate.

Recognition Reception: Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, a retired Marine Corps brigadier general, has been named the recipient of the 1990 Semper Fidelis award by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation of Southern California.

Riley will receive the prestigious award on March 24 when the ninth annual Marine Corps Ball is held at the Century Plaza Hotel.

Last week, a recognition reception was held at the swank Beverly Wilshire hotel where such locals as ball chairman William Lusk and ball committee chairwoman Mary Roosevelt met for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

Something new: More than 100 prospective charter members of a new, young professionals group affiliated with the Orange County Philharmonic Society met for wine and appetizers Sunday at the Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Center. The party was staged to follow the appearance of the San Francisco Symphony at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Party-goers feasted on frogs legs au gratin, curried lamb with chestnut sauce and smoked ahi as they sipped fine wines and listened to the New Age jazz sounds of pianist Lawrence Dominello.

Rakish! Fashions by Rakish of Orange were paraded before members of the Associates support group of the Orange County Trauma Society on Sunday when they met for their annual membership drive luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel. Among guests was Dr. John West, founder of the Orange County Trauma Society. Peggy Goldwater was chairwoman.