Fashioning a Benefit for Kids, Families
Hey, this may look like a fabulous manse to you, but feel free to relax. Grab a flute of champagne, a plate of Lucques’ ahi tuna and get ready to dish, because it’s just us girls. There’s Irena Medavoy, who’s introducing her good friend Donna Estes-Antebi as the leader of the pack. The ebullient Irena is also standing next to Bernadette Leonard, a friend of Medavoy’s from their Sports Illustrated modeling days 20 years ago.
“Bernadette is hormonal,” Irena chirps. “She wanted you to know that’s why she’s sitting on a chair. This is how close we all are. This is our baby group. And this is what we’re doing, guys. We’re trying to grow a charity.”
We’re sprawled around the entryway of a new Pacific Palisades palace built by Bernadette and Sugar Ray Leonard, furnished with doors, fireplaces, stone floors and columns from the south of France. Soon wispy models dripping Van Cleef & Arpels jewels will be navigating the Leonards’ little piece of Europe in shimmering architectural evening wear designed by up-and-comer Anne Bowen, who is dressing Elizabeth Hurley for her next Estee Lauder campaign.
“There’s a focus on being in front of a camera for a lot of the people who buy my clothes,” says Bowen, a former magazine marketing executive. “They want to be comfortable, they want to stand out, but they don’t want to be trying too hard. There’s a fine line you’ve got to walk.”
They walked it in Cheryl Tiegs’ new line of wigs for Revlon. But Monday’s luncheon is designed for more than fashion; it’s benefiting Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s COACH for Kids and Their Families Program. COACH, which stands for Community Outreach Assistance for Children’s Health, helps economically disadvantaged kids with lifesavers as diverse as mobile medical units and Christmas gifts.
About six months ago, Estes-Antebi, a longtime supporter of COACH, rallied other moms in her baby play group, such as Jennifer Flavin Stallone, Kris Jenner and Marie Marciano, to join her in adopting the charity. In March, the group will clean out its closets and hold a “million dollar” celebrity garage sale online.
“We’re all friends, relatively the same age, and we’re also having new babies,” Estes-Antebi says. “So it’s a very bonded experience. We’re women who are together anyway, so for us to have the opportunity to change the world at the same time is a wonderful thing.”
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Let’s blur the edges a bit and declare this Martin Luther King Jr. Week. His memory was out and about Friday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where the American Civil Liberties Union saluted a few good men and women at its annual Bill of Rights dinner.
Honoree and civil rights attorney Constance Rice imagined King’s reaction to L.A. at the millennium: “If he were here, I think he would acknowledge the progress, but I think he would be sorely disappointed. Justice is a relay, and I think he’d tell us we’ve dropped the baton. Because as long as places like Los Angeles have 40% of its children without health insurance, there’s work to be done. . . . As long as children and women and men sleep on the streets and go to bed hungry, there’s work to be done.”
Harry Belafonte, in town to film the abortion-politics drama “Swing Vote” with Andy Garcia, celebrated his 72nd birthday by joining Rice at the podium in memory of his erstwhile marching buddy, King.
Also honored were writer-director Steven Zaillian, whose credits include “A Civil Action,” “Schindler’s List” and “Amistad,” and Erwin Chemerinsky, professor of law and political science at USC Law School and chairman of the L.A. Elected Charter Reform Commission.
Irene Lacher’s Out and About column runs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on Page 2.
