Landsbergis Due on Nixon Turf
Julie Nixon Eisenhower will preside over a luncheon for Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis on May 9 at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.
The visit marks the first time the youngest daughter of President Nixon has returned to Orange County since the library opened last summer.
After the noon affair (expected to be a magnet for local leaders of the GOP), Landsbergis will speak to supporters of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation in the library’s Museum Theatre. Later that day, Eisenhower will autograph copies of “Pat Nixon: The Untold Story,” the book she penned about her brave mum.
(You may recall that President Nixon met with Landsbergis and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union last month.)
How to stage a party, Tiffany-style: Ask a hostess to name the country’s most sophisticated party maven, and she’ll tell you John Loring, author of “Tiffany Parties.”
The design director and senior veep of Tiffany & Co. in New York--dapper schmoozer with Big Apple society--will dine at the Center Club on Thursday with the board of directors of the Visionaries, a support group of the Newport Harbor Art Museum.
(Of course there’s a Tiffany agenda here. The Visionaries will dine off of the new Tiffany Tablesettings Collection--china coordinated to complement some of the store’s most popular sterling patterns.) “The patterns took a long time to develop,” says Loring, who recently returned from a business/pleasure romp in Paris. “And they’re beautiful.”
As director of design for the country’s most glamorous jewel emporium, Loring knows about beauty. So we asked him to divulge his do’s and don’ts for refined party giving. (As you must know, the Tiffany Feather Ball--staged each May at the Plaza Hotel--is de rigueur for such New York society types as Pat Buckley and Ivana Trump.)
Herewith, gems from Loring:
* Many elements go into creating a perfect party--decor, a great tradition and a great location. But the most important one is a “great guest list,” Loring says. “The right guest list is primary. There is no point in giving a party for the wrong people. They won’t have any fun together.” Pack your roster with names people know. “Everyone wants to think they are in the right place to be,” Loring says.
Of course, after guests arrive, they’d better be seated at the right places--next to people they will enjoy. “You can have the best guest list in the world and seat people badly and fail,” he says. “It takes a good knowledge of who will enjoy whom.”
* Of course, decorations are important. “But the environment is equally important,” Loring advises. “A party should create a beautiful, magical moment in time. You need to find an environment that is acceptable. I’ve seen too many parties given in unfortunate rooms where no amount of money or people can overcome the unpleasant atmosphere.”
* Food is not the most important element, but the kind of food served is critical to a party’s success, especially from a woman’s point of view, Loring says. “Women in their beautiful gowns need food that is easy to eat--food that doesn’t frighten. Ladies don’t want drippy sauces or floppy salads splattering all over their dresses.”
* And finally, the great commandment of party-giving is to “never to presume or assume on anybody’s taste,” Loring says. Never presume, for example, that your guests will want to dress in theme attire. And never assume that everyone will enjoy only champagne. Or only red wine. It’s smart, Loring says, to make an assortment of libations available. Even something as simple as cool drinking water. “Water can make the difference between a guest being comfortable and annoyed at a party,” Loring says.