Brrr! What a Night for a Swim
The Scene: A cocktail party Thursday evening poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel celebrating the publication of Kelly Klein’s $100 coffee-table book, “Pools.” As in swimming, not tide nor genetic. It’s a lavish photographic ode to elegantly cemented water. Before they buy this book, most people would need to redecorate.
Who Was There: It was a model-enriched crowd, evenly divided between excessively pretty people and those who employ them. The 350 included co-hosts Barry Diller, Sandy Gallin, David Geffen and L.A. Style editor Annie Gilbar, plus guests Jay Leno, Sharon Stone, Isabella Rossellini, Barbara Davis, Dolly Parton, Bianca Jagger, Diane von Furstenberg, Jon Peters, Linda Thompson Jenner and Lynda Guber.
Why They Were There: Kelly Klein is married to clothing/fragrance designer Calvin Klein, a good friend of Diller, Gallin and Geffen. “When she writes a book, we give a party,” said Diller. “As Ross Perot would say, ‘It’s as simple as that.’ ”
Quoted: She likes pools because “they’re very serene. They make you feel like you’re on vacation,” Kelly Klein said. “I like swimming,” said writer Fran Liebowitz. “It’s an exercise where you don’t have to stand up.”
Missed Opportunity: “Pools” would have been the perfect spot to insert a few of those ubiquitous Calvin Klein “Eternity” fragrance strips.
Entertainment: Though it was an unusually cool night, the U.S. Olympic Water Polo team and the Riverside Aquettes, a synchronized swimming ensemble, performed. “They must be freezing their butts off,” said one guest, who was huddled under a heat lamp.
Dress Mode: Handsome men, who could have fallen out of Calvin Klein ads, in sports jackets with T-shirts; shivering synchronized swimmers wrapped in hotel towels; Kelly Klein in a black jersey evening dress; water polo players in rubberized yellow bathing caps. It was a wide spectrum of fashion.
Possible Trend: There were a number of women who thought inviting near-naked water polo players to parties is an idea whose time has finally come.
Money Matters: Since all proceeds go to AIDS causes, the book, said Diller, “is a good way to dip into luxury without feeling guilty.”
Observed: Esther Williams talking to the 18 high-school age synchronized swimmers from Riverside. Klein described the students as “looking like they were meeting this swimming god.”
Chow: A bountiful buffet of everything from carved meats to pastas and desserts. Since such a high percentage of the guests were models, there was much consumption of dry turkey breast slices with a bit of salad.
Last Word: One guest said Klein’s book, “could either make you fall in love with swimming pools or want to drown the rich in them.”
