Paying Homage to AIDS Care
The fashionable souls who could rip themselves away from the Lakers game Wednesday night (not so difficult considering the competition) headed to Sunset Plaza to join the California Fashion Industry Friends of AIDS Healthcare Foundation in honoring fashion designer Nicole Miller.
A conflict kept Miller in New York, but she made a virtual appearance via satellite hookup.
“It was like the adults talking in Charlie Brown, ‘Wah, wah, wah, wah,’ ” joked one guest about the poor sound quality.
I spotted actresses Morgan Fairchild and Mimi Rogers, along with Heath Slane of Slane & Slane jewelry, W magazine’s new West Coast editor, Kim Cutter, and Women’s Wear Daily’s new West Coast bureau chief, Rose Apodaca Jones.
In past years, fashion designers Adrian, Bob Mackie, Gianni Versace and Todd Oldham have been honored by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, but this marks the first time a woman will be honored.
Michael Anketell of AIDS Healthcare Foundation acknowledged too that the number of women infected by HIV and AIDS is growing.
“I am the face of AIDS,” said Playboy Playmate Rebekka Armstrong, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1983 at age 16.
The mood grew heavy as she shared her experience. The svelte blond dressed in black leather said her first reaction to the diagnosis was to self-destruct. She became addicted to drugs and alcohol to ease the pain because “I thought, ‘I’m going to die anyway’ so why not?”
Armstrong credited Ann Easley, a physician’s assistant at AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Westside branch, with helping her cope with her illness: “She saved my life.”
This event was a precursor to a gala planned for Nov. 29 in conjunction with World AIDS Day.
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Mary J. Blige is scheduled to drop off a $50,000 check today at Project Angel Food in West Hollywood, a meal delivery service for people affected by HIV and AIDS.
The money comes from sales of MAC Cosmetics’ Viva Glam III lipstick, for which Blige and rapper Lil’ Kim are spokeswomen.
Blige, who will play the Universal Amphitheatre on Saturday, said in a rushed cell phone conversation on the way to a rehearsal in L.A. that she was thrilled when MAC asked her to do the lipstick, but social consciousness is “not only the role of a star. It’s the role of all people--whatever place you are in.”
During her summer tour, Blige will be presenting MAC AIDS Fund checks totaling more than $600,000 to charities.
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Does a news release announcing the name of the company that made the “Friends” engagement ring strike anyone else as funny?
The $10,000 diamond ring from Los Angeles-based Tacori features a one-carat princess-cut (or square-shaped) diamond flanked by sapphires and mounted in filigree platinum.
I don’t know about you, but I watched the show and couldn’t even see the ring. But now, of course, I want one just like it.
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Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.
