D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A Macy Gray, Anthony Kiedis, Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour, Guy Oseary, Rupert and Wendi Murdoch, David Geffen, Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova, Julian Schnabel, Vito Schnabel, Brian Grazer, George Lucas, Lorne Michaels, Patrick Demarchelier, JeanGeorges Vongerichten, LA Reid, Andre Harrell, Richard Meier, Paul Allen, Sergey Brin, Tamara Mellon, Frédéric Fekkai, Aby Rosen and Samantha Boardman, Francisco Costa, Larry Gagosian, Francois-Henri Pinault, Jane Rosenthal, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Johnny Pigozzi, Lawrence Bender, Todd
English, Michelle Alves, Olivia Palermo and Johannes Huebl, and Nat Rothschild. Many, if not all, could be spotted hither and thither at the mega-parties, such as: Larry Gagosian’s party, Russell Simmons’s party, P. Diddy’s boat party, Paul Allen’s pre-New Year’s Eve party on his boat, Tatoosh, Johnny Pigozzi’s party on his boat, Ron Perelman’s on his boat, or Roman Abramovich’s exclusive New Year’s Eve party (with a performance by Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas). Or they might have been lunching at Maya, Taiwana (the lunch), L’Esprit, Eden Rock, PaCri, Isola, Le Ti St. Barth, and the late night Yacht Club.
Meanwhile, back in snowy, chilly ole Manhattan: On one stormy Wednesday, I went down to Michaels to lunch with Lydia Fenet, who is senior vice president, director of strategic partnerships at Christie’s. Lydia also serves as one of the auction house’s celebrity auctioneers. She’s a tall girl, commanding in comportment as well as presence. I’m six-four and she can just about look me in the eye. She’s easy to meet, however, friendly and direct, a pleasure to know. I’d met her several times, more recently at a dinner at Swifty’s for Alexandra Lebenthal and her (not so) new book The Recessionistas.
I had no idea about her professional life. Then I saw her practicing her art (and it is an art) a couple of weeks later at a dinner hosted by Martha Stewart for the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Hospital. I’ve seen scores of “celeb auctions” conducted as additional fundraising at charity galas. They’ve become a habit so commonplace that you can find yourself watching the clock for relief. However, when Lydia got up to conduct her auction on this particular night, I expected little except possibly a brief snooze. But within moments, this girl had everyone on the edge of their seats—bidding, and laughing.
n e w ye a r ’ s e v e at c l u b c o l e t t e
Dom Telesco and Mary Freitas
Marianna Kaufman and Candy Hamm 22 QUEST
Trish and Thorne Donnelley
Linda and Edward Dweck
George Kaufman, Audrey Gruss and Rand Araskog
lu c i e n c a p e h a rt
Adrianne and Bill Silver