This Monet Prefers Art of Dining

“It’s the art of eating,” Lambert Monet said of his first shot at restaurant design, the interior of the new Eclipse (formerly Morton’s) to open June 29. We had a brief conversation with the great-grandson of Impressionist painter Claude Monet. We must add that Lambert Monet would prefer us not to talk about his famous relative at all: “I hate it. It’s so stupid, you build up a life and you want to be your own person.”

Lambert and partner Henk Rijkers, based in Amsterdam and Gstaad, will also lend the restaurant art, since they are primarily dealers and art exhibition designers. But they are finding restaurants fun now too. “The colors are very soft,” Monet said. “When you go into a restaurant the lighting has to be right, especially in Hollywood. A light shining in someone’s face, that is not right.”

The Whites of Their Ties

The White House says the white-tie State dinner for the Emperor and Empress of Japan on Monday was the first full-dress event since the Reagan Administration. And it apparently caused a bit of confusion fashion-wise.

“The social secretary at the White House said everybody (called) to find out what ‘white-tie’ meant specifically,” said Rob Singer, curator of Japanese Art at the Los Angeles County Museum and a confused invitee. The social secretary told him white-tie meant black tails, a white vest, white wing-collar shirt and white tie.

Now you know. Frankly, all we really want to know is if Lew Wasserman and Mike Ovitz wore rented tails too.

First Lady as Honoree

Although it’s unusual for the First Lady to make a commitment this far in advance, Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to accept the Brass Ring award Oct. 28 at the Carousel of Hope gala, Marvin and Barbara Davis’s starry Los Angeles fund-raiser for diabetes charities. Clinton will be honored for her work on health care coverage.