WAG Magazine edition of July 2012

JULY 2012

Donna de Varona’s Golden moments Reveling in rivalries Seema’s dazzling return Ad Man:

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going for the gold 12 Gilt-y pleasure 14 Gold fingers 18 The art of the games 22 The Olympic Rainmaker 23 The best of frenemies 25 speaking of rivalries...

26 U.S.-U.K.: OK? 28 Sporty SUmmers 29 Fashioning the games 30 Rowing his boat ashore 32 making a splash 34 Designed to get wet 37 Seema’s golden touch 40 Undercurrents 43 Golden Girl 51 Mad about MadStone 52 Estate Treasures’ gold standard 62 Watering holes 68 Mr. Meticulous

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With Martha Handler and Jennifer Pappas.

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FOUNDING PUBLISHER Mary Ann Liebert WAG A division of Westfair Communications Inc. 3 Gannett Drive, White Plains, NY 10604 Telephone: (914) 358-0746 Facsimile: (914) 694-3699 Website: wagmag.com Email: gg@wagmag.com All news, comments, opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations in WAG are those of the authors and do not constitute opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations of the publication, its publisher and its editorial staff. No portion of WAG may be reproduced without permission.WAG is distributed at select locations, mailed directly and is available at $12 a year for home or office delivery. To subscribe, call (914) 694-3600, ext. 3020.

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editor's letter Georgette Gouveia

The Olympic Games: art, culture & sport Through September 2, 2012

The Games: The science of sport Through August 12, 2012

BRUCE MUSEUM

Greenwich, CT 203 . 869 . 0376 brucemuseum.org

10

In anticipation of the London Games – I don’t know about you, but I’ve been warming up with my Michael Phelps’ Beijing DVD – we at WAG have decided to go full out for some gold of our own with an issue devoted to all things Olympian, glittering and British.

To me, few subjects have been as Olympian as our cover girl Donna de Varona. It’s not just that she was the youngest swimmer at the Rome Games or won two golds in Tokyo, impressive though those achievements are. But here is a woman who has fought all her professional life for equality in athletics and for women in general. In our post-feminist age, we sometimes forget when women had much less access to sports, higher education and many careers. We owe it to women like de Varona that we have the luxury of forgetting, even though, as she tells our Patricia Espinosa, the battle has not yet been won.

Donna, who lent her name and fab Olympic necklace to the Bruce Museum’s stunning Olympic exhibit (another one of our features), is just one of the Olympians past and present you’ll meet this month.

Some, like swimmer Maritza Correia and rower Paul Teti, are the subjects of individual profiles. Others, like three-time gold medalist and NBC commentator Rowdy Gaines, were gracious enough to share their thoughts in some of our other stories, including what I’m sure will be a provocative read on the nature of sports rivalries.

Everyone has a fave – Yanks-Red Sox, Giants-Cowboys, Canadiens-Maple Leafs – we could go on. (And believe me, we did.) But we also let the fans weigh in for WAGwit and hope you’ll join the discussion on our Facebook page.

We got into the whole rivalry thing in light of the upcoming duel in the pool between Phelps and Ryan Lochte, who has familial ties to WAG country and occasionally makes appearances at local youth clubs. Ryan, however, is also one of the many athletes who’s into fashion, which gave us an excuse to plumb Ralph Lauren’s Olympic looks, new fragrances, gold jewelry, even glittery cosmetics. (As if we needed an excuse. If they gave out medals for shopping, we’d be on the podium every time.)

Sometimes we took “going for the gold” quite literally, as in our piece on the “gilty”

erotic pleasures of Gustav Klimt. But we also understand that some people are just golden at life, like businessman Stephen Grisanti, who applies the perfectionist’s eye to everything he does.

Speaking of golden, I know WAG read-

ers join with me in welcoming back this month former columnist Seema Boesky, whose passion for buying, refurbishing and reselling homes to her own Olympian standards is the subject of a Mary Shustack profile. Welcome back, Seema.

And welcome to our own Patrick Gallagher, a business reporter for our sister publications who crewed at Boston College and so was a natural to take on the Paul Teti piece.

But just as we’re saying “hello,” we are also saying “goodbye” to WAGwell’s Sam Kopf, who’s off to law school. For several issues, Sam took my idea of following Ryan Lochte’s arduous dryland workout and ran with it. She not only interpreted it for athletically challenged folks like her creaky editor, but she cleverly related our themes each month to his life.

I’ll never forget her perseverance. I know my inner thighs won’t.

Oops!

In our May issue, we neglected to mention the name of the artist whose lovely works graced pages 63 and 80.

The painting on page 63, “A Good Day’s Outing,” is an oil on canvas by Susan Dorazio, while her “Return to Kennels,” also an oil on canvas, appeared on page 80.

And on Page 90, we inadvertently elevated Joe Kenner, former deputy mayor of Port Chester, to mayor without even holding an election.

Hey, we still love you, Dennis Pilla, (PC’s actual Your Honor).

Apologies, all.

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Gilt-y pleasure

By Georgette Gouveia

O

nce viewers got past all the bullion, movie-star bangles and pirate booty in the American Museum of Natural History’s glittering 2006 “Gold” exhibit, they were invited to step on a scale that measured their weight in gold. Few people beyond prizefighters and “The Biggest Loser” contestants would submit to a public weigh-in. But the brave souls – including Yours Truly – who ventured forth were justly rewarded: Each was worth at least a million bucks. (Not surprising when you think that many of the people who got on the scale were adults weighing more than 100 pounds.)

Still, the experience set participants to beaming.

Gold has a way of doing that. Since the dawn of time, it has been the standard by which anything of value has been measured. Gold may be No. 79 on the periodic table of elements (symbol Au, for the Latin “aurum,” meaning “glowing dawn”), but it is No. 1 on the chart of metaphors.

That’s because nothing else crystallizes the human challenge so utterly – to be flexible with others while retaining your integrity. Gold is what it is, existing in a virtually pure state, unlike other metals that combine with nonmetallic elements to form complex minerals and are subject to corrosion. (We’re talking about you, copper, silver and iron.) Sure, you can mix gold with silver or copper to create a golden alloy, as the Museum of Natural History describes the Andean cultures of South America doing in a process known as surface depletion.

But gold always remains itself. It isn’t transformed in the body, which is why you can eat it, as you certainly will if you try the scrumptious chocolate hazelnut Klimt cake with the gold-leaf decoration at the Neue Galerie New York.

But despite its singular self-possession and density, gold is also malleable and versatile. It can be used in everything from wire conductors to glare-reducing, heatdeflecting astronaut visors.

Gold is beautiful in its natural state, let alone when it is hammered, molded into intricate reliefs or used as gilding, as in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s revelatory exhibit “British Silver: The Wealth of a Nation.” No wonder, then, that beginning with the Thracians in 4000 B.C., gold was made into sacred and decorative objects that the rich and powerful tried to take with them into the afterlife. The

A Chinese hard-paste porcelain ewer, with English gilt-silver mounts, 16th century, part of “British Silver: The Wealth

of a Nation,” through Jan. 20 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 12

Persian Empire used a gold coin called the daric, after Darius the Great. In conquering the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great created coins that spurred his gains and the flow of gold into Europe. (The Macedonian king – who was known to clean up real good, so to speak – was said to sprinkle his blond hair with gold dust to make it more brilliant.)

Gold remained the coin of the realm in this country at least until the Great Depression when Franklin D. Roosevelt began to take us off the gold standard, a job that was finished by Richard Nixon in 1971. Today, money is fiat currency, which means it is whatever our government says it is. Nevertheless, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York holds the world’s largest accumulation of monetary gold – $147 billion worth of bullion – 80 feet below street level in Manhattan, just in case we wake up one day and realize the dollar is really backed by, oh say, air. (The bullion is stored in Manhattan, because only the bedrock there is deemed strong enough to support the weight of the gold, the vault and its doors.)

But this isn’t all our gold. It’s the world’s.

Not surprisingly, emails to the Fed to visit the world’s gold were not received with alacrity.

Given the need for coins and objects sacred and profane, gold mining soon became a worldwide phenomenon, beginning in West Africa as early as 264 B.C.,

continuing with the European exploration (some might say exploitation) of Central and South America in the 17th century and reaching a fevered pitch with the great gold rushes of 1849 California, 1851 Australia and 1896 Klondike. The phrase “yellow fever,” associated with the rushes, conveys the tarnished behavior of those possessed by gold lust. Think conquistadors locked in a zero-sum game with the indigenous peoples of the Americas, or pirate plunder and the lives and treasures lost along America’s treacherous Atlantic coast.

Religion and literature have warned us about gold fever. In the Bible, the prophets admonish the Israelites for worshiping golden idols. In Greek mythology, Jason secures the Golden Fleece but betrays his wife with horrific consequences and so ends as he began – with nothing.

So, too, the three prospectors in the 1948 film classic “The Treasure of Sierra Madre,” who risk rifts, danger, madness and death itself only to see their beloved gold blown away like dust in the wind.

Better, it seems, to be a “golden boy,” or girl, with “a heart of gold” that enables you to enjoy your “golden years.”

“That’s gold, Jerry, gold,” hack comedian Kenny Bania tells Jerry Seinfeld when he gives him a lame joke about Ovaltine on “Seinfeld.”

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Goldfingers Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt was the man with the Midas touch

By Georgette Gouveia Gustav Klimt in front of his studio at Josefst채der Strasse 21, 1912, private collection. Photograph

by Moritz N채hr. Courtesy Neue Galerie New York.

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G

ustav Klimt was a golden boy in every sense of the word.

The child of a goldsmith, Klimt was nurtured in Vienna, where he soon received important commissions from the Burgtheater and Kunsthistorisches Museum. The city is in the midst of celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth, as is the Neue Galerie New York, the largest repository of his works in the United States.

Some of his ideas, however, proved too provocative even for the city of Freud, and the idiosyncratic Symbolist artist abandoned the public sphere for private patronage, developing a style inspired by Byzantine iconography that would locate the profane in the sacred and render the metallic erotic.

Among the gilded Klimt treasures is the Neue Galerie’s 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, in oil, silver and gold on canvas. A superb example of the artist’s “golden style,” the painting has a tragic provenance worth noting.

Adele was the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, head of the Austrian sugar industry, who commissioned Klimt to do two portraits of her. A series of drawings in the exhibit charts the evolution of the Neue Galerie portrait from the fragile outline of a woman in a flowing gown to the glittering masterpiece, in which the almost photographic depiction of Adele’s striking face, creamy décolletage and slender arms seems to float on a sea of gold.

But this is no mere homage to Eastern icons. The checkerboard, eye-shaped details give the picture its fin-de-siècle edge, with the touch of green sneaking up on you to add perspective.

“Adele Bloch-Bauer I” – the only golden-style Klimt

Gustav Klimt’s “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” (1907), Neue Galerie New York, and right, “Danaë” (1907).

work that is part of the Neue Galerie collection – was among the Bloch-Bauer holdings confiscated by the Nazis in 1938. It was returned to the heirs of the family after a lawsuit upheld by a landmark 2004 Supreme Court decision. Subsequently, the Neue Galerie purchased the work.

Golden globes

It was one thing for Klimt to bring his golden touch to a proper matron. It was quite another to use it to alchemize warrior goddesses, biblical heroines and damsels in distress, along with lovers whose all-consuming

ardor is enveloped in yellowish hues, like those in the Rodin-inspired “The Kiss” (1907-08). Klimt was a passionate devotee of the female form and he savored capturing women in the most intimate acts. But he also knew their mettle and used his shimmery palette to plumb the irresistible lure of female strength and sensuality, a classic fin-de-siècle obsession.

His “Pallas Athene” (1898) is a felicitous marriage of subject and style, as Zeus’ gray-eyed daughter was the ancient Greek goddess of war as well as wisdom and has often been portrayed with helmet and spear, the terrifying serpentine head of Medusa gleaming from her aegis

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or breastplate. Klimt’s “Judith I” or “Judith and Holofernes” (1901) is a more carnal, archetypal fin-de-siècle affair, imagining the Hebrew widow’s bare-breasted, heavy-lidded, lip-parted allure, which beckoned the Assyrian general to his decapitation. Here gold both conceals and reveals, particularly the siren-like plunge of the neckline, with Judith’s gold collar adding a touch of decadent deception that implies a slavery to which she and her countrymen would never submit.

Perhaps the most erotic of all Klimt’s golden works is “Danaë” (1907), based on another one of those Greek myths in which women have to suffer because of male egotism. When Danaë’s kingly father learns of a prophecy that says he’ll be killed by his daughter’s son, he locks Danaë away in a bronze tower. But that’s not strong enough to keep out Zeus, who loves too much but none too well. He visits her in the form of a golden shower and she subsequently gives birth to the hero Perseus, who saves another distressed damsel, Andromeda, from a sea monster and beheads Medusa, thus giving Athene a nice trophy and bringing us full circle.

Klimt depicts the Titian-tressed Danaë nude with her legs drawn up as Zeus rains down on her, her eyes closed and lips parted. Clearly, rainfall never felt so good.

Back at the Neue

As the Neue show demonstrates, Klimt painted other kinds of works, including lush, vibrant landscapes that are cousins to scenes by Gauguin and Van Gogh.

In these he was inspired by the lakeside retreat he shared outside Salzburg with Emilie Flöge, sister of his brother Ernst’s wife, Helene. Emilie was a proponent of Reformkleider (“reform clothes”), colorful caftans designed to liberate women from the strictures of their corseted turn-of-the-century wardrobe. Photographs in the exhibit show Flöge and Klimt himself in the loosefitting garb. Together with Helene and sister Pauline, Emilie founded Schwestern Flöge (Sisters Flöge), a design salon that probably made Klimt’s indigo artist’s smocks.

Klimt died in 1918 at age 56 following a stroke. He left behind some 250 works, many of which immortalize the female body and the sexuality associated with it as an alchemic experience. n

Golden opportunity

There’s no escaping Gustav Klimt this summer.

(Not that we would want to.) “Gustav Klimt: 150th Anniversary Celebration” runs through Aug. 27 at the Neue Galerie New York. There you can enjoy the Klimt cake in the Café Sabarsky. (It’s chocolate hazelnut cake with gold leaf, inspired by the “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” portrait.) The Design Shop has the gold and silver cufflinks Josef Hoffmann created for Klimt, reproduced exclusively for the Neue Galerie

by First Edition, while the Book Store has two new publications featuring the museum’s “Adele BlochBauer I” on the cover – Anne-Marie O’Connor’s “The Lady in Gold” and Eric Kandel’s “The Age of Insight.”

Museum hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ThursdaysMondays. Admission is $20; $10 for senior citizens and students. Children under age 12 are not admitted and those 12 to15 must be accompanied by an adult. The museum is at 1048 Fifth Ave. (at 86th Street). (212) 628-6200, neuegalerie.org.

16 Gustav Klimt’s “Judith I” (1901).

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“Balance Beam Animation.” Image courtesy of the Peace Point Entertainment Group.

The art of the games

By Georgette Gouveia

I

t’s raining men, hallelujah, it’s raining men at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, where “The Olympic Games: Art, Culture & Sport” goes for the gold (literally) and the green(backs) through Sept. 2.

“There’s lots of eye candy here for the girls,” says Robin Garr, the museum’s director of education and a principal organizer of the exhibit.

Is there ever. From the classic “Diskobolos,” an 1888 plaster cast of an ancient sculpture of a discus thrower; to “The Education of Achilles” (circa 1776), Giovanni Battista Cipriani’s tenderly heroic painting; to riveting televised images of Jesse Owens and Muhammad Ali’s 1936 and 1960 Olympic triumphs respectively, “The Olympic Games” celebrates the taut male body, either in motion or primed for action.

That’s because the early history of the games was bound with the male-centric society of ancient Greece, where the Olympics originated around 776 B.C. in the city-state of Olympia. The ancient games were said to be crystallized by Hercules himself in honor of his father, Zeus, the king of the gods.

“It was primarily a religious festival,” says Laura Hovenac, the Bruce’s Zvi Grunberg resident intern, who has master’s degrees in classical archaeology and the classics from Florida State University and UCLA respectively. “But (the Olympics) were also designed to solidify Greek identity.”

Any free-born Greek male could travel, at his own expense, to Olympia, where every four years he could 18

Terra-cotta Panathenaic prize amphora by the Kleophrades Painter, © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source –Art Resource, NY.

participate in such events as the foot race (the earliest Olympic contest), discus, long jump, javelin, boxing and wrestling. Horse racing and pankration, a kind of extreme fighting, soon followed.

Athletes participated in the buff, cleansing their bodies with olive oil that they would scrape off with a strigil, like the bronze one on view, since they didn’t have soap and loofahs, Hovenac says.

The sight of all that well-oiled, undraped masculinity would no doubt spice NBC’s Olympic ratings as much as it might’ve set ancient feminine hearts

a-flutter. Alas, women were not only barred from competition; they were banned from spectatorship as well. In ancient Greece, the stadium – like the agora, or marketplace – was the province of men. The home was the women’s sphere.

The Bruce captures the testosterone-fueled atmosphere of the Olympic stadium (700-650 B.C.) with a 6-by-3-foot diorama featuring more than 1,200 athletes, judges and spectators, each no more than 5/8 of an inch tall and made out of copper, tissue and Elmer’s Glue. The diorama, created by Bob Leavy of Gainesville, Fla., suggests that the ancient Olympic stadium was at once sweeping and intimate, affording fans an opportunity to get up close and personal with their favorites as they vied for nothing (a laurel wreath) and everything (the honor of Greece and themselves).

The exhibit uses the original Olympic sports to span a phenomenon that was banned by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in 394 and revived in 1896 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee. Since then, the games have undergone many permutations, including the additions of winter sports (1924), local and international television (1936 and ’56), the Paralympics (1960), corporate sponsorship (1984) and Youth Games (2010).

There are prestigious loans here, ranging from an amphora (500-490 B.C.), used for mixing water and wine, from The Metropolitan Museum of Art that

R.Tait McKenzie’s bronze “The Sprinter” (1902), Delaware Art Museum. Photograph by Carson T. Zullinger.

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A screen shot animation of the rings from the Peace Point Entertainment Group.

depicts the beyond-fight club violence of pankration, to Emanuela Pierantozzi’s “Thorax” (2002), the exhibit’s opening sculpture, from the Art of the Olympians Museum in Fort Myers, Fla. But the Bruce has not limited its exploration of the Olympics merely to history and art. Like many Bruce experiences, this one is as interdisciplinary as it is interactive. Junior sports lovers in particular will

The sight of all that well-oiled, undraped masculinity would no doubt spice NBC’s Olympic ratings as much as it might’ve set ancient feminine hearts a-flutter.

“Diskobolos” (1888), plaster cast after Myron (circa 460-450 B.C.), Slater Memorial Museum.

Photograph by Barry Wilson, Slater Memorial Museum.

20

get a kick out of the companion show, “The Games: The Science of Sport” (through Aug. 12). Here you have the chance to feel how weighty the discus is.

The one used by female hurlers is lighter than that of the male discus throwers. Still, they’re pretty heavy.

Whereas while the javelin couldn’t be lighter, it’s oh so difficult to balance.

Perhaps most revelatory of all is a chart that shows how various body types are suited to particular Olympic sports. You’d be hard-pressed not to find yourself in the chart.

What began as a celebration of the free-born Greek male, idealized in art, has become a celebration of the human body and spirit, in all their wondrous variety. n

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The Olympic Rainmaker Pitchman Rob Prazmark’s got game

By Patricia Espinosa

“I

f you go (to the Olympics), take your camera and your Visa card, because the Olympics don’t take place every day and they don’t take American Express.”

Rob Prazmark ought to know. He’s the one who came up with the slogan.

It’s part of the “think big or go home” philosophy that has led the founder and CEO of the 21 Sports and Entertainment Marketing Group to be regarded as the $3 Billion Dollar Man for the deals he has brokered. The longtime Greenwich resident is also recognized within the Olympic movement for his contribution in revolutionizing sports and events marketing.

So much so that Sports Business Journal considers him one of the Olympics’ most influential people.

The London Games will mark Prazmark’s 15th Olympics, so I ask the aficionado to weigh in on what he thinks will be the biggest story of the London Games.

“Security. People weren’t that on edge with the Chinese. But in London, everybody is on high alert.”

And while sports are still generally considered a male purview, Prazmark says women are the new emerging market.

“Expect to see a change in attitude towards women in sports and an increased interest in watching them at this Olympics,” he predicts. “The story to watch will be the Chinese. Will this be the Olympics that the Chinese dominate?”

The Achilles heel of the Olympics will be the younger demographic, though the texting, tweeting and apps, he believes, will help draw in the younger audience.

“The digital consumption will be twice as much as in the Beijing Games. We’re going to be bombarded by stories from all different ways – not just what we get from NBC and nbc.com but all the applications that are around.”

Never taking ‘no’

Coming off the wildly successful 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles – thanks to Peter Ueberroth, who saved the Olympics from the brink of financial disaster by selling sponsorship for the first time – the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to create The Olympic Program (TOP), allowing a select group of corporations to be associated with the Olympic brand. It’s those sponsorships that help ensure that athletes, no matter how poor, can compete at the Olympic Games.

Young, exuberant and crazy enough to leave a cushy job in sales and marketing at ABC News – with a golden stable that included “World News Tonight,” “20/20,” 22

“The Barbara Walter Special” and “Nightline” – Prazmark was tapped by the IOC to market the Olympic rights worldwide for ISL, at the time the exclusive marketing agent for the IOC. It was there that he famously signed Visa as a global sponsor and turned advertising – not to mention, American Express – on its head when he came up with the familiar slogan.

“In Visa’s mind, it flipped the credit card wars. They became a number one brand because of the Olympic sponsorship,” he says.

That game changer has put Prazmark on a winning course for almost 30 years and counting.

With his booming voice and good looks, this forward-thinking guy could just as easily have landed in front of the camera. Listening to him speak, though, I quickly realize that he could talk his way in and out of any situation – the pitchman’s gift.

“They don’t mean ‘no’ until they tell you ‘no’ four times,” Prazmark says. “The first time they must not have understood what you were presenting. The second time they say ‘no’ is usually a request for additional information. The third time, they are negotiating with you and really mean ‘yes.’ But if they still say ‘no’ by the fourth time, they don’t see the value in your proposition and are going to get replaced by someone else.”

It’s that confidence and tenacity that has made him a force to be reckoned with.

As one of the original founders of TOP, he remembers how in the ’80s credit cards were the “juiciest category” and American Express was the biggest brand of all. So when he went to the company and asked

it for $15 million for worldwide rights, American Express flat out turned him down.

“They were so arrogant about their brand,” Prazmark remembers.

Next he went to Diners Club, but when he asked them for $15 million, the company called security. Not discouraged, he finally went to D-lister, Visa.

In those days if you used a Visa credit card, people thought there was something wrong with your credit. But this time, when he asked for $15 million, he pitched three big ideas: “Pull for the Team,” which was a concept that meant every time you used your credit card, money would be donated to the U.S. Olympic team; the Affinity Card, a credit card with the Olympic logo; (Prazmark’s ground-breaking idea marked the first time the face of a credit card would be changed); and a campaign to offer exclusivity as the “preferred” credit card.

For all this, Visa agreed to pay the $15 million. So it then became Prazmark’s task to go back and sell that idea to the IOC, which was no easy feat. But in his signature fashion, the guy with the silver tongue closed the deal.

The Visa story set up the current Olympic model. Its success help turn the IOC’s TOP experiment into a resounding success, generating about $1 billion every four years.

The fixer

This father of four is not all business.

He’s been known to do a few outrageous things, like the time he “helped himself” to an official Olympic flag in Calgary.

Feeling jubilant after the closing ceremonies and a night of celebration that lasted into the wee hours, he thought an official Olympic flag would make a nice memento when he spotted it as he passed the IOC boardroom on his way to his hotel room. Thinking no one would be the wiser, he took the flag, packed it in his suitcase and flew to Hawaii that morning to meet his family on holiday. It wasn’t until he returned from vacation that he’d heard the IOC had put out an alert that one of its precious flags had gone missing.

What Prazmark didn’t realize at the time was that each flag had a serial number.

“Do I turn myself in and ruin the beginning of a great relationship?” he remembers thinking.

Definitely not, he decided. Instead, he chose to hide the flag in his basement.

It wasn’t until many years later that the pitchman confessed his sins to the IOC and offered to pay for the flag and even return it. Thankfully, all was forgiven. Today, the flag is framed and on display at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich as part of “The Olympic Games: Art, Culture & Sport.” (See related story.)

In 1997 Prazmark became president of Olympic sales and marketing worldwide for IMG, the world’s largest sports marketing agency, representing the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

It was there that he had the “phenomenal experience” of working with his hero and sometime mentor, Peter Ueberroth, who was head of the USOC. And in 1998, Mitt Romney asked him to help turn around the Salt Lake City 2002 games in the wake of the bribery scandal.

Romney promised to go anywhere if Prazmark was sure there was a deal to close.

“I would always ring him up and say I need you, because this is a big deal and I think it will happen.” He recalls that in one particular case Romney said, “Rob, I know that company. It will never happen.

But if you’re telling me you need me, I’ll be there.”

“And he moved the Salt Lake City Christmas party to fly to Boston to meet with Monster.com. And we closed the deal,” the negotiator says with a big smile.

His latest venture is combining marketing and television rights in a joint venture between the USOC and NBC. “That was my idea, and they let me sell it. We were extremely successful for the London Games. That’s the model going forward.”

With 15 Olympics under his belt, the marketing guru’s still got game. n

Ryan Lochte with Michael Phelps.

Photograph by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.

The best of frenemies Rivals share a complex relationship

By Georgette Gouveia

F

or the last two years, Ryan Lochte has been the No. 1 swimmer in the world. But this year, Michael Phelps – who eclipsed him and everyone else at the 2008 Games in Beijing with eight gold medals – has been resurgent. Now they are on course to face off in London in the 200-meter freestyle; the 200 individual medley; and possibly, the 400 IM, the decathlon of swimming.

Can Lochte supplant Phelps as the world’s premier swimmer? Or will he forever be the Red Sox to Phelps’ Yankees, the Frazier to his Ali, the Alydar to his Affirmed – the brilliant No. 2 who would’ve been the best, save for one?

“The truth,” the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes observed, “is forced upon us very quickly by a foe.”

Or a rival, who though not usually an enemy is often less than a friend.

Squaring off

Rivalry is as old as Cain and Abel and as fresh as Peyton and Eli. It exists across cultures and disciplines, transcending human nature. Whenever Alydar challenged Affirmed – the last horse to win the Triple Crown, in 1978 – Affirmed would cast an eye on him, cock an ear and giddyup. He hated losing to Alydar, who remains the only horse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races.

A rival pushes you to new heights.

“I think for me, I was motivated to swim faster because of my rivals,” says Rowdy Gaines, three-time Olympic gold medalist, who’ll be calling the Phelps-Lochte races for NBC. Phelps and Lochte have been motivating each other for years, thrilling fans from the 2008 Olympic Trials in Omaha to the World Championships in Shanghai last year, where often the margin of difference was the space of a turn or the time it took to place a finger on the wall at the finish.

But part of what enriches their rivalry – or for that matter that of the extroverted Novak Djokovic and the introspective Rafael Nadal in their battle for tennis’ No. 1 ranking and possibly, an Olympic gold medal – are the

ingredients that often define friendship – common cause, complementary temperaments.

“It’s one of those deals where we are hardly alike but like a lot of the same stuff,” the intense Phelps writes of the laidback but meticulous Lochte in his autobiography “No Limits.”

They’ve been known to share a headset in the ready room before a meet, singing along to the same hip-hop music. In the suite they had at the Beijing Games, Phelps even let Lochte trim his hair. You can find scores of images and videos of them laughing at events, out to dinner or racing remote-control model boats in a pool.

Similarly, there are whole websites devoted to the Nadal-Djokovic post23

VS. 1.Yankees/Red Sox While we love Giants-Dodgers, Cubbies-White Sox and Yanks-Mets, BombersBosox is the mother of all rivalries, engulfing whole regions. From the Babe to Bucky to Boone, this one has it all.

2. Ali/Frazier The Greatest and Smokin’ Joe’s blood rivalry was capped by the Thrilla in Manila, which Ali would describe as the closest he ever came to death.

3. Borg/McEnroe Tennis has produced great rivalries – Evert-Navratilova, Borg-Connors, ConnorsMcEnroe, Federer-Nadal – but for sheer fire and ice contrast it’s hard to top these two and their 1980 Wimbledon final heart-stopper.

4. Affirmed/Alydar With each passing year that produces no Triple Crown winner, the thrilling 1978 trifecta between these two descendants of Man ’o’ War and Native Dancer – which Affirmed won by a length, a neck and a nose – looks better and better. Check it out on YouTube and tell us if it doesn’t bring a chill, and a tear.

5. USA/USSR Cold War, 1980. Team USA’s amateur hockey players versus the Soviet pros, Olympic medal round. “Do you believe in miracles?” Yes, still.

6. Jets/Patriots We could’ve gone with Giants-Eagles, Giants-Cowboys, Giants-Redskins, heck, Giants-Anybody, but for utter loathing – and Tebow thrown into the mix – you gotta go with Jets-Pats. Thanksgiving 2012, baby, grab a drumstick and be there.

7. Magic/Bird “Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were L.A. (Lakers’) showtime versus Boston (Celtics’) bluecollar grit,” Mike D’Antoni says. Together, these former collegiate rivals sparked the NBA in the 1980s and the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team.”

8.Palmer/Nicklaus The friendly rivalry between the swashbuckling Arnold Palmer and “the Golden Bear,” as the pudgy, big-hearted Jack Nicklaus was known, began with Nicklaus’ come-from-behind victory at the 1962 U.S. Open in Oakmont, Pa., Nicklaus’ first as a pro.

9.Rangers/Flyers It’s called “the Battle of the Broads” (for Broadway and Broad Street) with the two teams facing off as division rivals since 1974 and in the Stanley Cup playoffs 10 times (with the Flyers taking six).

10. Harding/Kerrigan In this corner, sporting big blond hair and a hard-luck, trailer-trash background, Tonya Harding. And in this corner, wearing Vera Wang ice princess-y costumes that belied a less than Katharine Hepburn pedigree, Nancy Kerrigan. The whiny Nancy got a knee whacked, a silver at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and a trip to Disney World. The pathetic Tonya got community service and a life right out of a country-western ballad. It was rivalry at its soap operatic best.

Agree? Disagree? See what readers think on page 79 and continue the conversation at facebook.com/WAGmagazine. match hug-fests, their backstage visits to Broadway shows, their occasional pre-match bouts of “soccer tennis” (using heads and feet, no rackets). Such camaraderie, however, seems to have been more abundant and less stilted before Lochte and Djokovic attained the No. 1 rankings in their sports.

“Ryan used to be the hunter,” Gaines says. “He was OK with being second.

But then he got fed up with that and I think it’s difficult for Michael to accept.”

“That’s natural,” legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri says of Nadal’s regrouping to counter Djokovic’s challenge. “Today players stay more within themselves and their teams.”

“Maybe it depends on the sport or

24

activity,” says Port Chester-based psychologist Wendy McKenna, a professor at Purchase College. “I love competitive surfing. From the way these guys talk about each other, they also seem to like each other.”

But surfing isn’t yet big money in America, and money, Bollettieri says, changes everything: “Tennis is a big business today and you don’t want to give your opponent anything that will give him a competitive edge.”

The remains of the day

But even in tennis, perhaps the most individualistic of sports, players must rely on one another to warm up and

Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal

raise funds. Clearly, Nadal is counting on Djokovic for a July 14 exhibition at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium, where they will set the record for the largest crowd (80,000 plus) ever to witness a tennis match, all for Nadal’s and Real Madrid’s foundations.

What makes Lochte and Phelps’ rivalry doubly fascinating is that they are longtime teammates as well, having sparked the relay team that upset the favored Ian Thorpe and the Aussies in the 4x200-meter freestyle event at the 2004 Games in Athens – a race that Phelps would later describe as one of the best.

In London, Lochte and Phelps may swim as many as three relays together, and Gaines expects them to be as professional as they have been in the past. That’s as it should be, says former Knicks’ head coach Mike D’Antoni.

“I don’t think rivalry is good within a team,” says the man who’ll once more be an assistant coach for the Team USA basketball squad. “You don’t want to do anything at the expense of the other guys.”

Indeed, some Knicks’ fans think it was the star temperament of Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, rivaling the team play of Jeremy Lin, Landry Fields and others, that cost the Knicks a better season and D’Antoni, a Rye resident, his job. Similarly, there are Yankee fans – perhaps the quintessential rivalry experts, thanks to their gleeful detestation of Red Sox Nation – who think Alex Rodriguez’s initial rivalry with Derek Jeter tampered with a winning formula. This year’s Potentially Hazardous Rivalry Award, however, must go to the New York Jets, whose fans have been walking on eggshells since they heard quarterbacks Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez would

be sharing the same air (and tabloids).

For Sanchez and Tebow and all rivals real and imagined, time proves to be the greatest rival of all. Who wasn’t moved last year when we saw a trembling Muhammad Ali slowly make his way the funeral of Joe Frazier? Thirtysix years before, Ali had pummeled

In the end, rivalry falls away and what is left is the passion – for a sport, an ideal, for excellence itself – that bound the rivals together in the first place.

Smokin’ Joe’s eyes shut at the Thrilla in Manila. Now he paid tribute to his opponent, a symbol of all that had been lost and yet still remained.

In the end, rivalry falls away and what is left is the passion – for a sport, an ideal, for excellence itself – that bound the rivals together in the first place.

“The reality is such that we really cannot be real friends as we struggle for a place in history,” Djokovic has said of Nadal. “But one day when we say goodbye to tennis…I would love to sit down with (him to recount) what we’ve been through.”

Lochte isn’t waiting for someday.

As he’s told NBC, “What is cool about it is no matter what the outcome is, if I beat (Phelps) or he beats me, no matter what, we are still going to be friends….” n

speaking of rivalries...

THE STORM KING SCHOOL

By Georgette Gouveia

With the London Games approaching, Chris Cleave would seem to have hit the trifecta. He’s British, his new novel about rivalry is set at the 2012 Games and it’s titled appropriately enough “Gold” (Simon & Schuster). So we couldn’t resist reaching out to the author of the acclaimed “Little Bee,” who lives with his wife and three children in Kingston-upon-Thames.

Here’s what he had to say about the nature of rivalries, his timely tome and his faves, Tonya and Nancy.

“Gold,” which revolves around the relationship of two young women who are Olympic cyclists, is one of several recent fictional works about rivalry, including the plays “Magic Bird” and “Federer vs. Murray.” What drew you to the subject?

“The true, balanced rivalry is the rarest of human relationships and also the most fascinating to write about, as it has the quality of inspiring both parties to be better than they could have been on their own. Even at its most bitter, a sporting or workplace rivalry causes everyone to raise his game. And when the rivalry has run its natural course – when there are no more races to run, if you like – it often turns out that the rivals know each other better than anyone else. If the fragile friendship can survive the years of conflict, it has the potential to become a unique and beautiful bond. This is the line I take in the book — that razor edge between love and hate that characterizes the relationship between exceptional people who are trying to best each other.”

Tennis coach Nick Bollettieri has said that it’s not really possible for rivals to be friends, especially when there’s big money at stake. So is the notion of a friendly rivalry merely a literary conceit?

“Well, let’s examine the terms we’re using. Rivalry, in sport, is a specific thing: The game has rules and umpires, and the two available results of victory and defeat are binary and incontestable.

Friendship, by contrast, is a catch-all term that incorporates a broad spectrum of the more lovely human relationships – from a nodding acquaintance at the grocery store at one end right through to the devotion of the Apostles at the other.

“Of course, there is overlap between friendship and rivalry, and what makes sport so compelling to write about as a novelist is the interplay between the formalized rules of rivalry and the anarchic codes of friendship. The very fact that we have to ask the question – Can rivals be friends? – shows why it’s such a great nar-

rative to draw out. The best stories live at that ambiguous intersection between two sets of human rules, where the heart does not know which way to turn.”

One of the most fascinating aspects of actual friendly rivalries is the shift in dynamic when the one who was No. 2 or even No. 3 becomes top dog, as we’ve seen with Phelps/Lochte and Nadal/Djokovic. Do the shifting professional and personal fortunes in rivalries also figure in “Gold”?

“It’s certainly true that when the pupil becomes the master, the friendship must be re-evaluated. Think about the analogy in the workplace, where your assistant is abruptly promoted to be your boss. It would take a big heart and a period of adjustment for the friendship to survive a shock like that. In ‘Gold,’ Zoe finds it easy to like Kate, so long as Kate comes second. The novel steps up a gear when Kate beats Zoe for the first time in a national championship and suddenly the gloves come off.”

Can teammates be rivals or must they put aside rivalry for the good of the team?

“Teammates are always rivals first.

Think of any elite-level team: All of the members have fought tooth and nail to make the team selection. That means they have battled each other for months or years, before suddenly ending up on a team together. They know each other – and each other’s weaknesses – very well, and they will continue to compete with each other to stay on the team and to shine on it, unless the coaching and motivation are superb.

“A great coach will make the members of a team feel that their positions are secure, which helps to sublimate the individual ambition in service of the team’s goal. And there are all kinds of things teams do in order to lock themselves into a collective mentality. All of them involve the invocation of a higher power.

Some football teams pray together before kickoff. The New Zealand rugby team performs a traditional ritual dance. The Brazilian soccer team has been known to indulge in a little samba.”

Do you have a favorite sports rivalry?

“Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan in the run-up to the 1994 Games in Lillehammer. If I invented Tonya Harding in a novel, people would say she was implausible and soap operatic. But that’s what I love about writing characters who live at the extremes of life. They really are, quite often, stranger than fiction.” n

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U.S.-U.K.: OK? Understanding America’s ‘special relationship’ with England

By Georgette Gouveia

I For 60 years, Queen Elizabeth II has seen American presidents come and go in a relationship that George Bernard Shaw described as “Two countries separated by a common language.”

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n the romantic comedy “Love Actually,” Hugh Grant plays an enchantingly dithering British prime minister who’s a cross between Tony Blair and, well, Hugh Grant. Grant’s PM keeps dithering until the moment when a good ol’ boy, Clinton-esque American prez (played by Billy Bob Thornton with subtle malice) makes a pass at the PM’s personal assistant, with whom the PM is secretly in love. Whereupon the PM stops dithering, announcing at a press conference that real friends don’t treat their best buds in a second-rate manner.

Perhaps it’s sheer coincidence – or evidence of some steel beneath the sheepish mien – but Hugh Grant also starred in the other great Brit filmic put-down of America, “Notting Hill,” playing a shy bookstore owner who rejects Julia Roberts’ bitchy American movie star.

Of course, in the end, he falls for her “I’m just a girl, standing in front of

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a boy, asking him to love her” blather, but still. It’s a bit of a sticky wicket, as the Brits would say, this so-called “special relationship” between America and England.

It’s been likened to kissing cousins, siblings and best friends. But it’s really more like parent and child. And everyone knows what happens when the grown kids come to visit for the summer. We haven’t even set foot across the pond and already the pot has been stirred. London Mayor Boris Johnson – he of the permanent bed head – informed The New York Times that many of the elaborate security features at the summer games have been requested by the Americans. The Times, which can do snark like nobody’s business, opined in a piece on Queen Elizabeth II’s style that England is well-aware of its status as a second-tiered nation. (Gee, which is worse – being a second-tiered nation or knowing you are?)

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Is it any wonder that we are the villains in each other’s movies? In this summer’s first blockbuster, “The Avengers,” Tom Hiddleston plays Loki, Thor’s badboy baby bro, as a chunk of charm and a ton of trouble, using his Brit accent to such chilling effect that you would think he were doing Edmund in “King Lear” instead of a comic-book character in a super-duper heroes movie. In “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” – a mash-up of every “Titanic” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie that has ever set sail into theaters, from the folks who did the hilarious “Chicken Run” – Jeremy Piven, the lovably obnoxious agent on “Entourage,” is Black Bellamy, the nemesis of the Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant again!) in his quest for the coveted Pirate of the Year Award.

We suppose all this is inevitable, given the way we began. American history 101: The British were mean to us and so we had to leave home, so to speak. It’s a bit

more complex than that: There’s stuff about footing the bill for the colonies, taxation without representation, military miscues and misunderstood cultural identity that needs to be explored.

But suffice it to say, the British had a hard time quitting us. They were back for more in the War of 1812 and as late as the Civil War were rooting for the South in the hopes of a divide-and-conquer strategy. (In the Robert Downey Jr. “Sherlock Holmes,” they’re still hoping for a motherand-child reunion of sorts, a sentiment expressed by vile Lord Blackwood, who observes America was England’s once and can be England’s again. Yikes.)

Culturally and commercially, though, the British have never quit us and we have never quit them. They have invested in our businesses, bought up our real estate – lots of our real estate – and given every town in America a summer Shakespeare festival.

To say nothing of “Downton Abbey,” the latest American Brit obsession. And

how great is it that Shirley MacLaine has joined the cast as Lady Grantham’s American mother, arriving just in time

Culturally and commercially, though, the British have never quit us and we have never quit them. They have invested in our businesses, bought up our real estate – lots of our real estate – and given every town in America a summer Shakespeare festival. no doubt to stir up trouble at Lady Mary and cousin Matthew’s wedding.

We in turn have given the British

jeans, Coca-Cola and rock ’n’ roll, which they returned in the form of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc.

They saved us and Western civilization not once but twice and we were there to help. Indeed, in the manner of that quintessentially British novel, Virginia Woolf ’s “Mrs. Dalloway” – in which all is not clear until the very end – perhaps the reason we left in 1776 was so that we’d be strong and independent enough to be there in 1941.

On 9/11, the British returned the favor. “Grief,” Queen Elizabeth II said in a moving speech then, “is the price we pay for love.”

Right back at you, Bess. So get out the welcome mat. We like our air conditioning high, our drinks cold, our turkey off the bone – You do have turkey, don’t you? – and our baseball games long.

What’s that? Oh, just cue up “Downton Abbey” and let’s all have a nice cup of Earl Grey, shall we? n

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27

Sporty SUmmers With Bob Costas, Matt Lauer, Michael Phelps…

I

f teacher Amy Bass were to answer the traditional back-to-school essay sparker, “How I Spent My Summer Vacation,” she’d have one helluva story to tell.

That’s because Bass – professor of history and director of the SAS Honors Program at The College of New Rochelle – is also supervisor of NBC’s Olympic research room. In the second week of July, she’ll be heading to London to assemble the room at The International Broadcast Center in Olympic Park and create assignments and shifts for a staff of about 30. NBC also has four to five full-time Olympic researchers.

“It’s a crazy assemblage of people, many of whom have been together a long time,” she says, “including experts in geopolitics, sports and just generally brainy people….We assemble all of the information necessary and get it to the talent.”

The information is compiled in 10 to 11 volumes on discs and memory cards. (It used to be in actual binders.)

“It’s everything on everything,” Bass says of her 18-hour-a-day summer job.

Part of the challenge: Some of the sports, like swimming and track and field, don’t hold their Olympic trials until a month before the Olympics begins (July 27).

“You know Michael Phelps is going, but you don’t know what events he’ll be swimming.”

Even when you’ve got the events and the athlete biographies down cold, all the upsets and other variables that make sports so memorable come into play.

“In the 1996 Games in Atlanta (her first as a researcher), did the experts predict that Nigeria would defeat Brazil in soccer?” she asks.

Then there’s the weather.

At the Vancouver Winter Games two years ago, the Alpine events were plagued by warm weather that turned the mountains to slush and rendered visibility nil. Bass had to designate a local reporter as the weather guy.

“It’s critical,” she says. “We were literally asked to predict the weather.”

Vancouver began under a cloud, with the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili during a training run.

Bass and her team, whose eyes are always on the live feed, watched in horror as this unfolded. But they had to set grief aside to get every detail of the story right, from the pronunciation of Kumaritashvili’s name to opening ceremony protocol in the face of tragedy.

“The Internet helps and hurts,” she says. “Our job is still a lot of phone calls and knowing who to call.”

With 26 sports, 29 disciplines and more than 300 events to cover, there’s not a lot of time to hang with athletes or sightsee. But she does get to meet some Olympic stars, like Evan Lysacek, who won the gold in men’s figure skating in Vancouver. And broadcasters like Matt Lauer and Bob Costas drops by.

“They’re quick studies,” she says. “Most of them have been doing it a long time. Bob Costas has a team of writers.”

28

By Georgette Gouveia

Amy Bass at the 2004 Athens Games.

Courtesy The College of New Rochelle.

With three books to her credit – two on sports and race and a third on scholar/activist W.E.B. Du Bois – Bass is no slouch herself. A child of the Berkshires, Bass was just finishing her Stony Brook University Ph.D. dissertation proposal on the 1968 Games when she got a call from a producer to help research the Atlanta Olympics. Her older brother, a producer at NBC, started out as a researcher at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles when they were broadcast by ABC. In Atlanta, Bass was in charge of compiling the archery manual. She predicted not only a team gold for the American men, but an individual one for Justin Huish. Right on both counts, Bass was able to savor the triumph with complete information on Huish.

“It’s nice when the stars align,” she says.

And when romance is in the air, well, it’s kismet.

Bass met her husband, Evan Klupt, who works for NBC News, at the 2000 Games in Sydney. Daughter Hannah, 5, toddled through the Vancouver Games and will be joining mom and dad in London, already an Olympic veteran.

Once the Olympic flame is extinguished, Bass will have little time to rest on her laurels. This fall, she’ll

“It’s a crazy assemblage of people, many of whom have been together a long time, including experts in geopolitics, sports and just generally brainy people….We assemble all of the information necessary and get it to the talent.” once again be teaching a seminar on “Race, Sport and Society.” Her Olympic experiences have enriched her own research, writing and teaching.

“I’m incredibly grateful to NBC,” she says.

And sure to be exhausted.

“It’s a good thing that there’s a lag time between Olympics,” she says, “because on the last day I always say, ‘Never again.’” n

Ryan Lochte, swimming.

Jessica Long, Paralympic swimmer.

Heather Mitts, soccer.

Fashioning the games It’s all about the brand, baby

By Georgette Gouveia

W

hen the U.S. team marches into the Olympic Stadium in London July 27 for the opening of the XXX Olympiad, it will do so in outfits created by Ralph Lauren. Lauren, who has designed for the team twice before, has anticipated the moment with a Yankee Doodle of a campaign, featuring something old, something new, something borrowed and something (red, white and) blue.

Inspired by the 1948 London Games, in which the U.S. dominated the medal count, the company nods to the past with fleece warm-ups, cricket-collar shirts, jaunty caps and poodle skirts, embellished with appliqués, updated crests and vintage motifs.

But RL has also fashioned the sleek, modern Big Pony polo line, with accessories ranging from tote bags to towels.

“The Olympic Games are the greatest sporting event in the world,” says David Lauren, executive vice president of advertising, marketing and corporate communications, “and we are incredibly honored to partner with this esteemed group of athletes. They embody the true spirit of American sportsmanship….”

It’s just the latest sign of the delicious dance between fashion and sports that has been spiced by polo star Nacho Figueras’ turn as spokesmodel for RL Black Label and Polo, ace Rafael Nadal’s sensual Armani ads and cultural icon du moment Tim Tebow’s recent appearance at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute

Gala in an RL tux.

Gala goddess and Vogue editor Anna Wintour – she of the superb taste in beautiful, young men – has thrown her considerable (metaphorical) weight behind the sportsfashion pas de deux. This is, after all, the woman who would send elegant tennis meister (and Vogue darling) Roger Federer a selection of suits for his approval; who placed Novak Djokovic in a Speedo by a Miami pool – and a rather phallic diving platform – in the May 2011 issue.

Last month’s Vogue saluted Team USA with a cover of swimmer-in-the-spotlight, and aspiring men’s designer, Ryan Lochte in sleek black Speedo jammers, framed in gilt by soccer star Hope Solo and tennis ace-designer Serena Williams in Michael Kors’ shirred metallic maillots. It was the first time in the magazine’s history that a shirtless man appeared on the cover.

Not everyone was in love with this “Baywatch”-y concept or the at-times witty, at-times whimsical photo spread by Annie Leibovitz that also starred Kate Moss-ish model Karlie Kloss. (That means you, HuffPo and Jezebel.) It reminds us of the jeers that rained down on Vogue for the 2008 LeBron James-Gisele Bündchen cover that critics said played into racial stereotypes. And let’s not forget the 1980 Lake Placid appearance of Team USA in stylish overcoats and fedoras that nonetheless had some outraged viewers thinking “The Untouchables.”

Still, sports and fashion have made a striking couple

ever since John Redfern began designing tailored clothes for sporting ladies in the 1870s. Gabrielle Chanel took it into the viewing stands with her breezy jersey looks in the 1920s. It’s probably no accident that the Jazz Age also saw the apotheosis of tennis étoile Suzanne Lenglen, whose flapper style underscored the élan with which she played the game.

Today, the sports-fashion relationship is stronger than ever, thanks to branding in the Internet age. For athletes – many of whom have the plasticity of models – and fashion designers/magazines, the dialogue is an opportunity for each to extend his or her brand at a time when stars rather than supermodels rule the covers and the major spreads. Consider the Dolce & Gabbana collaboration with soccer supernova Leo Messi. D & G has spoken of his passion and will; Messi, of the company’s sophistication. Each reinforces the other’s edgy talent.

Wintour is also using the sports-fashion relationship to support the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Health Initiative, which she described in her June editor’s letter. Yet a few pages later, a reader took the magazine to task for having featured the gorgeous, zaftig singer Adele only from the waist up.

Given America’s ambivalence toward the body and food, it remains to be seen whether the sports-fashion dynamic will spur us to get fit – or merely try to look the part. n 29

Rowing his boat ashore Paul Teti chooses family over regattas

T

he title of Olympian is never given. It is earned.

The honor of donning one’s national colors and representing his or her country on the Olympic stage is unparalleled in all of sports.

But for those athletes who reach the highest echelons of their respective endeavors, the competition window is painfully narrow and with young talent always threatening to overtake the old guard, there is not always a next time.

Paul Teti of Princeton, N.J., was one of the lucky ones: For him, there were two next-times.

Teti, who manages properties in WAG country, made his debut in Sydney as a member of the U.S. men’s rowing team, following in the footsteps of his brother,

30

By Patrick Gallagher Mike – a three-time Olympian, 1988 bronze medalist in his own right and one of the most successful coaches in the history of the USRowing.

Now 12 years later, on the eve of the London games, Paul Teti said he still struggles with the decision to step away from international rowing but adds that he has few regrets.

“It’s a strange feeling. To be honest, I don’t know exactly how I’ll feel when those races start,” Teti said. “I think the athlete in me struggles a bit with the fact that I’m not competing anymore and I’d love to be. But from a personal standpoint, I’m married now, I have two little girls and I don’t know if I could imagine spending any less time with them.”

Four years ago, Teti wasn’t sure whether he would be accompanying his teammates

to Beijing as a competitor or a spectator.

At the time, he was already married and had a full-time job with Normandy Real Estate Partners, managing commercial leased properties in northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. After rowing through high school in Philadelphia and college at Princeton, Teti twice qualified to race in the men’s lightweight coxless four – rowing-speak for a four-person, weight-restricted boat that lacks a coxswain, or steersman. In Sydney and Athens, his boats placed 6th and 9th, respectively.

But like all athletes, there came a time to hang ’em up, as they say. Or so Teti thought.

After taking some time off from the sport, Teti talked himself into giving it one last shot and after a year of juggling work

with a grueling training regimen, he made the cut for the U.S. men’s open-weight coxless four and qualified, at the age of 31, for his third Olympics.

“My wife and I really decided to make a go of it in ’08,” he says. “She was a big part of the reason why I did that and was so supportive of it and involved with it every day.”

This time around, the transition has been made easier for Teti by his responsibilities to his job and to his family. Even so, there is a simplicity to rowing that everyday life lacks, Teti said.

“Athletics – especially rowing, for me – are very pure. It’s a race that has a starting line and a finish line, and if you get there first you win and if you don’t you go home without the medal,” Teti said. “I think in business and other things, the lines are a

little blurrier.”

Teti, now senior vice president with Normandy and co-head of the company’s leasing group that manages properties in the tri-state and mid-Atlantic regions, said competing for the U.S. rowing team taught him a vital lesson: That there is no substitute for hard work.

“Rowing is a sport where you train countless hours for a five- or six-minute race, so sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. You’re so caught up in this training, thinking, ‘All this training for a six-minute race, how does this make sense?’” Teti said.

In the end, whether you’re standing on the medal dock or inking a major deal, the rewards become clear, he said.

Teti and his family have not yet decided whether they will travel to London to support the team. But one can be sure that he will be there in spirit, cheering his teammates and his brother, Mike, who will coach the men’s eight.

For Teti, an Olympics is something that transcends plain old sports.

“My first opening ceremony as an athlete in Sydney was absolutely one of the most incredible experiences that you could ever have,” Teti remembered.

He vividly recalled the feeling of walking alongside NBA coaching legend Larry Brown, tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, and track star Maurice Greene, overwhelmed with pride.

“I think you realize how special it is to every athlete to have those same feelings of pride in representing your country,” Teti said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in the NBA making $15 or $20 million a year or if you’re a true amateur athlete. When you get to those opening ceremonies there’s such an incredible feeling of being proud to be an American and to be competing for your country.”

It’s a feeling that Teti and those Olympians who came before him know will never get old. n

On the local scene While the U.S. rowing team prepares to embark for the London Olympics, local youth rowing programs recently wrapped up their spring season at the USRowing Youth National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in June.

The Pelham Community Rowing Association (PCRA), which is based at Glen Island Park in New Rochelle, offers learnto-row programs for kids beginning at age 12 in addition to competitive high school programs and both competitive and recreational adult, or master’s, programs.

PCRA qualified five boats for youth nationals this year, of which three made the A-level final and two medaled. In addition, PCRA rowers regularly compete at internationally renowned competitions, including the Royal Canadian Henley in St. Catherines, Ontario, and the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Mass.

Greenwich Crew, which is based out of the Greenwich Water Club, offers learn-to-row, recreational and competitive programs for middle and high school students and for adults.

Greenwich Crew qualified two boats

for youth nationals, one of which won the B-level final while the second took third place in the C-level final.

Both clubs offer programs for the spring, summer and fall seasons, with training during the winter months.

Other rowing programs in the region include the Hudson River Rowing Association in Poughkeepsie and the New York Athletic Club Rowing program, which also rows out of Glen Island Park in New Rochelle.

For more information about PCRA’s rowing programs, visit sites.google. com/site/pcrayouthprogram/ or email head coach Guy Monseair at pcrajrheadcoach@gmail.com.

For more information about Greenwich Crew’s rowing programs, visit greenwichwaterclub.com/club_rowing. html or email crew director Michael Wieneke at mwieneke@greenwichwaterclub.com.

For more information about the Hudson River Rowing Association, visit hudsonriverrowing.org.

For more information about NYAC Rowing, visit nyac.org/rowing.

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5/8/12 3:04 PM

making a splash

By Georgette Gouveia

W

hen it comes to swimming, Maritza Correia hasn’t lost her competitive edge.

Correia – who won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens in the women’s 400-meter freestyle relay – races her brother’s kids. (He’s a swim coach.)

She’ll even race hubby Chad McClendon, who’d always been more into track and field.

“He’s a very competitive guy. He wants to beat me,” she says, adding with a laugh, “He can’t beat me.”

But Correia – who holds an arm’s length list of firsts, titles and records, including 11-time NCAA champion and 27-time NCAA All-American – is just as passionate about keeping others in the water, safely.

“I decided to use my career to get more minorities into swimming,” says the Nike exec and USA Swimming spokesperson, who is the first African-American to break a world swimming record and the first female African-American swimmer to hold American records (in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle), make the U.S. Olympic team and bring home a medal.

To promote water safety, Correia recently appeared in our area and on NBC’s “Today” show for “Make a Splash,” a program in which the USA Swimming Foundation teams with communities like Mount Vernon and New Rochelle for a day of instruction and other civic events.

Ten people in the United States drown every day, with two-thirds of those deaths occurring between May and August. Drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional, injury-related death for children between the ages of 1 and 14, with youngsters of color being three times more likely to drown than their white peers. There are many cultural reasons for this, Correia says.

“For females, they don’t want to get their hair messed up. Lots of African-Americans aren’t exposed to swimming. And pools are expensive to keep up.”

For Correia, swimming was almost a necessity.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico to Guyanese parents, she was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 7. Doctors urged her parents to enroll her either in gymnastics or swimming as physical therapy.

“My mom took me to the beach and taught me how to float and be safe in the water, and I took to it,” Correia remembers. “I wouldn’t say I was the best athlete.

It kind of took a lot, but it taught me to work hard.”

For minority swimmers, not all the challenges are in the pool, as Correia discovered when she moved with her family to Tampa at age 9.

“When we came to the U.S., I was kind of the oddball out, me and my brother,” recalls Correia, featured in “Parting the Water,” a documentary about the obstacles black and Latino swimmers face. “It kind of drove me to be successful.”

At Tampa Bay Technical High School and the University of Georgia, where she majored in sociology and was part of the well-respected Lady Bulldogs swim and diving team, Correia steadily began compiling that arm-long list of accolades in national and international meets, both short- and long-course.

There was gold at the World Championships in 2001 32

Maritza Correia, 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the women’s 400-meter freestyle relay.

and 2003. And then came the Olympics in Athens in 2004.

“That Olympics was exciting. We had a big rivalry with the Australians. We knew we were in for a battle.”

Swimming buffs will remember the Athens games for the men’s 4x200-meter freestyle event, in which the U.S.’ Klete Keller held off Australia’s Ian Thorpe for the gold in what Michael Phelps, who swam the first leg, would later call one of the greatest relays ever. But the American women were no slouches. Before their 4x100-meter freestyle event, they huddled together and said, “Go USA.” Correia swam the crucial anchor leg of the preliminaries, which are all about getting the team into the best lane position for the final.

It is an irony of performance that artists and athletes are often too into the moment to remember much of the moment.

“I had to make sure I got my hand on the wall,” Correia recalls.

Afterward, she watched the race with her coach.

“I was like, I did that? It felt great.”

Though the American ladies took silver to the Aussies’ gold, “it was still amazing,” she says.

Today, Correia, who makes her home in Brandon, Fla., no longer swims five to six hours a day. She’s too busy with her career as sports marketing manager for Nike Swim and her family, which includes Spaniels Malibu and Bentley and Jack Russell Terrier Tyson.

Not surprisingly, the Spaniels enjoy spending time in the pool with Correia; the Jack Russell, not so much.

Then there’s six-month-old son Karson.

“I definitely want to get him acclimated,” Correia says.

He’s already a fan, though she says she won’t begin swim lessons until he’s potty trained.

And when he’s ready, mom – ever the competitor – will be waiting.

For more on “Make a Splash,” visit makeasplash.org. n

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Designed to get wet Melinda Huff’s bathing suits take off Story and photograph by Zoë Zellers Swimwear images courtesy of Melinda Huff

“I

think I was always sort of on the fringes,” says Melinda Huff, the engaging, pint-sized designer of Mirame, the smart, sexy swimwear line for women 25 and up. The aptly named Mirame, Spanish for “Look at me,” was launched in 2010 out of her Yorktown Heights home/studio, a mélange of family mementos and cultural artifacts.

“My family is really a smorgasbord of cultures and for me that really is a plethora of ideas for design.”

Her mother’s family emigrated from Honduras while her father’s comes from the former East Germany. Both her grandmothers worked as seamstresses back “when the Garment District was still downtown on the Lower East Side.”

Melinda actually grew up across the street from the eclectic house she lives in today, once the home of her paternal grandmother who with her sister made readyto-wear dresses – “for Zsa Zsa Gabor and the Upper East Side ladies who lunched.”

Needless to say, the time Melinda spent watching her grandmother sew later influenced her appreciation for skilled craftsmanship, local and female-owned businesses and intriguing style.

“I started sewing, because I wanted to wear funky clothes and growing up in Westchester, it was really limited,” she says.

So she took trips to St. Mark’s Place “back when it was still edgy” and taught herself alteration to fit her petite frame.

For her eighth grade graduation, she couldn’t find a dress so she showed her grandmother a picture of what she was looking for. “‘Oh, that’s easy,’” she said and surprised Melinda by delivering that perfect dress.

“It was just such an ‘a-ha’ moment for me. It was like,” Melinda tries to explain the first-time feeling, “this was in my imagination and now it’s real.”

Zoë models “Ellen,” a suit from Mirame’s SS13 collection. It retails for $185 and is available for pre-order by contacting melinda@mirameswim.com.

34

Melinda Huff at work in her studio.

Working with Norma

The same could be said for Mirame, which was recently recognized by the Women’s Entrepreneurial Development Center with its prestigious LEAP grant.

But Melinda’s fashion career took an unconventional path first when she decided to attend a Buddhist college in Colorado.

“I wanted to pursue new things…. It was all about going inward and exploring your own thing…. It’s really helped me working in the fashion industry, because it’s such a brutal industry and I think when I start to get caught up in it, I go back to those Buddhist philosophies.”

At 19 she left college to spend five months in Hawaii.

“I brought my sewing machine with me, because I always go everywhere with my sewing machine,” Melinda says.

“I had like a little side job collecting shellfish and exporting them, but I felt guilty. We were taking and sending them to like pet stores,” says the Buddhist, “so I wanted to find another way to make money. I just started going to fabric stores and sewing and selling swimsuits… and people really liked them. That’s how I first fell in love with swimwear.”

She went back to college and lived briefly in Washington, D.C. But New York City and fashion were on her mind again.

Given Melinda’s intensive sewing background, innate eye for design and comprehensive understanding of the body and movement, her fashion internships soon led to full-time positions at various fashion companies. Each experience taught her lessons in quality control, negotiations and time manage-

ment. She speaks fondly of the important year and a half she spent working with Norma Kamali in 2009 in her “very cool self-contained unit” – a freestanding shop, sample and design space on 56th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

Norma’s attention to anatomy and movement, interest in health, use of stretch and mesh, color-blocking designs and body-conscious looks completely spoke to Melinda’s personal ideas of what fashion should be about as well as her background in health and healing.

“I was just so drawn to working with Norma, because I saw an alliance there and I just wanted to see somebody who’d been into it for so long, you know?”

She points out that Norma would make her team start and end the day with a to-do list and summary of daily accomplishments, and that’s a habit Melinda still uses to manage booking shoots, fashion shows, reaching out to local stores, designing her latest collection, raising an 11-month-old daughter, Salali, and planning her upcoming destination wedding to Dr. Christopher Saltpaw. (She’ll design her own white “traditional but interesting” bathing suit for the occasion).

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When Norma Kamali lost her contract with Walmart, “she suddenly had to put on the brakes,” and Melinda was let go while she was pregnant with Salali.

“My skills in working with stretch were really advanced there, and so I felt once I left, I have to do this now and I have to do it while it’s fresh in my mind.”

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what kind of women are wearing that?

They’re not necessarily 16-year-olds with these amazing bodies. They could be, but I was thinking about all of the women I know....There’s just not much out there for women who want to be covered up but they don’t want to wear a tent, you know what I mean? I really saw a hole there and I knew I had something to offer.”

Her unique, tasteful swimsuits (domestically made on 38th Street) range from $165 to $215 and are “definitely geared more toward the luxury market, more towards women who are going out to resorts in the South of France rather than Jones Beach,” she says.

“I want my suits to really be elegant and so then I thought, Well what kind of women are wearing that? They’re not necessarily 16-yearolds with these amazing bodies. They could be, but I was thinking about all of the women I know....

There’s just not much out there for women who want to be covered up but they don’t want to wear a tent, you know what I mean?

“I really am a classic dresser and I want whatever I put out into the world to also be classic.”

Her clean, sculpted designs take their inspiration from a variety of sources, including vintage jewelry and tribal ornaments. “The Avengers” inspired an in-the-works Superheroes collection.

But its color palette was drawn from the Hudson River’s silvery sheen, something that struck her as she crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge during the night of the recent supermoon. The idea of the Superheroes swimwear was further inspired by the “amazing real-life superheroes” she met through her women’s entrepreneurship course and by her youngest superhero, her daughter.

“Salali is a Cherokee name, and it’s an animal totem that represents friendliness and community but at the same time, precociousness and thinking about the future,” she says smiling.

“Yeah, we’re sort of hippies.”

“Sun Shower,” $235

36

“Oumy,” $230

Melinda Huff ’s swimwear is available at Beehive Co-Op, 337 Main St. in Mount Kisco, and at Stand Up Motion, 3 Bank St., Croton-on-Hudson.

You’ll also find it at mirameswim. com, cargo.com and shopdeen.com. n

Seema’s golden touch

By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki 37

S

eema Boesky sweeps open the front door with a dramatic “Welcome to Woodlands.”

It’s a greeting filled with warmth, and within seconds you’re drinking in the luxurious appointments of her Bedford home.

It seems the perfect reflection of how you imagine Boesky lives – until you remember she doesn’t live here.

“I fully stage,” she reminds you with a smile. “You know, I never lived here.”

She may indeed be the owner of this five-bedroom, 7,200-square-foot Georgian, but the home, set within seven-plus secluded acres, is actually the most stylish of calling cards.

Boesky, the noted philanthropist, entrepreneur and author, is now in the business of buying, renovating and then re-selling Bedford homes.

Of course, it’s done with a decidedly upscale twist as Boesky finds properties with high-end potential, renovates them to her exacting standards and fully stages them to appeal to a luxury buyer.

“It’s my favorite thing to do,” she says.

“I’ve worn many hats in my career, but this is by far the most rewarding.”

And every project Boesky tackles is indebted to a property very dear to her own heart, Northview.

“My home here in Bedford is the mother of all this,” she says of the local land38

mark fashioned in the spirit of Monticello.

She totally remodeled the sprawling estate she once shared with her former husband, onetime Wall Street financier Ivan Boesky, and their four children, after her divorce.

Today, Northview is her sanctuary – and her design and decorating inspiration.

A new path

A few years back, when Boesky says “the market turned,” she decided she wanted to explore this new direction.

It’s all about building homes from the perspective of the “end user,” she says. But instead of moving in, she moves on.

“I’m less motivated (by) what most people are, and that’s the dollar,” she says.

A longtime hotelier – Boesky explains she and her sister were “gifted” the Beverly Hills Hotel as children – she has long cultivated her affinity for creating surroundings that are at once luxurious but also warm and inviting.

Boesky is known for having a love of traditional architecture but keeping it fresh with a mix of furnishings, as is evident throughout Woodlands.

There are countless dramatic doorways and arches, hardwood floors with intricate patterns and chandeliers of all styles. A stately bull’s-eye mirror hangs over chairs wrapped in tiger print. Traditional Asian vases rest inches away from a modern glass coffee table. And it all works.

“When I decided to embark on doing spec housing, my decision was to build a house I would want to live in….I’m in this blessed position where I can afford to do it my way and not cut a lot of corners.”

Approaching this new venture, Boesky turned to the finest hotels across the globe, places that command thousands per night, to study their marketing brochures.

She decided to combine what she learned from them about amenities with what she already knew about luxury living.

The lure of Woodlands

Built in 1909 as a carriage house to the Scribner estate, Woodlands offered the perfect opportunity to get Boesky’s new effort under way.

“This was the right property for me,” she says. “My properties have to be really special.”

A combination of renovation and new construction, the now-completed home, which borders a sanctuary of some 600 acres, has dramatic fireplaces and a serene pool, a charming fountain and a spacious patio.

A designer kitchen spills into the airy family room. Here, a stone fireplace reaches to the ceiling, where exposed beams add a rustic European touch. An elegantly carved armoire provides a hideaway for the television, a move practical yet sophisticated.

“In today’s world, everybody has to be able to relax,” Boesky says.

The home features an expansive formal living room, a man cave, a library, a formal dining room complete with fireplace and a handful of well-appointed, spacious bedrooms. The master suite is a study in elegance and conveniences, from a cozy terrace to the built-in that hides a refrigerator and coffeemaker, from a television cleverly installed within the bathroom mirror to a huge walk-in closet.

Woodlands’ grounds are expansive, filled primarily with perennials and mature trees. An evocative bridge (“like Monet’s Giverny”) leads to the tennis court, which has its own parking pad and a “tiki hut.” This last feature is a nod to Boesky’s concern for hospitality.

“I always thought if people came to play tennis with me, you had to give them coffee or something, because you are coming to my home.”

Teamwork at every step

A big part of the success of this first project, Boesky says, was based on her pulling together a team of experts that works well together.

“I have the aesthetic,” she says.

The team, led by Westchester-based contractor Pat Morrissey and architect Mark Thompson of Philadelphia, added

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the technical know-how. And Boesky says she enjoys the collaboration, the backand-forth of decision-making.

“I love the exchange,” she says.

For each project, she is preparing a scrapbook that combines the history of the property with before-and-after photographs and some very practical materials.

Every wire is mapped out. Every plumber or painter is noted, along with how to reach them.

“I’m very proud of what I do, so the next owner gets every single person who worked on this house.”

She also had every last person who worked on the project sign the book.

“Everyone felt like they were part of the team and I think that has to result in a better project.”

That was also echoed in her guiding principles.

“Whenever I could make a green decision, I did,” she says of her approach. “I care about what I do.”

Throughout, Boesky says, her choices are steeped not only in the aesthetics but in “quality and value.”

Form as well as function

“I’ve had numerous homes over the years, and it’s hard for me to part with things,” Boesky says.

So now, she is able to put much of her

treasure trove to work.

“I knew I could furnish this house without buying anything,” she says with a smile.

And she practically has. The mix is an eclectically vibrant blend of antique and contemporary, reflected in the sconces and mirrors, vases and chairs, artwork and pillows.

The home simply all comes together and is designed to be shared. Doors open onto lovely scenes, particularly French doors that reveal a charming fountain in the space leading up to the pool.

“You could entertain hundreds here,” she says. “It’s a fabulous home to entertain.”

Indeed, a bartender alcove even has a window that creates a pass-through onto the patio.

“This house has built-in things that other houses don’t,” she says. “Everything that’s in here will be included in the next – and more.”

As Woodlands, offered at $4.85 million through Ginnel Real Estate, awaits a buyer, Boesky and her team are already at work on another Bedford spread, a “total teardown,” when she found it.

And there’s no doubt that the attention she has devoted to Woodlands to make it, as Boesky says, “nothing short of really special,” will be lavished on Tall Pines as well. n

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39

Dolce Vita soft bra and boyshorts in flame orange.

Undercurrents Cosabella’s lingerie legacy continues

O

ver the past few years, innerwear has firmly established its position as outerwear (again).

Trims have gotten lacy and “Lolita”-inspired baby-doll dresses, shorter. (Thank you, Lady Gaga.)

But fashionistas are toying with even this.

Consider pop icon Rihanna, who took the innerwear as outerwear concept in a fanciful direction last year when she opened her “Loud” tour in a fabulously embellished, neon, bikini-style ensemble. The look was created by the edgy Tom Binns, a jeweler who in his own fashion has even tapped into the movement.

When you think about the major lingerie lines that transcend the ins and outs of trends, endure the recession’s influence on the small luxuries market and withstand the transition to more high-tech materials, the list is short.

Cosabella has positioned itself right on top – flawlessly balancing style and personality while providing women around the world with the “bare” necessities.

Couture lingerie lines like La Perla and Agent Provocateur maintain a loyal luxury and celebrity fan base. Bigbox stores like Target offer a wider variety of sexier innerwear through designer collaborations. Houses like Calvin Klein always do well with the basics. But Cosabella is a luxe lingerie company with mass appeal, using fine fabrics that really make the wearer feel special from the inside out (even in shapewear).

By Zoë Zellers Photographs courtesy of Cosabella

Marni low-back bodysuit in pearl white.

41

Giulietta soft bra and low-rider thong in vetiver.

A visit to Cosabella’s sleek SoHo flagship store, which opened last November, proves it to be a woman’s fantasyland – and a not in the least intimidating experience.

Complemented by a staff of girls so sweet you can’t believe they’re actually from New York, the space features a modern vibe, a soft, low-key playlist, white-painted, exposed brick walls, white leather seating and tons of natural light.

It’s an atmosphere that doesn’t distract from splashes of neon colors, pastels, nudes, leopard prints and more.

The approach to store design is the perfect metaphor for the Italian company’s belief in using bright, pretty lingerie as a real fashion accessory for the body.

its current campaign in the beach resort of Marina Romea. Set against a patch of stunning sunflowers, the ads channeled Fellini’s iconic “La Dolce Vita.”

The potency of color, the simple delights of natural beauty and the sweet, romantic Italian lifestyle on display in the campaign come alive in Cosabella’s latest collection, which includes its popular soft bra ($52.50), underwire bra ($72), push-up bra ($94), boyshort ($35), thong ($21.50), babydoll negligee ($122.50) and more.

The sweet life

The family-owned company was founded in 1983 by Ugo and Valeria Campello, transplants from Italy to Miami who developed a strong base there, grew the company into a global brand and quickly gained the attention of red carpet stars like Penelope Cruz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sandra Bullock. The company’s success is supported by a steady market and perpetual product cameos, especially the negligees, boyshorts and push-up bras flaunted by a wide mix of fans like pop diva Lady Gaga, “Gossip Girl”’s Leighton Meester, “SNL” alum Maya Rudolph, “Glee”’s Naya Rivera and “Weed”’s Mary Louise Parker.

Today, the Campellos children, Silvia and Guido, run Cosabella, which is headquartered in Miami. And yet the company stays close to its roots by continuing to manufacture exclusively in Italy. The second generation has adhered to the mission of producing standout undergarments, and has expanded to a lifestyle brand with swimwear, loungewear, sleepwear and shapewear.

This season the Cosabella line “went home” to shoot 42

swimwear options, too.

In keeping with the natural theme, Cosabella is using more natural cotton, pima and modal fibers and has a bamboo fabric-based line for the eco-friendly fashionista.

And with breathable options like these, it’s easy to see why yogis have readily made Cosabella an instant favorite underneath workout gear.

Speaking of underneath, who knew shapewear could look this appealing? Cosabella adds a feminine touch to functional body shapes with its trademark Never Say Never Sexy lace collection, which ranges from traditional white to hot red ($65 to $205).

Autumn preview

Cosabella SoHo and its splashes of neon-colored panties.

Cosabella also took a hint from the gardens of Giverny and Claude Monet’s light color palette in “Nymphéas,” his series of more than 250 water-lily paintings. The lingerie offers color schemes that mix pastels with complementary hues, like sweet and bright lilac, guava with flame orange and vetiver with mint. Floral prints and abstract brushstrokes are cooler than ever when they’re screened on seamless fabrics. This translates well into the

While the line is all about bright, flirty pastels, the lingerie moves in a more romantic direction this fall, with the introduction of velvets, richer coloring and supersexy, leopard-print negligees, bras and underwear. But, of course, the company also does delicate but modern, white, lace undergarments that are bridal ready.

Cosabella is a brand that will always have the essentials you need and splurges you want, made with attention and materials strong enough to outlast the fashion cycle.

While sales associates put you in your comfort zone, the shy shopper can certainly make a private appointment. Or if you’re looking for an out-of-the-box party place, think like hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and rent out the flagship store. Give your guests the ultimate shopping experience and party in one cool setting.

It wouldn’t be the first time intimates and alcohol came together, right?

Visit Cosabella at 220 Lafayette St., Manhattan or cosabella.com. n

girl

Golden

Olympic champ Donna de Varona champions others

By Patricia Espinosa

Photograph by David Bravo.

43

E

very now and then nature produces a powerhouse athlete who is also a powerhouse human being.

In 1960, Donna de Varona splashed onto the scene at the age of 13, the youngest swimmer to compete at the Summer Olympics in Rome. Four years later at the Tokyo Games, de Varona won two gold medals – one in the 400-meter individual medley, the decathlon of swimming, and one as a member of the 400-meter freestyle relay. Just like swimming legends Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps, de Varona went on to dominate her sport with 18 world records and 37 national titles.

In so doing, the California native – now a Greenwich resident – captured the imagination of the world, defining American swimming in the ’60s with two appearances each on the covers of Life and Sports Illustrated.

Though she retired from competitive swimming at age 17, her sports career did not end there. Indeed, she was about to plunge into uncharted waters – a journey that would transform the playing fields for young women and athletes.

De Varona became the first female broadcaster for ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” hosted by Jim McKay. Behind the scenes, she worked tirelessly for the passage of Title IX of the Education Act of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in sports, and helped found, with Billie Jean King, the Women’s Sports Foundation, serving as president from 1976 to ’84.

So when the London Games begin on July 27, it’s hard to imagine that they will have a more enthusiastic supporter than de Varona, who has lent her name – not to mention her Olympic Order, a stunning necklace presented to her by the International Olympic Commit44

Photograph by David Bravo. Hair and makeup by Juan Blanco from Allura Salon & Day Spa in Greenwich.

tee – to the Olympics exhibit at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich.

“Obviously because Phelps is such a star, he’s going to drive the coverage,” de Varona says, putting on her broadcaster’s hat. “NBC is going to play the hell out of it, because that’s what they do.”

The Phelps’ narrative will embrace his rivalry with Ryan Lochte.

“Lochte has been really hungry. He really wants to win.

You have a guy that’s hungry, and you have a guy who’s done it all.” She adds perceptively, “The hardest thing for a champion is that you’re chased. You should never swim not to lose. Always swim to win. Sometimes when you’re a champion, you get caught in that space.”

Her hope, though, is that NBC will widen the camera lens so that we will hear other stories. There are the potential comebacks of veterans Janet Evans, age 40, and Dara Torres, age 45, giving lie to the myth that older women can’t compete.

And there’s breakout star Missy Franklin, who’ll be making her Olympics debut. The teenager is 6 feet, 1 inch, with a wing span of 6 feet, 4 inches.

Says the 5-foot, 6-inch de Varona: “I wouldn’t want to sprint against her.”

Into the swim

“Swimming was a gift to me. It’s my thing. I love to just get in and swim....It’s almost like meditation for me.”

That meditation began in Lafayette, Calif., where young Donna idolized her older brother, David Jr., and followed him around everywhere – including the baseball field, where she became the first Little League batgirl.

(Sister Joanna was into gymnastics. She would become

actress Joanna Kerns, star of ABC’s “Growing Pains.”)

Trailblazing Donna, however, was out on the diamond.

“I even had a uniform,” she recalls. “But back then they didn’t let girls play.”

When David quit baseball for swimming following knee surgery, Donna followed suit.

First, though, she tried diving but couldn’t get any air sense.

“I like to say that I was great on toes and short on courage.”

It wasn’t long before she switched to swimming and started racing in the local pool, where she began winning ribbons.

“I was almost 11 and my father (David Sr.), who was an All-American football player and member of the crew at Cal Berkeley, said, ‘Are you sure you want this?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I do.’”

With that, he enrolled his young daughter in a program at the Y, where the coach had a daughter who was a world-record holder and a member of the 1956 American Olympic team “When people raise the bar, you raise the bar.”

De Varona got so fast she began training with legendary swim coach George Haines at the Santa Clara Swim Club in northern California. Haines’ many Olympic swimmers would include Mark Spitz.

“No one worked harder than me. I was up against girls who were 6 feet tall.”

Before the lens

It’s that tenacity that has spurred de Varona’s fight for women’s and athletes’ rights. But as is often the case in life, she was also in the right place at the right time.

The Journey to the Gold

45

Donna with President Bill Clinton.

When “Wide World of Sports” bowed in 1961, the producers, who knew nothing about swimming, would ask the young swimmer which races would be close and which they should broadcast.

“I became friendly with the production team. They would even put a diver underneath my lane with a scuba tank, because they wanted to capture what was really going on.

In 1965, after competing in her second Olympics, the champion was faced with a difficult decision. She wanted to attend college, but there were no athletic scholarships for girls back then. So de Varona made the gut-wrenching decision to give up the sport she loved to attend UCLA. With no scholarship and no money, “I just picked up the phone, because I couldn’t bear to quit the sport I loved, and I said to the producer, ‘I’d like to be in the booth talking about it.’”

The producers were concerned, because of the rules at the time – rules de Varona would later help change – that barred amateur competitors from getting paid. “WWS” finally relented, and at 17, de Varona became the first woman sports broadcaster to appear on network television when she covered the 1965 men’s Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) swimming championships alongside Jim McKay. She paid her way through college with the money she earned working in television, all the while moving her way up the broadcasting ranks. Eventually she would become an on-air analyst, commentator, host, writer and producer for many shows, including the Olympics, ABC Sports, ABC News and “Good Morning America.”

In 1991, she earned an Emmy Award for producing a feature on a Special Olympian and in 1998, she received an Emmy nomination for co-producing, writing and hosting “Keepers of the Flame,” a television special on the Olympics.

“I have to have a life purpose. It’s something that the sport gave me.”

But this child of the activist ’60s has also been spurred by witnessing the racial discrimination that fellow Olympians Muhammad Ali, Wilma Rudolph and Willye B. White experienced.

Besides fighting for Title IX and working with Billie Jean King on the Women’s Sports Foundation, de Varona threw her support behind the Amateur Sports Act 46

With President Ronald Reagan.

With Edwin Jones.

of 1978, providing legal protection for individual athletes and making training facilities and money more accessible to women athletes.

“I know young women don’t like to identify with the word feminism. But they’re sitting where they are because of us, whether they realize it or not.”

De Varona believes there is value in sports for everyone as they require commitment, the ability to take criticism and work with others, and, in the end, acceptance of both success and failure – important lessons in the corporate world.

“I like the idea of sports as a journey and not an end in itself.”

A purposeful life

“When I went to Washington for the first time, it wasn’t just about women. It was about changing the paradigm in our Olympic movement, and that’s why I was appointed to President Ford’s commission on Olympic sport and at that same time I got involved in Title IX.” De Varona served four terms on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. In 2002-03, she served on the U. S. Secretary of Education's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics. She also sits on the International Special Olympics’ executive board and is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Women and Sports Commission.

With all she has done, have the battles for equality in sports and physical fitness been won?

“No. You think it’s over, but we’ve still had to fight.

We’ve got so many pockets in our country where it’s all about the elite sports, kids are not participating and we have an obesity issue and a tsunami of diabetes.”

“We have to get P.E. back. We have to open our parks.

We have to work together. We can’t just have a few people saying, ‘Jog and stay fit.’ We have to come up with

With broadcast colleague Frank Gifford.

programs that really work.”

That’s why she accepted the George W. Bush Administration’s invitation to serve on the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics. But the administration, she says, was more interested in watering down Title IX, which had empowered women.

While the experience has soured her on politics, the little girl who charmed Rome is still in it to win it. It’s a life lesson she’s imparted to her children. She and husband John Pinto, a lawyer and investment banker, are the parents of two – John David, who was an All-American at Greenwich High School and co-captain of the swim team at Brown University; and Joanna, a Catholic University graduate who’s pursuing an acting career, just like her aunt and namesake.

De Varona believes there is value in sports for everyone as they require commitment, the ability to take criticism and work with others, and, in the end, acceptance of both success and failure – important lessons in the corporate world.

“I like the idea of sports as a journey and not an end in itself.” n

way

‘vessel’ an elegant

The constantly shifting views of Rye’s Number Six

By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki and Tim Lee

Presented by Houlihan Lawrence

48

Giovannella and Ted Dunn with grandchildren Colin and Carolyn Dunn.

ust hearing the phrase waterfront living is often enough to spark the imagination.

But a visit to a waterfront property in Rye humbly called Number Six sends that imagination soaring.

Most every glance, in fact, sets a daydream in motion.

You can see yourself easing into a lounge chair on the stone terrace, the Long Island Sound practically spread out before you. You’re ready to sit down to dinner in the elegant dining room where walls dotted with oversize windows evoke a yacht-like feel. You see yourself sipping coffee at the petite table perched on the balcony over the tidal pond. Oh, and perhaps most grandly, you wonder how it would feel to greet a new day from the raised master bed, eyes opening to a panoramic view of glistening water and seemingly never-ending sky.

For nearly three decades, these daydreams have been the real life of Edward (Ted) and Giovannella Dunn, who revel in their waterfront locale.

“The biggest attraction on an ongoing basis is the fact the water is different every day, every hour,” Ted says.

Their property is a rarity, a gracious and elegant home surrounded on three sides by water. Number Six, you see, sits on the tip of a peninsula bordered by the Sound and a tidal pond. Together, especially at high tide, these create a sense of being aboard the most elegant sailing vessel.

But don’t expect clichéd nautical accents. Rather there are countless signs of a life well-lived, from the

cozy den/library to a living-room fireplace that adds warm appeal both literally and figuratively.

A sense of history

And now, as the Dunns prepare for the next phase of their life, the property is ready to welcome just its fourth owner in more than a century.

The home, a two-story Colonial that evokes a sense of Nantucket, got its start as the coachman’s house of an adjacent estate built at the turn of the 20th century. By 1949, it was converted into a private home.

“They were in the construction business,” Ted says of the Crow family that built the property. “The cement pillars that support the house are underneath. You could take a hammer to them, a chisel to them. You can’t get to them.”

Giovannella says some people might have concerns about the property.

“People think that this house must be damp,” she says.

“It’s not.”

She says a centralized heating unit was a deliberate creation to provide years of comfort, while an 11-foot sea wall keeps the home safe in storms.

“I do think it was very, very well-built, and I think we’ve tried very hard to maintain that quality,” she says.

This is a home of tasteful proportions designed to meet every need. (Buyers will note the property is .47 acres on land, the rest on water). Life at Number Six is not about showing off. The most basic example is the garage, a workmanlike tandem model where two cars can rest nose to tail (rather than side by side). The Euro-style kitchen is a cozy, bright affair. A first-floor bathroom feels much

larger thanks to a sweeping mural. The bedrooms are each comfortable and bright. Giovannella’s second-floor office, awash in natural light, could easily convert to an oversize bedroom or just as smoothly, a playroom or studio.

A bit of understated luxury is found in the master bath, where white-and-navy tiles surround the bathtub. If it sounds routine, you’re not factoring in the triangular window that provides an unencumbered view of the water.

Nature at your doorstep

All around, there is an abundance of nature, exactly what one would expect such a setting to showcase. The first few years, Ted found himself tracking the varieties of birds that came to feed on the clams exposed by low tide.

The home also lends itself to sporting activities. A tennis court, its net right on the property line, is shared with a neighbor. There’s swimming and a small sandy beach

NUMBER SIX at a Glance • Rye • 5,300 square feet • 2.795 acres • Bedrooms: 6 • Baths: 4 full, one half • Amenities: Alarm system, balcony, first-floor bedroom, fireplace, mooring/dock, master bath, patio, powder room, tennis court, water access, waterfront, water view.

• Price: $6,950,000 49

to frolic on when the tide is out. There is also a dock, with the Dunns doing a fair share of sailing over the years.

These days, it’s all about the bright yellow kayaks.

“I don’t think you’ll see us in our kayaks today, but you could on other days,” Ted says.

While there may be boats sailing by, there’s no marina or country club obscuring the views from Number Six. Instead, it feels like a bit of a retreat.

“You forget to put down your curtains sometimes,” Giovannella says with a chuckle.

Indeed, Ted echoes, “It’s a very private place to be.”

It’s also, he adds, “energizing….It recharges.”

That was something Ted, a former Rye mayor and longtime part of Manhattan’s financial industry, came to really appreciate.

“The fact that you could get out of that pressure cooker….You’re three minutes from the station, and you have all that water.”

It is, Giovannella shares, also a home for all seasons. She says she particularly loves the views in winter or whenever there’s a storm brewing. It’s drama like no other.

50

“I think the blue, you can find it all over the place, but the grays…,” she trails off, leading one to another daydream.

Love at first sight

The Dunns connected with Number Six from the very start.

“I was looking for a house to fall in love with, and it took me three years,” Giovannella says. At the time, they were living in Pelham. Waterfront property was not a priority.

Instead, Ted says, their wish list included things such as finding a home with plenty of trees and with an adjacent second lot.

This property had neither, yet its charm won them over “immediately,” Giovannella says.

“This room did it,” she adds, her gesture encompassing the welcoming living/family room where pale-yellow walls counterpoint the hardwood floor.

Indeed, the purchase wasn’t a long-debated affair.

“We saw the house at 10 o’clock in the morning, and

we bid the offering price at noon,” Ted says.

Now, 28 years later, they are preparing to leave Number Six – but they won’t be going far.

Some 20 years ago, the Dunns bought a second home on their same road. The 1950s ranch was rented out, but now, they are fashioning a new home on that property.

The new place will include an elevator (as the current home could not) and still allow the Dunns to remain in the neighborhood.

“With age, you have to be realistic,” Ted says.

Though the move may be prove a bit bittersweet, Giovannella says they may not be out of Number Six for good.

“We hope we like the people who buy it so they will invite us up.”

For more information, contact Marianna Glennon at Houlihan Lawrence, (914) 5841019 or MGlennon@houlihanlawrence.com. n

Mad about MadStone Story and photograph by Zoë Zellers Jewelry images courtesy of MadStone

K

erri Halpern knew something was missing.

The West Villager – by way of Colorado and Purchase – was on a lifelong hunt for jewelry that matched her edgy personality and yet remained upscale enough to suit her extravagant wardrobe, which includes vintage floor-length Tom Ford for Gucci gowns. (Kerri is the kind of blonde who wears all black and only the good stuff.)

So she began redesigning her personal jewelry and soon expanded to original pieces using gemstones from around the globe. One day, inspired by a magnum of Champagne, “Bubble” was born, officially launching her MadStone fine jewelry line.

“Champagne is just always fun,” Kerri says, lowering her cool, oversized black plastic-framed glasses, adding with a laugh, “Champagne just says, Party!”

The artful “Bubble” rings, bangles, cuffs and earrings feature gorgeous hand-cut gems set in 18k yellow, white and rose gold, suggesting Champagne flutes. It was the first signature division within the MadStone brand, which now includes such groupings as “Random,” “MadSkulls,” “M8” and “MadAnimals.” Each takes on a personality of its own but fits into MadStone’s greater MO of creating personality-driven, ultra-plush, one-ofa-kind jewelry. It’s very New York meets Europe in spirit and sits well with the international crowd visiting The Ritz Carlton, Westchester where the line is carried at the Diana Heimann Jewelry Salon.

“The basic inspiration for all of the different lines is architecture and fashion,” she says, adding that “my kids (Kelsey, 22, and Joel, 20) and I have traveled all over the world and that brings a lot of inspiration.”

Of late, she’s been traveling more for work. Last month she showed at the invitation-only Couture Show in Las Vegas for the second year in a row.

“But,” she adds, “I went to Paris Fashion Week, which I loved. I was an exchange student in Paris in high school, so Paris kind of feels like my second home.”

Indeed, “there are two lines in MadStone, which are inspired by Paris. One is called Carré, which means ‘square’ in French and all of the stones are square cut and the shank of the ring is square. And then there’s another one, again inspired by Paris, La Cage. I used the twisted wire that holds Champagne corks on and I’ve been wrapping that around stones.”

It’s a clever visual tribute to one of her favorite drinks, which the Soho House member will inevitably sip poolside this summer on the club’s rooftop, just down the street from her home.

Whereas the high-fashion, luxurious cross between Goth and whimsy is apparent in pieces like MadAnimals’ spider, beetle and bat rings embellished with rubies, tzavorites, blue topazes, amethysts, citrines, garnets and diamonds set in blackened, rose or yellow gold. Another example is Kerri’s standout MadSkulls’ 18k yellow, white and blackened gold pendants of jeweled skulls wearing moveable headphones.

The jewelry biz makes sense for the style-savvy Kerri – whose former life included a decade-long fashion publicity career at houses like Escada. Plus, her sweet below14th Street apartment, which doubles as her workspace, offers romantic, artistic inspiration in virtually every nook. And on a practical note, her light-filled floor-toceiling windows let her examine fine details in her de-

Bejeweled skeleton ring in 18k blackened gold.

Creepy crawler ring in 18k yellow gold with colored gemstones.

Kerri Halpern, sporting her own designs, against the backdrop of a Gerhard Hildebrant artwork.

signs, which are handmade in New York.

Attempting this glamour-driven, fine art-filled, workcentric, on-the-go lifestyle has its benefits. Handwritten notes of encouragement from famous friends like clubkid and Heatherette designer Richie Rich hang on an Italian stainless steel chandelier above her worktable. Original artwork by Damien Hirst, Ed Ruscha, Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Doig and Andy Warhol (doing Mick Jagger) as well as a newly acquired, large-scale Gerhard Hildebrant piece made of cassette tapes and a Jean-Michel Basquiat album cover for The Offs provide constant eye candy. Resting beside a magnificent Dolce & Gabbana leopard-print chair are stacked coffee-table books on predominantly skull-friendly resources like Tom Ford and Alexander McQueen. The possibilities of props popping out of custom-built dark-wood boxed shelving are endless (It’s a real cabinet of curiosities filled with weathered, hardcover Anne Rice-signed books). The envyworthy rock n’ roll meets couture setting is so very Kerri.

In just a few years, the MadStone family has quickly grown and now has an offspring collection, MAD by MadStone, featuring more accessible pieces geared toward younger wearers like the artsy Kelsey, who works with mom as a designer, having graduated from the University of Miami last month.

“MAD by MadStone is very geometrically inspired. It’s all based on the octagon with colors. And then,” Kerri reveals, “these new pieces that you haven’t seen, called the Masquerade collection, are all masks and skulls and hand-carved cherubs and it kind of has a little bit of a

Stacked bubble bracelets in 18k white gold with quartz, yellow gold with citrine and blackened white gold with quartz.

Goth-y, darker side.”

“There’s a Mad-ly inspired motto – ‘No hearts, no flowers.’” Kerri says with a laugh containing a hint of a warning.

Although she makes a point to remind you that at the same time, “Color is huge (this) summer, with all of the pastel jeans and it’s translating back into fall as well. So I’m using oranges, deep purples, greens, teals… I just made a beautiful pair of fire opal, bright orange teardrop earrings wrapped in Champagne wire.”

With Miuccia Prada’s ironic lobster and banana earrings, sold at The Met, garnering attention, it’s obvious that the same humor in jewelry is present in MadStone, too. Kerri says she designs with women like herself in mind. Her own New York friends, plus Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres, are all fans.

“Jewelry has to reflect your personality, and accessories should be fun. They should not be taken too seriously.

“I think outside the box. I drive my production people crazy by wanting things that haven’t been done before, but they’re very good. They jump through all my hoops and they get everything done that I want in my crazy, MAD-ly inspired world.”

MadStone jewelry is available at the Diana Heimann Jewelry Salon in The Ritz Carlton, Westchester.

MadStone items range from $1,900 to $16,000. The newer MAD line, which stands for Mother And Daughter, is geared to younger buyers and retails between $200 and $1,500. For more, call (914) 467-5880 or visit dianaheimann.com. n 51

Estate Treasures’ gold standard Story and photographs by Mary Shustack

Estate Treasures of Greenwich is filled with gold-hued accents for the home.

W

hen in search of gold, Estate Treasures of Greenwich is a prime hunting ground.

It won’t take an Olympian effort to find a wealth of golden-hued accents, since they can be spotted nearly everywhere you look in Harriet Roughan’s sprawling 7,400-square-foot showroom in Riverside.

Gold gleams in the necklaces and earrings filling the display cases near the entrance. It’s echoed in the tresses of a young maiden featured in a Royal Doulton figurine. It surrounds the mirrors, simple to ornate, and artwork nestled in gilded frames.

That’s not all. It’s also on the rimmed tea sets and drawer pulls of stately desks and dressers. Golden tones also add vibrant life to fireplace accessories, lamp bases, medieval-looking sconces and fanciful scrollwork on book covers and bindings.

Of course, looking at a shop’s merchandise with such a pointed perspective will limit you to just a portion of the offerings.

So be sure when visiting Estate Treasures – which marks its 35th anniversary next year – to broaden your scope.

“This is an unusual store,” says Roughan. “You never know. Behind every corner you’re going to find something.”

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Quality jewelry, both estate and costume, is a specialty.

The shop is an antique consignment shop, though it also imports a wide selection of antique and antique reproduction furniture from Europe. It’s also a distributor for Lee Industries, which specializes in upholstered furniture, and features a number of decorative accents from Theodore Alexander.

“We try to display everything so people could see how it would look in their homes,” she says.

In a continuing effort to meet client needs, Roughan recently welcomed a “shop within a shop.” Just Shades, a veteran Manhattan company that offers modern and traditional lamp shades, has opened a branch within Estate Treasures.

“I just think it’s a good meld. We sell a lot of lamps.”

Roughan points to her keeping up with the times as a reason for her store’s longevity.

“The antiques business is not as strong at it was. That market has changed and because it has changed and the young people’s decorating habits have changed, we have changed.”

So while she still sells antiques, the mix is more varied. These days, a shopper will find a Victorian dresser but also a 1950s Eames chair. Shoppers will also see contemporary goods with classic and tradi-

Tabletop items of all kinds abound.

tional appeal, from throw pillows and vases to desktop accessories and bookends.

All is designed to keep the customers coming back – and finding their own treasures among her inventory.

“We are not a museum,” she says with a smile. “I don’t want to admire it. I want to sell it.”

Roughan is still very particular about what merchandise she stocks, no matter the era. It’s been that way from the start.

“There was nobody doing consignment 30 years ago,” she says. “That was an unusual thing.”

Today, she says that “the accessories are all consignment goods.”

She still hits the road for buying trips in Europe and loves to spot trends at the famed furniture markets of High Point, N.C. “I love to go to England to see how furniture is made. All my tables that come from Italy, I’ve watched them being made.”

It’s all designed to please her longtime customers while attracting new ones.

“This business is such a repeat business.

I would say 90 percent of my client base is repeat customers.”

Those longtime customers know well to stop by during her now-signature tent

sales. Each spring and fall, the space in front of the East Putnam Avenue store is filled with desks and chairs, armoires and tables at deep discounts.

“Getting a good deal is the name of the game for a lot of people,” she says.

The sale has proven so popular, she moves it into a local hotel each January, too.

Harriet Roughan And her customers are never far from Roughan’s thoughts. At the store every day, her attention to detail is clear. She even sends a personal thank-you note to shoppers who spend $500 or more.

“If they choose us, you’ve got to say ‘Thanks.’”

And in doing so, Roughan continues to connect with her clientele, setting a gleaming standard of service.

“I feel like I’m here eight days a week, and there’s no other place I’d rather be.”

Estate Treasures is at 1162 E. Putnam Ave. in Riverside. Call (203) 6374200 or visit estatetreasures.com. n

wares

dishin’ opulence

S

itting down to a lovely table makes any meal feel a bit more special.

In honor of this month’s “Going for the Gold” theme, we issued a “challenge” to the savvy stylists at Bloomingdale’s in White Plains, asking them to create a place setting that would show just what gold can bring to the tabletop experience.

We were thrilled with the look they fashioned for WAG. And Emily Hull-Martin, fashion director for Home at Bloomingdale’s, even took the time to answer a few questions for us about setting a special table – and making each of your guests feel as honored as a medal-winning Olympian.

How important is a tabletop to setting the mood for a gathering?

“The table or buffet should be the focal point for your event – the location where everyone gathers to eat, drink and connect. It should be inviting, functional and reflective (of) your personal style or the theme of the event you’re hosting. Special

54

By Mary Shustack Photograph By Bob Rozycki

touches on a table like napkin rings, placecard holders, fresh flowers and candlelight all help set the mood. Mix in a lively soundtrack, cocktails and great conversation and you can’t go wrong.”

What do you think that element of gold adds to a tabletop? Is it always going to be a fancy and glamorous touch or can it adapt to a variety of themes and styles?

“Gold is a huge trend in home furnishings right now and we love it on the table, especially in flatware and dinnerware details. The beauty of this metallic finish is that it’s so flexible. It can help dress up your table for a glamorous soiree, or you can mix gold with wood serving pieces and colorful china or napkins for a more worldly vibe.”

And finally, how do you think a guest would feel if you, as a host or hostess, set a table like this for them?

“Absolutely delighted! Being a fabulous host is all about making your guests feel comfortable and incorporating thoughtful and unique details into your events. From a gorgeous gold table to

stocking your friend’s favorite bites, it’s all in the details.” n In this photograph: Bloomingdale’s in White Plains shows how to set a glimmering table filled with gold accents. The dinnerware is a stylish mix from Bernardaud’s “Ecume Gold,” collection ($255 for charger and $165 for salad plate) and Haviland’s “Brandebourg” line ($98 for dinner plate, $58 for bread-andbutter plate, $90 for tea cup and $58 for saucer). The stemware is from the “Lismore Essence Gold”collection of Waterford, $80 per glass. Flatware is by Sambonet, $140 for a five-piece place setting in “H Art Gold.”

The table linens are from Ralph Lauren’s “Wallace” grouping, with the placemat $25 and the napkin $18.75. Rounding out the inviting scene are accessories, including a Michael Aram “Apple” honey pot ($99) and “Golden Pears” salt-and-pepper shakers ($99/ pair). The Kim Seybert napkin ring ($25) was used here as an accent on the plate, while the Coral Gold napkin ring ($14) serves its intended purpose. Completing the scene is a stately William Yeoward vase, which sells for $1,350.

Come on, get closer.

Peek under our covers.

THERE’S A LOT MORE WAG ONLINE. VIDEOS AND EXCLUSIVE OFFERS. GO TO WAGMAG.COM

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wear

accent on shimmering

I

By Debbi O’Shea

t's always fascinating to see how the worlds of fashion and sports collide. Is it too big a leap to think that the glittering gold of the upcoming London Games was subliminally in the imaginations of designers this past spring? Is it simply a coincidence that the likes of Michael Kors, Miuccia Prada, Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney all caught gold fever at the same moment?

The most important night of fashion each year is not the Academy Awards, despite the fact that the winners actually do get to bring home the gold (or at least, the gold-plated britannium). No, the real night to shine is The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala, chaired by Anna Wintour. This year, for the first time, it was streamed live, to my delight. Believe it or not, there are those of us who value a gleaming bias-cut gown ascending a staircase just as much as we do a reverse 2 1/2 somersault in the pike position.

One of the most celebrated images of that night was Karolina Kurkova in a golden mermaid-style couture gown by Rachel Zoe, topped with a glamorous turban. She looked like a real-live Oscar.

It was a breathtaking moment, worthy of its own gold medal in a paired event.

With gold on the red carpet and the runway, it was inevitable for it to trend through the world of accessories this season. Shoes shine, from Lanvin and Gucci gold ballerina flats, to platforms, pumps and sandals by Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik.

Gold clutches are having a huge moment and are particularly beloved by the Brits Sarah Burton, (for Alexander McQueen), Stella McCartney and Anya Hindmarch. They look particularly striking paired with dramatic cuffs by Philipe Audibert and YSL as well as 24k hammered bracelets by goldsmith Gurhan and skinny white jeans.

Not surprisingly, glimmers of gold have also found their way into the beauty collections of Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, Giorgio Armani, Chanel and Deborah Lippman.

As the world prepares to cheer on its best and brightest at the Summer Games, you’ll have plenty to choose from if you attend any Olympic-themed parties. If not, we can do our part simply by raising a glass of Champagne to the athletes’ achievements. Truly, they are all winners and they do make us proud.

So go, USA. And as the Visa commercial says, Go, World.

To read Debbi’s blog, visit DivaDebbi.com. n 56

Supermodel Karolina Kurkova looks like an Oscar in showstopping Rachel Zoe couture at the recent Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala.

wear

Scents of winning

By Zoë Zellers Image courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana

A

t the core of the fashion house created by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana is the Italian man. He’s charming and chic, a smooth talker. He’s masculine and sporty, a true man’s man. He’s on a speedy Vespa some days and a luxury yacht the next. His wardrobe alternates among lived-in motorcycle boots, leather loafers and stylish sneakers. He’s at an opera one night, a steamy nightclub the next and a hometown soccer match the following.

With this dynamic muse in mind, Dolce & Gabbana unveil their latest cologne, The One Sport, which balances the sexy and the athletic sides of men in a light, summery fragrance. Both designers have always shown a fascination with sports culture and history and ambitiously explore fashion’s connection to the fields, courts and pools throughout their collections.

With The One Sport, Dolce & Gabbana return to the glory days of ancient Greece and Rome, where athleticism played an important role in socializing men and balancing physical and mental well-being. Or as the ancients would say: “Mens sana in corpore sano” (“A sound mind in a healthy body.”)

Peruvian fashion photographer Mariano Vivanco, a perennial D&G collaborator, shot The One Sport campaign, featuring model Adam Senn, for whom sports are essential to survival. It’s an idea underscored by the gladiatorial setting of the print and video campaign and Senn’s pose, which mimics the beautifully martyred St. Sebastian of art history. D&G has called the image an “icon of sacrifice, devotion and passion, which allows sportsmen to assert their talent.”

With One Sport, they can do so wearing an eau de toilette that is as clean as it is energetic. Responses from men are notably positive.

“With notes like rosemary, cardamom, patchouli (and) musk, it is definitely a fragrance that can work for many in the summer,” says Craig the Barber, a grooming expert and editor-in-chief of themensroom.com.

“The overall design is also very attractive,” he adds of the straightforward glass and acrylic casing, with the only color resting at the top of the bottle’s red pomander and the centered red lettering of

the word “Sport.”

D&G’s ties to the sporting community are underscored by “Campioni – Fotografie by Domenico Dolce” (Rizzoli International), which will hit D&G stores this month and bookstores nationwide this fall. Right in line with The One Sport’s message, the 560-page book features 67 black-and-white portraits of soccer players, whose young faces reveal both

“strength and innocence,” according to a report in Women’s Wear Daily. There is no product, only people and there is no wardrobe, only uniforms. The $225 book will support AriSLA, which funds research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”.

In many ways, D&G cheers the gladiators of today.

The One Sport eau de toilette is available at select department and specialty stores like Saks Fifth Avenue in three different sizes – 30ml for $45; 50ml for $57; and 100ml for $73. Since the scent is so fresh and cooling, it’s worth taking a look at the line’s other offerings, including after-shave lotion ($49), aftershave balm ($39), shower gel ($33) and deodorant ($26). n 57

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The Summer Series

in danbury fair

Be Delicious

By Zoë Zellers Photographs Courtesy of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

summer is the season of, let’s face it, sweat and sand, but DKNY is ready to turn that around with its latest fragrance collection of sweet summer scents that chart the globe. DKNY [HEARTS] The World is launching exclusively at Sephora stores nationwide this month and will offer four refreshing scents inspired by four beloved cities, beginning with a city all eyes will be on this summer – London, home of the 2012 Olympics.

London

Donna Karan’s take on London reflects a seductive balance between the vibrant happening hub of club culture and curry and the quiet serenity of England’s countryside in full bloom. London is a mature scent, refined and yet ever-so wearable no matter the occasion. It features a medley of spring hyacinth, green apples, rich honeysuckle, blackcurrant buds and, naturally, English roses. It shares bottom notes of warm amber and vetiver and with that, becomes so Bond Street chic.

New York

This fragrance is, in DKNY terms, “ripe for adventure.” It strives for downtown meets uptown with a dominant crisp green apple at its core. Donna Karan launched the scent for her hometown by observing the culture hub’s diverse surroundings of Central Park, The Met, SoHo and Times Square. The perfume aims to offer something for everyone but goes a bit overboard. The overripe Big Apple indeed.

Paris

Paris: Where do we begin? The scent harmoniously matches the city’s sophistication and ability to go from day to night with, you guessed it, a little black

The region’s finesT free concerTs, fireworks and children’s enTerTainmenT.

dress. This fragrance is on-point with its source of inspo in that it’s young, it’s old, it’s complicated, it’s moody and it’s all together stylish. The Paris fragrance is by far the most romantic of the DKNY [HEARTS] The World collection. The perfume boasts notes of fresh jasmine, violet and patchouli with a sweet touch of vanilla and Gala apples. Like the city, it’s where your favorite sweet croissant meets a badass Bordeaux, and it just works. It veers on the chic-sexy side and is definitely evening appropriate.

fireworks evenT July 3 aT dusk

Rio

Obsessed: You almost want to ask if this scent is too fun and overly sexy. (It’s that good). And then you realize, they don’t call it Rio for nothing. If you could capture the energy, colors, fruits and spices and dance of one city in one bottle, this would be it.

DKNY has above and beyond accomplished its mission with Rio, which has ultra personality and yet, mass appeal (like Brazilian supermodel and footballer Tom Brady’s wife, Gisele Bündchen).

One spritz and life seems suddenly tropical, loud and lush, and you might actually go out tonight. The bottled celebration blends Maracuja fruit and Pink Lady apples with notes of myrrh, benzoin and warm sandalwood. It’s topped with refreshing orange flower and alluring gardenia, creating a juicy and floral blend that could make teens to seniors want to samba through the streets in sixinch platforms day or night. Summer never smelled so memorable.

The collection debuts mid-July and each 1.7 oz. scent retails for $65. For more, visit Sephora at The Westchester in White Plains and at 75 Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich. n

summer concerTs every wednesday July 11-augusT 15 from 7-9pm kidz camp every Tuesday July 10 - augusT 21 aT 10am

7 Backus avenue danBury, connecTicuT 06810 203.743.3247 danBuryfairmall.com 59

MADF9012-01 Danbury Fair_Ad.indd 1

5/15/12 1:26 PM

les nouvelles by

Soaked in Gold (Inspired by Santigold’s offthe-chain new album, “Master of My MakeBelieve” it’s all about livin’ life like it’s golden.)

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Zoë is sporting vintage Norma Kamali swimwear, Fendi sunglasses, American Apparel gold lame track jacket, patent leather Asics with gold lion chain and her grandmother’s starfish earrings with Laura Mercier makeup. Photograph by LYONS.

Geometric diamond cuff.

Open-cage clutch.

JEWELERY by ANNDRA NEEN

JOURNEY TO FIT

Visit the Museum at FIT’s latest (free) exhibit for an intimate viewing of iconic designs by Charles James, Madame Grés, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen and more.

Jean Paul Gaultier ensemble and Diane von Furstenberg dress from “Fashion, A-Z: Highlights From the Collection of the Museum at FIT, Part Two.” Photograph courtesy the Museum at FIT. Seventh Avenue at 27th Street, Manhattan.

Two-tone triangle necklace.

The beautiful boundary-pushing jewelry line Anndra Neen was started in 2009 by two sisters from Mexico who were living in New York City and traveling as far as Japan. Phoebe worked in fashion, Annette in theater. Add to that fascinating background, serious style genes. Their grandfather was the avant-garde composer, Conlon Nancarrow, while their grandmother, Annette Nancarrow, collaborated with members of the Muralist Movement in Mexico and worked as a painter, sculptor and jeweler.

She designed pieces that were bought at Henri Bendel by the likes of Frida Kahlo, Anaïs Nin, Helena Rubinstein, Peggy Guggenheim and Elizabeth Arden.

Her granddaughters’ Anndra Neen line – focused on mixed metals like brass and alpaca, a nickel silver – keeps that edgy heritage and respect for craftsmanship and adds modern interpretations of European antique pieces, ancient Egyptian motifs, Japanese designs and Bauhaus graphics. Still, each piece is handcrafted by artisans in their workshop back home in Mexico. Pieces range from $150 to $950. A list of local and online retailers is available at anndraneen.com. This is one to look out for.

Gold crème eye color, $22.

SHOUT-OUT

LAURA MERCIER MAGIC

Chef Jodi Bernhard from Barcelona Wine Bar in Greenwich created the genius recipe for a golden fried cabbage wedge battered in semolina and buttermilk, served with feta cheese and drizzled honey. Barcelona Wine Bar, 18 W .Putnam Ave. in Greenwich.

TEA WITH THE QUEEN

If you can’t visit the Crown Jewels at The Tower of London this summer on your dream Olympics trip, then have tea with Queen Elizabeth II – in a manner of speaking – with adorable gold-trimmed plates and tea cups from the West Village’s Tea & Sympathy. At the authentic “Carry On” shop and the next-door café, you’ll hear so many Brit accents you’ll forget you’re in New York. Carry On Tea & Sympathy, 110 Greenwich Ave. Manhattan.

Gold dust eye color, $22.

Shimmer in summer with fresh and bright makeup by cosmetic cool kid, Laura Mercier. lauramercier.com

FENDI x MASERATI Sunglasses

Engineering meets style with the debut of ultra-luxe handcrafted sunglasses designed by the house of Fendi and Italian sports car manufacturer Maserati. Marchon.com.

Watering Holes

By Zoë Zellers

The London Games give us all an excuse to spend our hot summer nights at the coolest spots in town, savoring a fine Argentine wine perhaps or some shrimp dim sum as we consider the relative aesthetic merits of the Yank and Brit diving teams.

But where to park our sculpted derrieres so we don’t miss all the action? WAG has the 411:

Lolita Cocina & Tequila Bar At: 230 Mill St., Greenwich, (203) 813-3555.

Why go: Your mother, your brother and your daughter can all feel groovy dancing to club beats, sipping sweet or spicy margaritas on the coveted patio area and chowing down on creative Mexican culinary feats.

Must-order dishes: Lightly fried East Coast oysters dusted with red chili masa and chipotle crema; blackened grouper tacos with mango-jicama and Serrano slaw; slow-cooked brisket tacos with a shot of gravy; BBQ pork belly guacamole; caracoles (snails in garlic chipotle butter with crispy shallots); carne asada (garlic marinated skirt steak); lobster enchilada with fire-roasted corn and chipotle chilis; sticky spare ribs with spicy Mexican coffee bean, chocolate, 62 sesame and orange glaze; iron pan cornbread in roasted garlic sauce.

Drinks to pair: “Lolita” (Sauza 100 anos azul reposado, citron Patrón, fresh lime, cane syrup and a squeeze of grapefruit); “Broken Heart” (Gran Centenario Rosangel, St. Germain, white grapes, fresh raspberries and pink peppercorns); “Diablo” (Cuervo traditional reposado, citron Patrón, Serrano chile, blood orange, fresh pineapple and strawberries.

Tip: Join Lolita’s email list to be in-the-know for the spot’s raging parties like the “Heartbreaker” series.

The last word: “We form a relationship with our guests that transcends seasonality,”says Jody Pennette, president of cb5 Restaurant Group, L.L.C.

Barcelona Wine Bar At: 222 Summer St., Stamford (203) 348-4800; 18 W. Putnam Ave., Greenwich (203) 983-6400; 63 N. Main St., South Norwalk, (203) 899-0088.

Why go: Phenomenal service; a comprehensive drink list, mostly focused on Spanish, Portuguese, Argentine and French wines; imaginative, filling tapas; a cool marble bar; and a Alive at Five crowd that reconfirms Thursday is the new Friday.

Must-order dishes: Warm potato tortilla with chive sour cream; spinachchickpea casserole; boquerones (marinated fresh anchovies); albondigas (meatballs in a zesty tomato sauce); stuffed piquillo peppers with saffron, risotto and Andouille sausage; bone marrow crostini made with Wilton’s Farah’s Herbs; butterpoached lobster risotto; bouillabaisse with braised grouper, fava beans, spring onions and fingerling potatoes.

Drinks to pair: 2009 Spanish rioja Mencía blend, San Esteban; 2010 Spanish Verdejo, Blanco Nieva; 2010 Spanish Tempranillo/Garnacha, Dinastia Vinvanco; 2010 German Zeppelin Riesling; 2011 Hungarian Blaufrankisch blend, 2010 Italian Sangiovese, Poggio Anima, Belial; Amantillado “Carlos VII” sherry; pitcher of seasonal sangria; Barcelona Bloody Mary.

Tip: They call Stamford’s executive chef Scott Quis “the foie gras man” and you’ll find the treat slipped into many of his dishes. Try his brunch menu at the sunny

Stamford location.

The last word: “The whole idea is that we want it to be a neighborhood type of restaurant,” says Ria Rueda, director of marketing for the barteca restaurant group.

L’escale Restaurant Bar at The Delamar Hotel At: 500 Steamboat Road, Greenwich, (203) 661-4600.

Why go: In a word, glamour – a fashionable crowd; seaside seating; a happening bar (with screens for game time); and a serious foodie scene inside the restaurant, under the spatula of French-born executive chef Frederic Kieffer.

Must-order dishes: Le Plateau Royal with a Maine lobster, 12 oysters, 12 clams, six bay scallops, nine jumbo shrimp, mussels, dark rye bread, mayonnaise and mignonette cocktail sauce; tuna tartare with preserved lemon and rosemary oil; salmon carpaccio with homemade watercress butter and dark rye bread; tomato, avocado and watermelon tartare; grilled local calamari with avocado, tomato and basil; famous chicken Paillard “a la Plancha;” tapenade-crusted tuna with ratatouille stuffed baby vegetables and Rosé wine sauce. Top these with desserts by pastry chef Wendy Young Laurent.

pepper and jalapeno-infused tequila margarita with ginger syrup, espelette pepper and salt rim).

Tip: Chef Kieffer strives to use locally sourced vegetables so expect a gardenfresh quality that’s “like you never had before.”

The last word: “We have a real identity – a taste of Provence,” says David Fletcher, director of operations.

Drinks to pair: For dinner, the chef recommends a variety of Champagnes, Sauvignons, Sancerres, Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from the lengthy Frenchheavy wine list. But for the watering hole experience, specialty “film noir cocktails” include “How to Marry a Millionaire” (homemade Grey Goose berry-infused vodka with Saint Germain, lychee liquor and lime juice); “Saint Germain Spritz” (Rosé cooler with Saint Germain, sparkling water, raspberries and strawberries); and “8 ½” (homemade Corzo Blanco 63

BARTACO At: 1 Willett Ave., Port Chester, (914) 937-8226, and 222 Summer St., Stamford, (203) 323-8226.

Why go: Let’s say you pick up your friend from the Westchester County Airport, and she’s starving but also wants to get the party started. Bartaco is just the place, mixing tasty treats and atmosphere in a way that appeals to the 20-somethings and their parents.

Must-order dishes: Favorite tacos include the Thai shrimp, lightly-fried Baja fish, red snapper, spicy chorizo, duck, portobello with queso fresco, pork al pastor and lamb barbacoa. Other dishes to try – assorted gorditas with cream sauce, shrimp ceviche, rice bowls and pork tamales.

Drinks to pair: “Bartaco Margarita” (Herradura Silver and Combier orange liquor with agave syrup and lime juice); “Smoky Cholula” (Sombra mezal with guava nectar and lemon juice); “Old Thymer” (Woodford Reserve bourbon, Carpano Antica vermouth, thyme, lemon and orange); “Rosita” (Hibiscus-infused Gran Centenario Reposado, rosemary, 64

pear nectar and cranberry).

Tip: The easiest impromptu entertaining is made simple with Bartaco’s takeout party packs featuring an assortment of menu hits.

The last word: “You’d be surprised by the looks of these booths, but tabletop dancing is a regular thing here and it gets pretty crazy,” says Sophia Cruz, a mixologist at Bartaco in Stamford.

China White Noodlebar At: 249 Railroad Ave., Greenwich (203) 422-5232; and 578 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase (914) 437-9700.

Why go: The all-white, light-filled stylish China White opens its garage doors in the warmer months for an atmosphere that’s sexy but all about good-quality Asian food. The waiters are models, and visual art and black-and-white movies are projected on a wall.

Must-order dishes: Sweet white shrimp dim sum served with lettuce cups; shrimp, pork and crispy vegetable dumplings; chop chop chicken salad with crispy wontons and soy-ginger dressing; wok sautéed prawns with garlic, chives and ginger-wine sauce; Cantonese roast chicken with crispy garlic and shallots; very popular Peking duck with dark plum sauce, scallions and mushu pancakes; lobster stir-fried in Chinese black bean sauce; complimentary dessert of Chai teaflavored organic cotton candy.

Drinks to pair: White ginger-pear iced tea with fresh fruit (so refreshing); prickly pear lemonade; Veuve Clicquot

Rosé; Schneider Weisse beer; white sangria with lychee and sake.

Tip: Order the baby bok choy, a huge side dish packed with summertime flavor.

The last word: “Oh my god, the Cantonese roast chicken is so spicy and awesome,” gushes Jody Pennette, president of cb5 Restaurant Group, L.L.C. n

wanders

on the world stage London is about more than sports this year

By Cappy Devlin

65

London skyline

W

asn’t Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee just thrilling? The BBC concert at Buckingham Palace, the thousand-boat flotilla on the Thames. And despite the horrendous weather, the Queen herself in her gold-crusted barge, the Spirit of Chartwell, waving to the more than one million people who lined the riverbanks.

Now that we’ve taken a deep breath, it’s on to the Olympics in London town. The Games will take place from July 27 to Aug. 12, with the Olympic flame being carried to Downing Street and Buckingham Palace for the penultimate day of the Olympic Torch Relay July 26th. But London is about a lot more than the Olympics this season. The country that gave us Shakespeare and Dickens is also staging 12,000 performances as part of the London 2012 Festival (through Sept. 9), the finale of the four-year Cultural Olympiad.

To get a real feel for what’s been happening in London this whole year, I talked to my dear friend, Kim Poster, who is one of the West End’s leading theater producers.

“As an expat American who moved from Manhattan 66

to Covent Garden in London,” she says, “I feel uniquely able to tell you London is simply the most culturally rich, historically fascinating and beautiful city imaginable. Oh, and as a theater producer of such hits as ‘All My Sons,’ ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ and my upcoming production of ‘Uncle Vanya,’ I promise that the theater cannot be topped anywhere in the world.

“London has it all. The theater is rich and varied from superb drama such as ‘Noises Off ’ at the Haymarket and ‘War Horse’ at the New London. Musicals abound, such as the Olivier Award-winning ‘Matilda’ at the Cambridge, ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ at The Palace and ‘Top Hat’ at The Aldwych, not to mention the Broadway transfers of ‘Jersey Boys,’ ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Book of Mormon.’

“Historically, Americans can revisit their past with the British royalty. You can visit Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace where Diana and the boys lived.

Don’t miss the Queen’s Gallery, an intimate but beautiful museum on the side of Buckingham Palace exhibiting the Queen’s magnificent collection. Hampton Court is worth a trip, and book a concert and picnic

in the ornamental gardens of Henry VIII. No trip to London is complete without visiting The Tower, where Anne Boleyn lived out her final 1,000 days and Elizabeth I was imprisoned briefly.

“The tourist buses are a great way to see the city. You must go sit on the top level of Britain’s famed doubledecker buses. The subway system, called The Tube, is the fastest and cheapest way to get just about anywhere in London.”

London is the place to be this year. Go to visitlondon. com and you can click on the best hotels, tours, attractions, museums, theaters, shops, restaurants, pubs and extraordinary events. n Kim Poster is the producer of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” starring David Suchet and Laurie Metcalf at the West End’s Apollo Theatre. This autumn, Kim is presenting Chekhov’s comic masterpiece “Uncle Vanya,” starring Ken Stott and Anna Friel, at The Vaudeville. For more on her credits, visit stanhopeproductions.com.

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Mr. Meticulous If perfection were an Olympic event, Stephen Grisanti would claim the gold

By Olga Loginova

T

his is a story of a man who has made perfection his life credo. He came “from nothing,” as he puts it, and has achieved everything he ever dreamed of.

At 52, he still has the body of an athlete – he’s written a book on fitness – and at the end of the day, his suit is still immaculately creaseless. He has run four successful businesses. He modestly owns an immodest collection of Porsches. He has restored a couple of beautiful Flicka boats and sailed two oceans in them, before selling them for seven times the original price. His life partner is simply gorgeous, and his house is a reproduction of a 17th century Colonial (but for the oversized, climate-controlled garage, in which he keeps his babies).

Did we mention he’s been a professional drummer?

One who marches to his own beat.

As Stephen Grisanti likes to describe his achievements, he does not have a lot, but everything he owns is firstrate. You wonder if the watch on his wrist is an Omega, and the drink in his glass, a Vodka Martini “shaken, not stirred.” But although Grisanti shares some of his habits with Ian Fleming’s character, the Somers resident is driven by a completely different passion.

‘I was only 8 when I got my first job at Local Dietetic Shop in Mount Vernon. I would come there twice a week, and take all the vitamin bottles and honey jars from the shelves, wipe the shelves clean and line up all the jars back in place. Everybody who knows me still jokes, what a perfect job for Grisanti. And they are absolutely right. I am beyond organized. I love to keep things clean. I love to make things shine.”

The first business Grisanti founded in Greenwich when he was still in his early 20s, and which is still pros-

68

perous today, is the car-cleaning company Classic Shine.

Legend has it that Grisanti was so detail-oriented, at some point he would polish cars manually with a toothbrush.

As you can imagine, his clientele grew rapidly and the business was a huge success.

His other business, Greenwich Metal, which was a big factory, also had a reputation for the almost surgical cleanliness. Need more on that? Grisanti swears that you can come to his house at any hour of the day or night and it will be spotless. He remembers that even when he was a little boy, he would be the one responsible for his selfimposed chore of cleaning the house after parties. Was he raised like that? Not at all, he says, adding, “Knowing me, you’d be surprised to know where I come from.”

Born in Mount Vernon, Grisanti learned what it meant to have nothing much earlier than anything else. His father, who had a disability, never worked and went bankrupt three times while Stephen was still a child. Stephen was a tough kid. He used to fight a lot and often got into trouble. All he wanted was another life, cleaner and better. He went to work at 8 and at 17 left home and never looked back.

“Everybody has talents, and mine is running businesses. I don’t know how I do it. I have never gone to college.

But I am just good at that. I am great with people. I don’t like to make enemies. I have never been fired. This is who I am and this is who I like to be.’

Early on, he realized his own strength – the incredible discipline that would allow him to transform his passions into lifetime achievements. When he was still working at Local Dietetic, he fell in love with the owner’s car, a petite red Beetle. Day and night, he dreamed of owning it one day. These days he proudly displays his personal Porsche collection to the select few, and although it’s not a

big stable, who would question it’s 100 percent proof – a Golden Green 1968 912 coupe, an Adriatic Blue 1970 914-6 and a 2004 Limited Edition Boxster 550S. All in all, Grisanti has owned about 40 automobiles, each one a unique example of ultimate car craftsmanship.

Grisanti admits he loves his cars unconditionally. He likes to spend time in them, even when he is not on the road. Just to sit in his garage with a book or a glass of wine, to scent the leathery interior or cast an eye on the cool polish of the surfaces – to imagine, how they were assembled back in the day. He cherishes the black-andwhite photo of his Golden Mint beauty snapped on the day when it left the factory. You won’t see his Porsches at car shows, because they are not about displaying vanity.

They are about satisfying his urge for beauty.

And it is this urge for perfection that still wakes him at 5.30 a.m. and drives him out of his home to a gym, where he works out six days a week with his two favorite women – wife Brigitte and daughter, Hope.

His workout philosophy goes hand in hand with his life motto. In “Industry of Illusions,” the book he wrote on the health and fitness business, Grisanti emphasizes that staying in shape is just a matter of consistency. You just need to get in the habit of keeping the only body you have clean and shiny. (If only it were so simple for some of us not so perfectly able to follow this good advice.)

And a final nod to perfectionism: When we were walking to the elevator from his Manhattan office, Grisanti saw an intruder, a thread lying idly on the floor.

Without hesitation, he picked it up and cast it away in the trash bin.

No wonder we saw a look of adoration in the eyes of the cleaning lady. n

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wheels

B

Auto tech meets athlete

ehind every successful swimmer are parents who would rouse themselves from a deep slumber to wake their equally coma-like offspring and drive them to hours-long, pre-dawn workouts in the community pool.

They watched their brood over the years as the soft, young bodies changed shape and became the hard-muscled, yet pliable, physiques of swimmers.

The road to the Olympics is paved with memories of perfecting that slick, millisecond-shaving underwater turn-and-glide and heartaches of losing to a rival by the length of a fingernail.

Imagine being able to get an extra edge to slice more time off the clock the way automakers retool and resculpt their cars aerodynamically to pierce the dense air of racetracks and take the checkered flag?

BMW, the Official Mobility Partner of the United States Olympic Committee, has combined its years of automotive engineering with sports science to offer swimmers as well as long-jumpers such a mechanism as they prepare for the London Games.

It all comes down to physics. For long-jumpers, BMW

70

By Bob Rozycki

developed a velocity measurement system that broke the event down to three key elements – horizontal approach velocity, vertical takeoff velocity and takeoff angle.

The software technology is similar to that being developed by BMW engineers in driver-assistance systems to improve future safety.

Ahh, German engineering never fails to amaze, so in April, the carmaker said it was developing a similar system that would track the motion of a swimmer’s stroke at starts and turns. The tracking system would perform a data analysis that would be handed over to coaches.

The data would in turn allow coaches to tweak their swimmers’ strokes or kicks.

It’s a step up from the current method of studying a swimmer’s performance via videos and manually counting strokes.

“We’re eager to build upon what we learned from USA Track and Field and are focused on delivering performance data for USA Swimming to help improve starts and turns – those pivotal moments in a race where Olympic medals are lost and won,” Dirk Rossberg, head of the BMW Group Technology Office USA, said in a statement.

BMW is diving headlong into its role as a partner in

the Summer Olympics.

In addition to its support of Team USA, BMW has formed the BMW Performance Team, a group of 11 athletes who hope to compete in the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The athletes are: • Ricky Berens, swimming • Matt Chrabot, triathlon • Natalie Coughlin, swimming • Janet Evans, swimming • April Holmes, Paralympic track and field • Jonathan Horton, gymnastics • Clay Johnson, sailing • Sanya Richards-Ross, track and field • Evelyn Stevens, cycling • Mallory Weggemann, Paralympic swimming.

If you can’t make it to the Summer Games, BMW is offering a way for U.S. drivers to show their support for Team USA. For everyone who test-drives a vehicle at a special BMW event through Aug. 25, BMW of North America will donate $10 to Team USA. To register for a BMW Drive for Team USA event, visit bmwusa.com/driveforteamusa. n

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magazine

71

wagging

“Baboon statue,” Dynasty 0, reign of Narmer, travertine.

“Falcon statue,” Early Dynastic Period, porphyritic diorite.

“Jar in the shape of a squatting bird,” late Naqada III – early Dynasty 1, limestone inlaid with shell. Photographs

by S. Steiss. Courtesy Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

Seeing ‘Dawn’ at The Met

By Sarah Hodgson

W

hen WAG asked me to cover the subject of animals in the “The Dawn of Egyptian Art” exhibit, I jumped at the chance. I didn't immediately see the connection between pre-dynastic art and modern-day pet ownership, but hey: It's The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I never pass up an opportunity to go there.

My assignment began in the best possible way, curled up on the couch with a cup of tea and a book, in this case, the exhibit catalog. As you might imagine, the images were beautiful. But it was in the writing that I first began to see the relationship between then and now. It seems that the ancient Egyptians had a strong desire to control the natural world. Hmm. Sounds familiar.

Thousand of years ago (seriously, thousands – 4000 to 2650 B.C.), humans were a bit short on modern conveniences. They were not able to forge metals or paint on canvas but expressed their artistic vision with pottery, ivory, serpentine and graywake. Using rudiments of hieroglyphics, early Egyptians put it all out there in the only way they could – through pictures and symbols. As I read through the book, I had a flush of gratitude to the archeologists whose passion is to collect these fragments from deep in the earth, and to The Met for organizing the many treasures from around the world into an exhibit that will be available until Aug. 5.

My visit to The Met was scheduled for a Saturday. I asked my best girlfriend to accompany me – my 9-yearold daughter. We'd ogle the exhibits, eat a little lunch and do some city stuff. A side note: I'm sure the ancient Egyptians had some great times, but you really can't beat a beautiful day in New York City with your kid.

72

Ambling through The Great Hall, we made our way to exhibits old and new. It was like a journey through time and space. We peered at European sculpture, medieval art and England’s silverworks. As we arrived at our destination, I was immediately taken by the shift in textures and themes. No gold, jewels or polished metals adorned this collection. No portraits extolling the leaders of this time period or adornments to separate the classes. During this stage of our evolution, survival was clearly the central theme, the success of which was directly related to an ability to control the natural world and all the animals that roamed it.

Perhaps what was most striking to me was that each piece in the exhibit focused clearly on an animal of one type or another. When humans were depicted, they were either hunting, escaping or worshiping animals. The animals did not symbolize pleasure or enjoyment but rather idol worship, domination, control or lack thereof.

A trio of animals – a hippopotamus, snake and alligator – powerfully represented danger, unpredictability and chaos. Imagine you are an early Egyptian hunter, venturing into the deep waters of the Nile. Your survival depends on your catch, but the waters are filled with predators. Alligators reach out of the water to snatch an overhanging arm, hippos capsize fragile boats and snakes drop from overhanging trees. Interestingly, early Egyptians didn't swim so the water itself was deadly as well.

On these works, these animals are depicted as moving in circles, representing a wish for control and good fortune or moving randomly, symbolizing fear and death.

The early Egyptians gave symbolic significance to animals, often relating to the animal's routine behavior. The nocturnal, roaming jackal was believed to watch over the dead while aggressive, territorial baboons symbolized

protectiveness. And the tilapia fish represented rebirth.

Why? It seems that the tilapia, when it is not lying gutted and wrapped in your local supermarket cold case, gives birth to its hatchlings through its mouth. The things you learn at the museum.

As we continued through the exhibit, we learned that the giraffe symbolized the future; the wild dog, so protective of its young, embodied motherhood; and the falcon, flying close to the sun and sky, became the ultimate symbol of freedom. I found it interesting that some of these symbols persist today.

The animal metaphors and imagery were so powerful that even without written words, the desire to control the environment came through loud and clear. In early Egypt, rulers achieved power not by physical strength or divine intervention but by courage and the ability to face the natural world. In the 21st century, it’s not so different. People want some degree of control over the environment. I am often called in to help people manage unruly creatures – not hippos, giraffes or baboons but household dogs. And I succeed not because I physically overpower them, but because I am able to instill calm through understanding. And that is a form of control.

Our day in New York City ended with an afternoon performance of the Broadway show, “Wicked.” In a surprising bit of synergistic symbolism, the musical, a parallel to the 1939 film classic “The Wizard of Oz,” features a poignant, animal-themed side note. The pompous Great Oz masks his feelings of inadequacy through the inhumane control of the citizens and animals in his village.

Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

For more on “The Dawn of Egyptian Art,” visit metmuseum.org. n

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wine&dine

O

a gift from portugal

ften called “liquid gold” – because of its color and price – Madeira was the libation used by our forefathers to toast the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Moreover, George Washington was reputed to have downed a pint of this purposely oxidized, fortified beverage daily. During the past 300 years, however, consumption of this colonial elixir has gone the way of tricornered hats and powdered wigs.

“We rarely have people buy Madeira other than for cooking,” says Dodd Farber, proprietor of Dodd’s Liquor City in Millwood, echoing other area retail shop owners and managers.

There are a number of historic reasons why, says Mannie Berk, a leading U.S. authority and award-winning author on the topic. Made since the 17th century on the lush Portuguese archipelago of the same name and fortified with alcohol to withstand the rigors of the sea journey to America, Madeira was hampered by a three-fold increase in import duty in 1800. Next, the grapes were infected with a fungus (Odium) in the 1850s and then by a plant louse (Phylloxera) in the 1870s, with an overall decrease in quality. Then came Prohibition, followed by a trend toward lower-alcohol wines.

On the up side, Berk and others closely involved in the Madeira trade note that adventurous U.S. consumers, many of whom seem to favor higher-alcohol content in their libations, are rediscovering the product with a jump in sales of more than 6 percent in the last year. But to increase this rush for the liquid gold, Berk strongly feels that American consumers need to understand the basics of this product and be open to tasting it.

Madeira is still made on the same Portuguese island as in the 1600s, from any of a number of grapes but primarily the Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Malmsey and Tinta Negra Mole varietals. During fermentation, brandy is added to fortify the wine and then it’s “cooked,” by either heating the wine to a temperature of about 120 degrees Fahrenheit for a few days or preferably by exposure to the heat of the sun for a period of three to more than a hundred years. Generally, the final product contains about 20 percent alcohol and varying degrees of sweetness, depending on when the brandy was added to stop the fermentation of grape sugar into alcohol.

When labeled with the name of a particular grape varietal, such as Sercial or Malmsey, the wine must contain at least 85 percent of the juice of that grape and generally has a prescribed degree of sweetness. For example, Sercials are relatively dry, while Malmseys (Malvasas) are quite sweet, with Verdelho and Boal (Bual) intermediate in sweetness.

Once bottled, the wine should be stored in an upright position, because the high-alcohol content and generally long-storage periods can cause deterioration of the cork.

Once opened, the wine can be stored in the bottle or in a lead-free decanter and will usually not diminish in bou74

By Geoff Kalish, MD

quet and taste even after months. When serving Madeira, it should be at room temperature so as to present as much aroma as possible. While many use port-type glasses for serving, I find little difference in the effect of glassware on the wine’s aesthetics.

As to tasting, the following are brief descriptions of some of my favorites from recent samplings of Sercials,Verdelhos and Buals held at Felidia Restaurant in Manhattan, sponsored by the Wine Media Guild (a New York-based organization of professional wine communicators). Prices listed are typical retail for 750ml bottles.

1977 Blandy Bual ($135) 1968 Blandy Bual ($150) Too sweet to match with most appetizer and maincourse fare, these two wines show a deep bronze hue with a thick, honeyed bouquet and a taste of apricots and ripe pineapple. Try them with bread pudding or chocolaty desserts or as dessert on their own.

Nonvintage Rare Wine Company Charleston Sercial ($47) An excellent choice as an aperitif or with a range of hors d’oeuvres, this wine shows a golden hue with a bouquet and taste of almonds and figs and a dry finish with a touch of acidity.

1912 D’Oliveira/Verdelho ($395) Not for the faint-of-wallet, this spectacular goldencolored liquid shows an intense bouquet and moderately sweet taste of ripe peaches, pears and honey perfect to mate with paté and rich triple-crème cheeses.

1910 Barbeito Sercial ($350) For those willing to pay the tariff, this wine is a step or two up from the Charleston Sercial. It exhibits a vivid caramel color, a heady bouquet of ripe apricots and plums and a dry, concentrated taste of ripe honeyed fruit that enhances the taste of summertime favorites like pasta primavera, cold, poached salmon and even barbecued chicken. n

wise

art in the palm of your hand

By Neil S. Berman

The history of man can be found on his coins, my late mentor, Dutch numismatist Hans M F Schulman, used to say. And no coins display history better than those created between 1793 and 1945.

I want to tell the story of one such coin – the Double Eagle $20 gold coin of 1907 – and the sculptor who created it, Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907).

This Double Eagle – which commands about $32,000 today on eBay – is graced with a relief of Liberty in the form of a goddess with flowing hair and equally fluid drapery, moving through a sunburst toward us, a torch held high in her right hand, an olive branch in her left. President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned the design, which many collectors still consider one of the finest ever to appear on a coin. But though Saint-Gaudens created it, the design was actually reworked

by U.S. Mint chief engraver Charles E.

Barber, who lowered the relief.

If the figure on the coin looks familiar, it’s because it’s similar to the gilded statue of Winged Victory leading Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman on his horse at Grand Army Plaza, Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, right near The Plaza Hotel and Central Park. The golden group, a full expression of the marriage of realism and allegory, was installed in 1903. The pedestal is by architect Charles McKim, who with Stanford White and their firm (McKim, Mead and White) shaped much of Beaux Arts New York.

White, perhaps not so coincidentally, was a friend of Saint-Gaudens, who was born in Ireland and raised in New York City, where he began an impeccable artistic education that included the National Academy of Design and Cooper Union in Manhattan and the École des BeauxArts in Paris. Though he is famed for his artistic treatment of women, including

the bronze Diana in The Met’s American Wing and the moving Adams Memorial at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington D.C. – my personal favorites are all of extraordinary men whose contributions to American history are still studied today.

The first is his memorial to Adm. David Glasgow Farragut, a professional sailor from age 9 and personal friend of Ulysses S. Grant. It was a highly sought after public commission and Saint-Gaudens’ first.

The artist replaced the classical ideal of the figure with one of Farragut that appears to be facing the wind on the quarter deck of the USS Hartford in the middle of the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864, shouting the words that are now remembered as, “Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.”

The statue is mounted on a base designed by both the artist and Stanford White.

The next is his bronze Boston relief tribute to Robert Gould Shaw, the abolitionist

colonel who died leading the all-black Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment against the Confederates in the second Battle of Fort Wagner, S.C. in 1863. (Their story is told in the moving 1989 film, “Glory.”)

This piece took Saint-Gaudens more than 14 years to create it. He made 40 abstracted busts of the individual soldiers before creating the finished piece in three-quarter view.

It’s a masterpiece of expressiveness.

A close third to this, in my view, is his massive New York monument to inventor/ manufacturer/philanthropist Peter Cooper.

Saint-Gaudens did 27 sketches before the final composition while White designed the base and canopy.

I think his most creative work, however, remains the Sherman memorial and the 1907 coin. Take a look at both when you have a chance. I think once you do you’ll agree that coins and sculpture are both more than relief-deep. n

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well

Medicine worth its weight in gold

By Erika Schwartz MD

We all love to wear it and are attracted to its glimmering beauty in jewelry, accessories, coins, bullion and investments. But gold is also quietly helping the healing arts.

It has been so since ancient times. In China, doctors placed gold flakes in the beverages of the wealthy class. In India, Ayurvedic medicine used gold for its antiinflammatory properties, along with other minerals and herbs.

About 100 years ago, Western medicine joined the gold rush. Rheumatologists started injecting gold into people with rapidly progressing rheumatoid arthritis.

This disease is painful and causes joint deformities. Conventional treatment often proves unsuccessful.

Unfortunately, the many side effects include kidney failure, blood problems, severe nausea and vomiting due to the toxicity of the high doses necessary to eliminate, or at least diminish, the symptoms.

In spite of the downside of gold injections, it is still used as a last ditch effort for people with severe cases of autoimmune arthritis that cannot be helped with the more conventional chemotherapeutic agents available.

Interesting studies from the U.S., U.K. and Denmark in the early 2000s seemed to point to benefits outweighing risks in patients being treated with gold injections for rheumatoid arthritis, particularly the aggressive form of the disease that leaves more than 500,000 sufferers unable to care for themselves.

In these cases, the toxicity of gold is not as worrisome as the pain, cumbersome deformity of the joints and loss of mobility and freedom.

Another use for gold in medicine is in the treatment of prostate cancer. To focus the necessary radiation dose, little gold seeds are often implanted in the diseased gland and serve as markers for the radiation beam, leading to fewer side effects.

Anti-cancer drugs have also been tagged with gold molecules in experiments to locate tumors and prevent the toxicity of general chemotherapy, which is known to destroy healthy as well as cancer cells.

Finally, researchers at MIT are exploring similar golden approaches to the treatment of AIDs. 76

For those of us, however, who like our gold on the body rather than in it – who are fortunate enough to be at the prevention stage of the life cycle – this should give us pause and inspire us to recommit to the principles of a healthy lifestyle: • Detoxification counteracts inflammation in the body and may very well decrease the amount of joint destruction caused by rheumatoid arthritis. So change your diet to include fewer processed foods, sugar substitutes and toxins.

Drink lots of fresh water.

• Take supplements rich in anti-inflammatory ingredients like omega 3 and 6 oils, astaxanthin, vitamin C, coenzyme Q 10, L-carnitine and vitamin D. • Lead a less stressful life by practicing yoga and other stress reduction techniques like deep breathing and meditation.

• Get a minimum of eight hours of sleep a night.

• Exercise daily and keep active regardless of age.

• Surround yourself with positive people who encourage you honestly and care about your well-being.

• Care about others and give kindness in return.

• Smile a lot: It will help you feel better.

• Do not be a skeptic but rather embrace all options and ways of thinking.

• Prevent disease and enjoy life to its fullest.

After 35 years of practicing medicine, I can assure you that these principles are worth their weight in gold.

For more information, email Dr. Erika at Erika@drerika.com. n

Setting the Standard

By Michael Rosenberg, MD

When we speak of the gold standard in plastic surgery, people immediately think of different procedures and operations or specific rejuvenating approaches. Ask five different plastic surgeons for the gold standard in our specialty, and you will likely get five different answers and they will likely all be correct in their own way. The gold standard as far as specific plastic surgery procedures are concerned have changed with time. But the key principles behind the care we provide our patients will always be part of our “gold standard.” I refer to knowledge, experience, safety, art and communication.

Regarding facial rejuvenation, many surgeons would look to the classic facelift as the gold standard. In this approach, extra skin is removed, the jowls are trimmed, fat is sculpted along the line of the mandible or jaw bone and banding in the neck is corrected. The underlying “muscular tissue,” or SMAS, is repositioned, and then tissue is re-draped to give a more youthful appearance with well-hidden scars.

Although many patients will still benefit from this approach, so-called short-scar techniques have evolved to limit the scars, anesthesia requirements and downtime, with many of our patients benefiting from this approach. Taking this one step further, a number of patients undergo laser resurfacing, with Botox or filler injections and avoid surgery altogether and this often works quite well.

In the end, there is no one facial rejuvenator that is right for everyone, and the gold standard here is for the surgeon to use his expertise while considering patient safety to select the optimal approach for the individual before him. Communication skills also come into play so that the patient and surgeon arrive at the treatment decision together.

When I finished my residency training at Columbia-Presbyterian, the TRAM (transverse rectus abdominus myocutaneous) flap was the gold standard in breast reconstruction. In this operation following mastectomy, excess abdominal skin, fat and the underlying muscle were rotated through a pocket under the chest wall skin into the mastectomy site to reconstruct the breast. This operation could be done at the time of mastectomy

or anytime afterward and allowed for a ptotic (or droopy), more natural-looking mature breast to be created, while at the same time giving the patient what was in essence a cosmetic abdominoplasty.

Over time, advances in implants and the introduction and widespread use of the acellular dermal matrix have significantly improved our capabilities in implant reconstruction. Paralleling this development, improvement in the technique of microsurgical reconstruction of the breast has led to muscle-preserving DIEP and other flaps that all can rival the appearance of the TRAM flap but have different postoperative recovery benefits.

My last example involves the development of rejuvenating eyelid surgery.

Whereas the blepharoplasty used to consider removal of excess skin and fat, the approach has evolved to correcting the distribution of the eyelid fat rather than simply removing it. In the modern approach, fat is re-draped to eliminate the hollow area under the lower lid (the socalled tear trough), or fat or another filler can even be added to the lid to improve the contour. Again, the best approach for each patient has to be individualized for his or her particular needs.

Whatever approach you select, remember to choose a surgeon with knowledge and experience, one who puts your wellbeing first, has a keen artistic sense and is able to communicate effectively so you’ll both be happy.

For more information, email mrosenberg@plasticsurgeryweb.com. n

worthy

TENNIS court CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE BASIL D. RISSOLO CO. INC. 630 Surf Ave. Stratford, CT 06615 (203) 375-5900 basilrissolotennis.com DAVID SPORTS TENNIS COURTS L.L.C. 165 Rock Major Road Fairfield, CT 06824 (203) 763-4273 fairfieldtenniscourtconstruction. com DEROSA TENNIS CONTRACTORS INC. P.O. Box 430 Mamaroneck, NY 10543 (914) 698-2404 derosatennis.com GEORGE RISOLO TENNIS COURTS 16 Bridge St. Westport, CT 06880 (203) 227-4430 tenniscourtinstallation.com NEW ENGLAND TENNIS INC. 360 Sandbank Road Cheshire, CT 06410 (203) 272-8679 OVAL TENNIS INC. P.O. Box 189 Somers, NY 10589 (914) 248-6825 ovaltennis.com PUTNAM TENNIS AND RECREATION L.L.C. P.O. Box 96 Harwinton, CT 06791 (800) 678-2490 putnamtennis.com

POOL CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE AFFORDABLE POOLS 487 E. Main St., Suite 173 Mount Kisco, NY 10549 (914) 514-8105 swimmingsavings.com ALL AMERICAN CUSTOM POOLS & SPAS 225 Main Ave. Norwalk 06851 (203) 847-2704 allamericanpools.com ANTHONY & SYLVAN POOLS 528 Post Road Darien, CT 06820 (203) 655-4040 anthonysylvan.com AQUA LEISURE POOL & SPA 143 S. Central Ave. Elmsford, NY 10523 (914) 347-5226 aqualeisurepoolandspa.com AQUA PLAY POOL & SPA 750 Main St. New Rochelle 10805 (914) 636-1400 aquaplaypools.com AQUA POOL AND PATIO 53 Newberry Road East Windsor, CT 06088 (800) 722-2782 aquapool.com AQUA-PRO SWIMMING POOLS 201 Croton Ave. Ossining, NY 10562 (914) 923-9500 aquaproswimmingpools.com AQUA-SCAPES L.L.C. 2 Old Newton Road Danbury, CT 06810 (203) 743-7665 aquascapespool.com

HAGGERTY POOLS 80 Largo Drive Stamford, CT 06907 (203) 348-6899 haggertypools.com

POOLS OF PERFECTION 523 Main St. Armonk, NY 10504 (914) 273-7946 poolsofperfection.com

LANG POOLS 169 Westport Ave. Norwalk, CT 06851 (203) 846-3943 langpools.com

RICK PINTO POOLS 9 Cross St. Norwalk, CT 06851 (203) 847-5755 rickpintopools.com

CORAL SEA POOLS 518 N. State Road Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 (914) 762-1133 coralseapools.com

MALLORCA CUSTOM POOLS L.L.C. 21 Roa Hook Road Cortlandt Manor, NY 10567 (914) 666-6665 mallorcacustompools.com

RIVER’S EDGE POOL SUPPLY P.O. Box 23 Buchanan, NY 10511 (914) 930-4930 riversedgepools.com

FLEX COURT ATHLETICS 1006 Half Moon Bay Drive Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520 (914) 271-7996 basketballcourtnewyork.com

MOLONEY POOL SERVICE P.O. Box 1402 White Plains, NY 10602 (914) 761-8124 moloneypool.com

SHORELINE POOLS 393 West Ave. Stamford, CT 06902 (203) 967-1203 shorelinepools.com

GLEN GATE POOL & PROPERTY 644 Danbury Road P.O. Box 724 Wilton, CT 06897 (203) 762-2000 glengatecompany.com

MONROE POOL AND PATIO 787 Main St. Monroe, CT 06468 (203) 459-9930 monroepoolandpatio.com

SIGNATURE POOLS INC. 2 Reynolds St. Norwalk, CT 06855 (203) 866-7665 signaturepoolsinc.com

BIGGS POOL SERVICE & RENOVATION INC. 14 Mercedes Lane Stamford, CT 06905 (203) 223-4208 biggspools.com CARDILLO POOLS & SPAS 128 Mount Joy Place New Rochelle, NY 10801 (914) 235-0883 cardillopools.com

GRAN-TEN CONSTRUCTION 5 Ashdown Court Peekskill, NY 10566 (914) 282-7543 gran-tencontracting.com GREENWICH POOL SERvice 16 Liberty St. Stamford, CT 06902 (203) 661-1707 greenwichpoolservice.com GROUP WORKS L.L.C. P.O. Box 7269 Wilton, CT 06897 (203) 834-7905 groupworksllc.com

NEAVE POOLS 1006 Half Moon Bay Drive Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520 (914) 380-4532 neavepools.com OCEAN NORTH POOLS L.L.C. 29 Sunnyside Ave. Stamford, CT 06902 (203) 969-7665 oceannorthpools.com PLEASANTVILLE POOL PLASTERERS 29 Meadow Lane Pleasantville, NY 10570 (914) 769-6187 pleasantvillepoolplasterers.com

SURFSIDE POOLS 15 Wesley St. Bedford Hills, NY 10507 (914) 666-3140 surfsidepools.com SWIMM POOL & PATIO 512 Post Road Darien, CT 06820 (203) 656-4336 swimmpoolandpatio.com TAMM’S POOLS INC. 219 Bible St. Cos Cob, CT 06807 (203) 861-4140 tammspoolservice.com V GROPPA POOLS 793 Hardscrabble Road Chappaqua, NY 10514 (914) 769-3513 vgroppapools.com

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when&where THROUGH TUESDAY AUGUST 14 SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

A series of performances every Tuesday in the center of the outdoor mall, 7 to 9 p.m.; Cross County Shopping Center, 8000 Mall Walk, Yonkers. (914) 968-9570, crosscountycenter.com.

WEDNESDAY JULY 11 TENNIS CLASSIC

Gilda’s Club Westchester hosts its “Women’s Tennis Classic” to benefit people with cancer, 9 a.m. registration, 9:30 a.m. to noon luncheon and speaker; Sunningdale Country Club, 300 Underhill Road, Scarsdale. $175 tennis and luncheon, $75 luncheon only. (914) 644-8844, ext. 103, sfalk@gildasclubwestchester.org.

THURSDAY JULY 12 ELANT GOLF CLASSIC

Elant’s fifth annual event, 10:30 a.m. registration, 11 a.m. lunch on the patio, noon shotgun start, 5:30 p.m. cocktail hour, 6:15 p.m. dinner and awards; Dutchess Golf & Country Club, 2628 South Road, Poughkeepsie. $800 foursome, $2,254 golfer, $80 dinner only. (845) 360-1410, elant.org.

SUPPORT THE TROOPS

The 42nd Infantry Division Band performs at Boscobel, 1:30 to 3 p.m.; 1601 Route 9D, Garrison. $10. (845) 265-3638, boscobel.org.

MONDAY, JULY 16 ‘WISH INVITATIONAL’

An annual golf tournament to benefit the MakeA-Wish foundation, 11 a.m. shotgun, 12:30 p.m. tee-off; H. Smith Richardson Golf Course, 2425 Morehouse Highway, Fairfield. $195. (203) 5214579, ct.wish.org.

SATURDAY JULY 21 KITE FESTIVAL

A kite-flying festival, featuring a kite-making workshop and stunt performances from professional kite flyers, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay St., Katonah. $10 nonmembers, $5 KMA members. (914) 232-9555, katonahmuseum.org.

MONDAY JULY 30 GOLF OUTING AND SUMMER PARTY

African American Men of Westchester and the Westchester Black Bar Association host an 18-hole round of golf and party, 9:30 a.m. check-in and registration and breakfast, noon shotgun start, 5:30 p.m. golfing ends, 6 p.m. cocktails, 7 p.m. dinner, awards, auction and dancing. Nongolfers schedule: 1:30 p.m. networking luncheon with speaker, 4 p.m. golf clinic, 6 p.m. cocktail reception, 7 p.m. dinner, awards, ceremony, auction and dancing; Elmwood Country Club, 850 Dobbs Ferry Road, White Plains. $210 golfer; $75 nongolfer. (914) 364-5914, wbbany.org.

TUESDAY, JULY 31 18TH ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT

The Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester hosts its annual outing; 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Glen Arbor Golf Course, 234 Bedford Center Road, White Plains. $500. (914) 666-8069.

Cheval Glass, New York City, 1820-1830, collection of Boscobel

THROUGH MONDAY SEPTEMBER 10 HOUSE TOUR & EXHIBITION

A tour of Boscobel focused on a virtual showcase of furniture from renowned New York cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe, concluding in the gallery with the exhibition “Through the Cheval Glass: A Study of Form and Attribution,” museum hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays, tour hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays; 1601 Route 9D, Garrison. (845) 2653638, boscobel.org.

SATURDAY JULY 7 ‘THE GUINESS BLACK LAGER ROCK SERIES’

A concert performance featuring John Mayall and special guest Christopher Robin, 8 p.m.; Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 E. Ridge Road, Ridgefield. $50.

(203) 438-5795, ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

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Richard Thompson

SATURDAY JULY 14 CARAMOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL

Legendary folk-rock guitarist Richard Thompson performs as part of the summer festival lineup, 8 p.m.; Spanish Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $65, $55, $45. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.

SATURDAY JULY 14 AND SATURDAY AUGUST 11 ‘SECOND SATURDAY PARTIES’

A celebration with live music, complimentary cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and entertainment in the Sculpture Gardens at the Katonah Museum of Art, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.; 134 Jay St., Katonah. $20 nonmembers, $10 members. (914) 232-9555, katonahmuseum.org.

SUNDAY AUGUST 5 JOE COCKER & HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS

Two iconic rock performers play full sets with three decades of hits, 7:30 p.m.; Bethel Woods Center, 200 Hurd Road, Bethel. $127, $45, $26.50. (866) 781-2922, bethelwoodscenter.org.

SATURDAY AUGUST 11 ‘LONG ISLAND MEDIUM’

Theresa Caputo, a certified medium for more than 10 years, demonstrates her power in communicating with the dead, 3 p.m.; Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford. $59, $49. (203) 325-4466.

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wit wonders: Who – or what—is the greatest sports rivalry?

“Golf has always been the breeding ground of great rivalries. The Big Three – Hogan, Nelson and Snead. Then Palmer, Player and Nicklaus. Next, a long decade of Nicklaus versus Watson. And today Tiger against Everyone. But the greatest rivalry in golf is actually not one player against another. The greatest rivalry pits players against championship courses.”

– John Coyne Author of “The Caddie Who Won The Masters,” Pelham Manor resident

"I'm a born-and-bred Jets fan. The greatest rivalry, in my opinion has to be the Jets and Patriots. The fans get so passionate. Definitely makes the games more fun."

tripping Yankee outfielder Roy White the night before at home plate. It was a big brawl and blood was drawn. (Fisk was cut on his cheek.) It has definitely gone down in Yankee lore. There have been countless others, but suffice it to say that a meeting between these two teams is never boring. Go Yankees!”

– Gina Gouveia Chapter administrator, Meeting Professionals International, WestField chapter, Norwalk resident

"Perhaps I'm partial as a Blue Devil, but I would have to say the Duke-UNC basketball rivalry is one of the greatest. The Cameron Crazies really know how to make it exciting."

– Sabrina Magid, DMD Advanced Dentistry of Westchester in Harrison, Harrison resident

– Anthony Fidanza Co-owner of Plush Salon and PlushBLOW, Rye resident

“As a New York Giants’ fan, I will always have a deep hatred for the Dallas Cowboys. But on the positive side, the changing population centers of the country and emerging franchises are creating new rivalries – such as the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder versus Miami Heat – that keep American sports exciting to watch year after year.”

– Laurence Gottlieb Westchester County director of economic development, Mount Pleasant resident

“Greatest Sports Rivalry? Without a doubt, it’s the Yankees and Red Sox….Every game between them turns into a nail-biter. There have been many famous brawls between the two clubs, but the one that always comes to my mind as being most symbolic of the rivalry occurred in Fenway Oct. 1, 1973. Thurman Munson barreled into his archrival and fellow catcher, Carlton Fisk, at home plate during a suicide-squeeze play in retaliation for Fisk

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“New York Giants versus Philadelphia Eagles. This rivalry is one that has only gotten better of late, with miraculous game endings, historical players cheered by two diehard fans bases and constant bulletinboard material quotes by both sides. I went to school at Villanova, so the number of friends that give me grief leading up to or following these games is a constant reminder that 90 miles to the south is a city that is like New York City’s little brother looking for attention.”

– Kevin McCarthy Senior associate, CBRE, Stamford, White Plains resident

“The sports rivalry I grew up with and still runs strong for me is the Yankees-Red Sox. Being Irish, the Notre Dame-University of Southern California rivalry is a close second.”

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– William M. Mooney President, Westchester County Association, White Plains resident

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“I break the rivalries into different classifications.

For high School – Rye versus Harrison, Sleepy Hollow versus Ossining in mid-1960s and Stepinac (my alma mater) versus White Plains in local football. In Major League Baseball - Yankees versus Red Sox and the Yankees versus Brooklyn Dodgers in the early years. In the NBA – Celtics versus Lakers when they squared off for many championships. In the NFL – Giants versus Cowboys. And in golf – Palmer versus Nicklaus versus Gary Player in the1960s. These are just some rivalries that stand out in my view. There are many more for different fans.”

– Kevin J. Plunkett Westchester deputy county executive, Tarrytown resident

“Very tough question for me. I am a life-long Red Sox fan in New York. Need I say more? I am also perhaps the greatest Montreal Canadiens’ hockey fan living south of the border. I have been to see Montreal play Toronto at home and away. That rivalry – even though neither team has been very good for quite a few years – makes the Red Sox-Yanks look tame. On the days of a game, it seems as if every person in either city is wearing either Montreal red or Toronto blue. It's as if nothing else matters.”

– Geoff Thompson Principal and co-founder, Thompson & Bender L.L.C. in Briarcliff Manor, Croton-on-Hudson resident

"I'm a huge sports fan so it's really tough to name only one. But since we’ve just enjoyed the NBA playoffs, I'd have to go back to the nail-biting memories of my New York Knicks versus Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers. Six years of an unbelievable fight to be crowned Eastern Conference Champs and move on to the finals."

– Craig Whitely (professionally known as Craig the Barber) CEO of the Grooming Concierge, and owner/editor-inchief of TheMensRoom.com, Los Angeles resident

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Compiled by Alissa Frey. Contact her at afrey@westfairinc.com.

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watch A night to howl

The Wolf Conservation Center’s 2012 Gala, at Richard Gere’s charming Bedford Post Inn, was a richly textured event featuring a cocktail party, silent auction, performance by classical pianist (and center founder) Hélène Grimaud, with cellist Jan Vogler, and a meet-the-artists gourmet dinner. The evening raised $40,000. But who can put a price tag on such a good time?

Photographs by Sinead Deane

Patty Schneider

Barbara Matthews-Hancock and Michele Cesrari Schimmel

Tisa Cote and Carole McLemore

Hélène Grimaud and Jan Vogler

Deborah Heineman, executive director of Atka, ambassador wolf The Wolf Conservation Center

Michele Cesrari Schimmel and Nina Stanton

Renaud and Christine Dutreil

Al DelBello and Richard Gere

Philippa Cheetham Alice and Dan Cassel and Ken Aldous

Alia Driscoll , Courtney Scannell and WAG’s Martha Handler

All identifications are from left unless otherwise noted.

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Richard Gere

Cameron Freund and Brad Nathanson

Patrick Marshall and Dawn Federman

Jerard Melito and Kimberly De Gennaro

Michelle Faulkner

Rooftop soiree

Oasis Day Spa in Dobbs Ferry hosted a fun night for clients and friends that included melt-in-the-mouth beef from Suzy Sirloin, aka Suzanne Strassburger. Guests were given complimentary massages by the spa staff. Oasis is owned by Bruce and Marti Schoenberg.

Photography by Bob Rozycki

Kate Dembowski and Stacy Gallagher

Suzy Strassburger and Paddy Boom

Christienne Genaro, Vic and Joyce Freeman

Gina Hayes and Esther Feldbaum

Natalia Burbula and Anna Misiak

Veronica Castro and Fortune Oprah

Jessica Foreman and Lorianne Lacey

Celine Elise and Tai Taylor

Getting the skinny on ‘Buddha’

Skinny Buddha, a fitness and organic wellness center, recently hosted an evening that featured a Lululemon Trunk Show at its Mount Kisco location. Shaka Davidson, co-owner of Skinny Buddha, discussed some of the biggest fitness misconceptions, including yo-yo dieting, with the more than 75 attendees.

Meryl Heller and Elyce Jacobson

Carrie Van Schaick and Heather Hecht

Skinny Buddha co-owners Elyce Jacobson and Shaka Davidson

81

watch Open Door for Crosby and Nash

Several hundred supporters of Open Door Family Medical Centers recently enjoyed a sit-down dinner, followed by “An Evening with David Crosby and Graham Nash,” at the Purchase College Performing Arts Center. The event, which raised $428,000, honored David Swope, a community leader and founder of Club Fit, and Simeon Schwartz, president of WESTMED Medical Group and CEO of WESTMED Practice Partners.

Photographs by Ed Cody and Lynda Shenkman Curtis

Paul Mazzili, David Swope and Sharon Pickett

Graham Nash and David Crosby

Harriet Parker and Mary Iles

Scott Fein, CarlLa Horton, Lindsey Farrel and Eric Holzberg

Marcia McCraw, Cameron Curtis and Jaimie Shenkman

Franchesca Gardenhire and Terrance Clarke

‘Night of the Dragon’

In this the year of the dragon, the Katonah Museum of Art has been celebrating Chinese culture. So it was fitting that the museum’s Sculpture Garden was lit with lanterns recently for a Sino-flavored gala that featured a traditional ribbon performance from Dance China, an Asian-inspired meal catered by Abigail Kirsch, a live auction and dancing. The evening, which honored the museum’s board of overseers, raised more than $400,000.

Yvonne Pollack and Alexia Jurschak

Marie and Hank Pelzer

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Jude Watson with KMA executive director Neil Watson

Stephanie and John Small

Rima Marschke, Jocelyn Gruber and Belinda Roth

Vickie and Steven Morris

“South Beach” creates wave of Support in Westchester

Friends of Karen had its gala benefit, “South Beach Comes to Life!”, at Life: The Place To Be, in Ardsley.

Emceed by NBC correspondent Kate Snow, the evening honored volunteers Jacqueline Holtzer and Jackie Holzinger of North Salem. Some 240 guests attended raising more than $250,000 to provide emotional, financial and advocacy support for children with lifethreatening illnesses and their families

Guests Anne and John Uglum won the “Nascar Experience” in the live auction.

NBC Correspondent Kate Snow

Friends of Karen executive director Judith Factor

Friends of Karen board member Bradd Gold and his wife Patricia Khouri

Gala co-chairperson Sharon Weiner with honorees Jackie Holzinger and Jacqueline Holtzer

Supporting dreams

Children’s Dream Foundation (CDF) recently held its 20th annual benefit to support pediatric health care in the Hudson Valley. The event, held at the Shenorock Shore Club in Rye, featured a performance by the Rye High School A Capella Group, an auction and awards presentation.

Photographs by Tim Grajek Peter Richel, chief of pediatrics at Northern Westchester Hospital and this year’s Medical Service Award recipient, with Irina Zhabinskaya, and Tim Haydock

Darrell Alfieri of Waccubuc with Carl and Anne Alexander of Bedford

Elizabeth Thompson of Scarsdale and David Freed, president and CEO of Nyack Hospital

2012 CDF Award recipient Msgr.

John Brinn of Poughkeepsie and CDF president Bruce Roseman of White Plains

Sandra Ferguson between Beth and John Gruber of Cortlandt Manor

Meredith Stevens and Haley Rodriguez, volunteers for the evening

Ladies night out

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watch Cocktails and couture

Couturier Marysia Nystrom invited friends and customers to join her for a cocktail party at her shop, Fleur Isabelle, at 50 Water St. in South Norwalk. Guests enjoyed wine, cheese and an insider’s look at Marysia’s latest charming creations – luxurious dresses and jackets, eye-catching belts, fingerless gloves and hats for summer.

Photographs by Zoë Zellers

Katharine Welling of Wilton and Laura Curcio of Fairfield

Nancy Pastore and Fred Ballou

John Stewart

Marysia Nystrom

Sophia Corsaro

Helen Rivera, Estée Lauder makeup artist

Fleur-Isabelle Nystrom

Stars shine for WFUV

Notable personalities from the worlds of music, media, sports and philanthropy recently gathered at the fifth annual WFUV Spring Gala, a benefit for the “Rock and Roots” public radio station WFUV (90.7 FM). The event, held at Gotham Hall in New York City, featured a cocktail hour, dinner, awards and live performance by Chris Isaak, accompanied by his full band.

Patricia Mulqeen, and County Executive Robert Astorino

Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Jane Aoyama-Martin, Maria L. Imperial and Bernadette Kenny

Robert Weisz and Markham Rollins

Ladies’ day

Joan Osborne and Chris Isaak

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Suzzy Roche and Rhett Miller

Suzanne Clary, Sonia Manzano and Lee Lasberg

More than 500 people recently attended the YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester’s “In the Company of Women” luncheon, held at the Hilton Westchester. The event honored business leaders and featured keynote speaker Sonia Manzano, an award-winning writer and activist known for her role as “Maria” in “Sesame Street.

Photographs by Sonia Tatlock

Frankly, Langella Actor/author Frank Langella recently took to the stage of the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville for a screening of his latest film “Robert and Frank,” which was followed by a Q&A with The New York Times’ literary critic Janet Maslin and a book-signing for his new memoir “Dropped Names.”

Photographs by Lynda Shenkman Curtis

Janet Maslin and Frank Langella

Broadway producer Julian Schlossberg

‘Home’ run The Westchester Children’s Museum raised more than $100,000 at its recent benefit held at the Ritz-Carlton, Westchester in White Plains.

More than 350 guests attended, including educators, business leaders, museum founding families and political leaders. The annual event was appropriately titled “We’re Almost Home,” in recognition of securing a lease on the historic landmark Bathhouses at Rye Playland, unanimously approved by Westchester County legislators this past August.

Photographs by Lynda Shenkman Curtis

Tracy Kay, Marc Oxman and Corinne Zola

Julie Sootin and Ken Jenkins

Dennis Glazer, Janet DiFiore and Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli

Helen Williams, Kerry Walsh, Tracy Kay and Janett Grose

Joe and Roz Carvin

Carolyn Carr Spencer, Stacey Schutzer, Sherri Francois and Aly Drew

Fashionable cause Some 130 supporters of the John A. Coleman School and Children’s Rehabilitation Center in White Plains gathered recently for the school and center’s annual fashion show at the CV Rich Mansion in White Plains.

The event was hosted by style expert Jené Luciani and raised more than $26,000 for the organization.

Margaret Mastronardi and Carol Mastoloni

Susan Quintin and Mary Quintin

Hats off Neighbors Link’s annual gala, “An Evening at the Kentucky Derby,” attracted more than 250 attendees and brought the ladies out in all their fine millinery.

Hats off to the ladies.

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watch Olympic Games kick-off at the Bruce

The Olympics got an early start in Greenwich recently as the Bruce Museum opened “The Olympic Games: Art, Culture & Sport” with a cocktail reception for about 100 lenders, sponsors and special guests. (See related story.) The show runs through Sept. 2.

Committee of Honor co-chairpersons Bob and Gale Lawrence, Tom Clephane, and Pamela Lewanda with Bruce Museum executive director Peter C. Sutton

Pictured beside the spiked shoes worn

by Mel Sheppard, four-time gold medalist and silver medalist at the 1908 and 1912 Games, are his granddaughter Cindi Sheppard Schofield, great-granddaughter Tracy Schofield Miller and great-grandson Kevin Schofield.

Science curator Gina Gould with NBC Sports executive David Mazza and his wife,Taylor McCall-Mazza

Bruce Museum co-curators Robin Garr and Laura Hovenac flank the oil painting “The Education of Achilles” by Giovanni Battista Cipriani

Vivian Zoe and Dennis Franta stand beside “Diskobolos,” on loan from the Slater Museum .

Big W honors

Ruby Media Group was among the big winners of the Advertising Club of Westchester’s Big W Awards, garnering 34 honors. The club’s gala, held at the Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown, saluted the best in local ad campaigns.

Photographs by Cathy Pinsky Photography

Kris Ruby of Greenwich, president of Ruby Media Group

Bob and Carol Santoro

Event emcee Dan Wilson with Kris Ruby

Carmina Roth at the table she designed

Painting the night red

It was a red, white and black-tie night for the 500 charitable guests gathered at the NetJets Hangar at the Westchester County Airport who pledged more than $800,000 to benefit the American Red Cross. The evening featured a silent auction followed by dinner set at fabulous table-scapes created especially for the cause by more than 30 area designers, with eclectic details like live fish, a tabletop life-size motorcycle and a garden gazebo.

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Chairpersons Lia Deney and Colleen Hempleman

David and Elizabeth Boutry

Board member Richard Ganoff and wife Jill

Honoring heroes

Carrie Newman and Ellen Schwartz

Richard Cohen and Jeffrey Bijur

Mary Beth and Mark Walsh

The Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and Burke Medical Research Institute recently presented the 2012 Burke Awards to 9/11 survivor – and Burke alum – Lauren Manning, Ron Cohen MD. and investor-stem cell activist David Carmel at The Ritz Carlton, Westchester. The awards are given to those who overcome a disability, further scientific research or contribute to rehabilitation development.

Photographs by Sinead Deane

Former White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino and Mark Ellman

John Ryan, executive director of The Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, Claire Ryan

Jenny Lewis and Marc Baker

Pops are tops

Led by music director Steven Rieneke, The New York Pops with Ozomatli hit SummerStage recently in Central Park. The free evening featured an international mix of hip-hop and salsa, dancehall and cumbia, samba and funk, merengue and comparsa, East L.A. R&B, Jamaican ragga and Indian raga. For 15 years, Ozomatli has performed across the world promoting peace through its exciting, unique sounds.

Photographs by Angelique Ambrosio.

Amy Rayca and The New York Pops music director Steven Reineke

Stephen Heyer, Ben Bayer, Alissa Villarreal, Stephanie Pollitt

Liz Gaerlan, Patty Ornst, Robert Einhorn

The crowd at SummerStage

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class&sass

By Martha Handler and Jennifer Pappas

With the Olympics on the horizon, it gives me reason to pause and ponder some of the unusual Olympic sports that are and have been considered, well, sports.

Here are some odd ones that have now been discontinued. Distance plunging: For this one, contestants had to dive into a pool and remain there, without moving for 60 seconds or until their heads bobbed out of the water. Live pigeon shooting; PETA would have been outraged. Dueling pistols: This is about as odd as they come, especially when you consider that the contestants were shooting at fancily dressed mannequins. And solo synchronized swimming: I personally witnessed this at the ’92 Olympics and left feeling mightily confused, wondering who they were synchronizing with. The Winter Games have the exciting and somewhat odd “sport” of curling, where two guys push a stone ball down an ice court and try to maneuver it with brooms. Huh? A sport? Not so sure, but it is nice to see men with brooms in their hands. got to admit that I have some real issues with M I’ve this ultimate athletic competition. Is being No. 1 in a sport an admirable life goal or rather a self-serving objective? Stopping the spread of AIDS, serving your country, finding a cure for cancer – to me those are admirable goals. And let’s face it, many of the Olympians are privileged (not to mention physically gifted). Along the road to glory there were numerable (and extremely

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pricey) coaches, tutors, training camps, totally devoted parents, etc. And win or lose, what happens post-Olympics? While many go on to successful personal lives and find positions as trainers or commentators, there are those who can’t make the adjustment, debilitated from the mental, physical and emotional toll of excessive training (and perhaps, drugs). There’s even a name for it. It’s called post Olympic stress syndrome (POSS), and it can affect not only the athletes but the spectators as well.

Historically speaking, people will find a way to comJ pete with one another in almost any arena. It’s just human nature, dating back to the Neanderthals – who was the strongest and best hunter, i.e. who brought in the biggest chunk of meat. The winner, in turn, usually got the finest “piece of meat,” if you get my drift. But fair competition is one thing; cheating by pumping yourself up with synthetic hormones (something that has become quite prevalent due to bad coaching and even worse ethics) is completely different. It’s been sad to see so many athletes have to go through the public humiliation of giving back their medals. I do look forward to the Olympics, however.

I get weak in the knees when I watch those swimmers.

They are such hunks. (Michael Phelps, I love you.) And, they have the greatest (and smallest) uniforms of all.

This summer, I’ll try to put all my Olympic biases M and concerns aside and just concentrate on the

brawn and the beauty of the superbly tuned and chiseled athletes. And I have to agree with you about swimmers.

They are so fine. Phelps is a hotie, as is James Magnussen (plus he’s got the Aussie accent going for him) and Ryan Lochte. But I think my money this year is on Ricky Berens, who has beaten both Phelps and Lochte this year.

And thanks to “The Hunger Games,” I’ve found myself enthralled by archers. A man with a bow makes me quiver and no one does it better than USA’s Brody Ellison.

And then there are the oldies but goodies – David Beckham, who at 37 is still a god among men, and Hiroshi Hoketsu, an equestrian who at 70 has still got it going on.

Now if they would just make miniature golf an J Olympic sport, we’d be in.

Wag Up: • Synchronized swimming – the suits, the facial expressions, the moves, not only impressive but hysterical. (M) • Speedos, on men who should be wearing them. Hint: They are usually donning a swimming cap and going for the gold. (J) Wag down: • People who say “I can’t” without even trying. (M) • Clips of various athletes falling, tripping, missing, crashing or passing out before crossing the finish line, that are shown over and over and over again. Jeez. (J)

Email Class&Sass at marthaandjen@wagmag.com. You may also follow Martha and Jen on Facebook at Wag Classandsass or access all of their conversations online at wagmag.com.

A Lifetime of Beautiful Smiles

For many families in Westchester, we’re the only dental office they’ve ever used. We’re proud of this fact. We believe the reason so many of our original patients bring their own children to us can be summed up in one word: trust. Advanced Dentistry of Westchester has been creating beautiful healthy smiles in Westchester County for more than 4 generations of patients. Throughout the years, our patients have received top quality preventive and restorative treatments — all while enjoying the personal touch of a family dental practice offering the latest in advanced technology.

Westchester Magazine “Top Dentists” 2009, 2010, 2011 Consumer Research Council List of “Top Cosmetic Dentists” Listed in “Westchester’s Leading Plastic Surgeons and Cosmetic Dentists” Professor of Esthetics NYU College of Dentistry Dr. Sabrina Magid Chosen by Westchester Magazine as one of the top 22 People to Watch in Westchester County

If you want to learn about the advanced technologies we use or the comments from our patients visit our web page at www.ADofW.com and visit us on

163 Halstead Avenue • Harrison, NY 914.835.0542

Our new White Plains location presents the most advanced Plastic Surgery Center in Westchester County offering: Breast Augmentation • Breast Lift • Breast Reduction • Breast Reconstruction • Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) • Liposuction • Eyelid Surgery • Facial Plastic Surgery •

Dr. Scott Newman was voted a Castle Connelly Top Doctor in New York for the past nine consecutive years. He is Chief of Plastic Surgery at St. John’s Riverside Hospital, is Academically Affiliated, and is the Medical Director for the Aesthetic Laser Group in White Plains.

Scott Newman MD FACS

It’s your life.

Feel good in your body... by Dr Newman.

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