Even angels flip for holiday bargains
Inside the airplane hangar, martini-fueled shoppers stumbled over one another through vast displays of merchandise, dizzied by the bargains. Everything, from the endless racks of clothing to entire rooms of furniture, was half off the original price. For sale rack devotees, this was heaven.
“How do I get these all home?” Clarisse Shumaker asked breathlessly as a sales clerk tallied up her purchases: four cane chairs, one leather chair and a heavy wooden table for $2,000. She frantically called out to her husband to pull the car around.
When she disappeared into the crowd, clerk Lars Hansson noted that Shumaker’s purchase, while significant, was modest. Moments before, he said, a man bought $40,000 worth of patio furniture. Shoppers move quickly here because “by Monday a lot of this will be gone,” Hansson said. “Then it will be bedlam. They just rip things out of each other’s hands.”
On Thursday night, however, the crowds were just getting warmed up for the four-day shopping extravaganza known as Divine Design. Celebrities and supporters paid $250 each for first crack at the merchandise with a dinner party, silent auction and fashion show at Santa Monica Airport’s Barker Hangar.
The annual event, which began in 1992, helps raise as much as 40% of the operating costs of Project Angel Food, a charity that distributes 1,000 free meals a day to people in Los Angeles County disabled by AIDS. “Giving people that dignity is extraordinary,” said actress Annette Bening, who, along with Lauren Hutton, was one of the evening’s honorees.
Shoppers come for the progressive discounts, which started at 50% Friday. Prices are slashed by 90% on Monday. “We call it Winona Day,” quipped actor Eric McCormack. By Monday morning, the event had grossed $1.5 million, significantly more than the $1 million anticipated by John Gile, Project Angel Food’s executive director.
While charity was the evening’s goal, the celebrity element was in full effect. Ubiquitous partygoer Lisa Rinna worked the crowd, seemingly oblivious to the merchandise but keen on other actors milling about. When she spotted Julie Benz, Rinna halted traffic, sending martinis rippling in a crowd near the cosmetics area. “You were so great in ‘Taken,’ ” Rinna gushed, wrapping her willowy arms around the slim blond actress. Benz, whose show is on the SciFi Channel, smiled, surprised. Then, Rinna abruptly disappeared into the crowd with a hand to her throat and a face full of wonder.
Not everyone was impressed by the layout of goods. Bobby Trendy, best known as the custom furniture designer whose bedding was destroyed by Anna Nicole Smith on her E! Network show, adjusted his silver sequined scarf and complained. “The lighting shouldn’t be so harsh,” he said. “It’s added 10 years to my 24-year-old face.” He went on to urge an acquaintance to watch for him on Smith’s Christmas special.
