D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A N E W YO R K P H I L H A R MO N I C ’ S O P E N I N G N I G H T AT AV E R Y F I S H E R H A L L
Steven Heyer, Lauren Buccellati and Peter May
Bobby and Phoebe Tudor, Noreen and Ken Buckfire and Gabriela and Antonio Guintella
the museum’s work. The first luncheon was held in 2006 at Brasserie 8 1/2, the popular restaurant on the subterranean level of 9 West 57th Street, just off of Fifth Avenue. It was a small affair, but it was a hit. The following year, they decided to expand the guest list and move over to Lincoln Center. A couple hundred guests were invited and a tradition was established. An award for “Artistry of Fashion” was created, and has been bestowed annually. Since then, the award has been presented to Karl Lagerfeld, Oscar de la Renta, Alber Elbaz, Valentino Garavani, and, this year, Mi26 QUEST
chael Kors. With the Couture Council’s success—now boasting a membership of more than one hundred women—the instittuion is dedicated to supporting the museum, a highly specialized institution of fashion that is destined to become the greatest in the world. The luncheon itself brings out the largest crowd of fashionable women and tastemakers in the city with a synergy that has come to enhance Fashion Week. This year’s luncheon chairs were Kamie Lightburn and Jieun Wax. Among the guests attending were Lauren du Pont, Linda Fargo, Vanessa Getty, Pat-
Karen LeFrak
Carol Lowenthal
Daria Foster and Alan Gilbert
ti Hansen, Iman, Karolína Kurková, Aerin Lauder, Sandra Lee, Crystal Lourd, Alexandra Richards, Theodora Richards, Renee Rockefeller, Jamie Tisch, Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis, Elettra Wiedemann, and Anna Wintour. Dr. Joyce Brown, president of FIT, announced the 2013 Michael Kors Scholarship winner to third-semester student Kim Nguyen. The scholarship includes time studying in Europe, which is something that Michael Kors believes to be immeasurably important to the development of a successful fashion designer—as Dr. Brown pointed out. Then, Liz Peek introduced Hilary
Christopher and Anne Flowers
Swank, who presented the Artistry of Fashion Award to Michael Kors. Mr. Kors, who is enthusiastically forthright and frank about himself, reminisced briefly about his time as a student at FIT, including what he thought of fashion design before he entered the field, and what he learned (to the contrary). He was very amusing in describing the variety of clothes (or costumes) that he wore as a design student, sentimentally poking fun at some of his outlandish getups and concluding that good things can come out of that phase of a designer’s development.
L I N S LE Y L I N D E K I N S ; J U L I E S K A R R AT T
Linda Johnson and Leonard Lauder