Stepping Out With the Family Ferragamo

At most parties, one at least glances at the couture. At the exhibition gala opening of “Salvatore Ferragamo: The Art of the Shoe (1898-1960)” Saturday evening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, everyone was looking at everyone else’s shoes. Most were polished to diamond perfection, even if they weren’t Ferragamos. That’s because word got out early that this would be a “mostest” gala; Kathy Offenhauser, chairman of the Costume Council, was working day and night for perfection.

The breeziness at the museum as guests arrived almost lifted the late Ferragamo’s granddaughter, Benedetta, clad in a black taffeta cape, off her feet. But she was well-anchored, wearing a pair of black silk Ferragamo platform sling-back sandals stunning enough to be in the show.

She arrived with her mother, Giovanna Gentile Ferragamo, who is the designer-director of the second largest division of the House of Ferragamo, women’s ready-to-wear.

Also attending was Ferragamo’s widow, Wanda Ferragamo, grande dame of a family that believes in togetherness. Sons Ferruccio (CEO) and Massimo (president of Ferragamo USA) attended; daughters Giovanna and Fiamma de San Giuliano Ferragamo (vice president in the important women’s footwear division) were there. And Benedetta Gentile chatted with her handsome cousin, James Ferragamo (son of Ferrucio), who had flown in from New York, where he’s an NYU student. His twin, Salvatore, couldn’t make it because he had four wisdom teeth pulled the day before.

The evening before, John and Louise Good had hosted the family for cocktails, and in a whirl of weekend events, Neiman Marcus, Saks, I. Magnin and the American Film Institute also hosted the Ferragamos at social events.

At the museum, everyone wanted to know if LACMA director Earl (Rusty) Powell will move to Washington--he is being considered for the top job at the National Gallery.

He was seated with his wife, Nancy, and with former ambassador to the Vatican William Wilson and his wife, Betty, as well as with Stanley Marcus, founder of Neiman Marcus.

First, guests toured the exhibition and sipped champagne in the Atrium. Marcia Hobbs, Mia Frost, Hannah and Ed Carter, Yvonne Lenart, Georgianna and Paul Erskine and Maggie Pexton Murray were prominent.

Then the crowd walked a red carpet to the twinkly-topped tent where gala assistants--Mary Martin, Jane Ackerman, Marybeth Brundage and Carlotta Keely--concocted elegance with Suzane Le May’s amazing white rose topiaries on every table. Everyone danced to Lester Lanin’s Orchestra.

Standouts in the crowd included Armand and Harriet Deutsch, Maria and Sandy Mallace, Lynn and Hugh Evans, Marty and Donna Wolff, Jackie Applebaum and curator of costumes and textiles Edward Maeder.

Those who read the fine print in the exhibition noted Salvatore Ferragamo’s quote: “The feet of the Duchess of Windsor and Susan Hayward--perfect feet.”

STAND PROUD: More than 1,200 watched three honorees take top distinctions at the Marine Scholarship Ball Saturday at the Century Plaza.

William H. Donaldson, chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange and a former Marine officer, received the Semper Fidelis Award for civic and community leadership.

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, who as a quarterback led the Buffalo Bills to American Football League championships in 1964 and 1965, was recognized with the John Wooden Sportsman Award.

And William D. Lusk, vice chairman of the board of the Lusk Co. and a leader with the Hoag Hospital’s 552 Club and the Orange County Task Force for Homeless Women, received the Globe and Anchor Award.

Either black-tie or military evening dress was de rigueur . The U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and Horace Heidt Jr. and his Orchestra added to the pomp. The evening netted $250,000 for scholarships for Marines’ children.

BLOOMING: Add to the bouquets of spring more galas inspired by flowers.

On May 1, the Friends of Robinson Gardens and Tiffany & Co. will stage a black-tie dinner at the Virginia Robinson Estate in Beverly Hills to honor Mildred E. Mathias, preeminent botanist and recipient of the Friends’ Inaugural Life Achievement Award.

That evening, Tiffany will premiere its American Garden porcelain and silver on the West Coast. The silver, featuring 27 designs of American plants and flowers, is the company’s most intricate design of this century. Tiffany will provide 100 place settings of china and sterling for the dinner catered by Patina.

The affair is a lead-up to the Friends’ much-awaited fourth annual daylong tour of six distinctive private gardens on May 8. Barbara Namerow is Friends president . . . .

Flowers, fragrance and art will mix on April 24-25 at the intersection of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s “scentsational” exhibition of museum paintings and the Two Rodeo Drive Fragrance Festival.

Here’s the modus operandi : Southern California floral designers will surround museum paintings such as John Sloan’s “Town Steps Gloucester” with flowers. These will be displayed in shops offering samplings of fragrances and beauty products.

The festival is a tie-in with the museum’s second annual “Blooming Inspirations,” to be held May 14-17 at the museum.

The museum Director’s Roundtable has asked 50 floral designers to concoct spring arrangements for the May affair . . . .