T H I S M O N T H S O C I A L S E AS O N O P E N E R S / H OW SW E E T I T I S / S H I P A H OY
WITH DONNA SHOR
AROUND TOWN Ñ Vida Fitness owners CHRIS CARNECCHIA and DAVID VON STORCH with Bang Salon owner NIKKI ESOLDO at the grand opening for Vida and Bang at the Verizon Center on September 9th.
Å Café Milano owner FRANCO NUSCHESE and LADY MARGARET THATCHER on September 11th, when Lady Thatcher was in town for the 9/11 ceremonies at the White House. She had lunch at Cafe Milano where the menu featured a “Lady Thatcher” special with her favorite dessert: raspberries with vanilla and chocolate ice cream.
SOCIAL SEASON OPENERS
Two savvy Washington hostesses pitched season openers: Lynda Webster’s stylish gathering for coffee brought 200 women to the Chevy Chase Club; Giselle Theberge Jeppson’s luncheon for 60 at her Spring Valley home had many of the same social scene regulars and ambassadors’ wives attending, and vacations were the topic. Lynda and Bill Webster went fishin’at Joe Robert’s Colorado place; Giselle and John Jeppson’s trip with the Bob Crafts was a true odyssey as they sailed the Ionian sea to Ithaca, following the route of Odysseus, Homer’s mythological hero. Didi and Walter Cutler returned to southern France’s Luberon; Ina Ginsburg loved showing her grandson
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É Shakespeare Theatre Company Board Member MICHAEL KLEIN and Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director MICHAEL KAHN at the opening night of An Enemy of the People on September 5th.
her hometown, Vienna. Brenda and Jacques de Suze headed for Eastern Europe; Alma Gildenhorn kept cool in Aspen, where Alma Powell went while husband Colin gave a speech in China. Returning, he injured his leg, got a cast put on and left the same day for Chicago and Montreal speaking commitments. Willee and Finlay Lewis headed for Umbria; Gail and Togo West hit the Turkish coast/Greek islands, then Gail and her sister admired the mile-high Norwegian fjords from the same ship, the Seabourn Pride, that sailed the Baltic a week later with a load of Washingtonians aboard. More on that below. Seen: Karna Small Bodman, who used her TV and White House background writing the political
thriller, Checkmate; Tandy Dickerson; Esther Coopersmith; Nini Ferguson; Shirley Small; Renée Robinson; Marcia Jackson; Shaista Mahmood; Marlene Malek; Ann Hand; Donna Pflieger; Judy Esfandiary; Sheila Saleh; Diane Coleman; Pam Howar; Marcia Carlucci; Debbie Sigmund; Grace Bender and Georgetown gallery owner Shigeko Bork, who later chaired the Asia Society’s Spices and Rices Gala at the Australian embassy. Among ambassadors’ wives spotted were Rima Al-Sabah (Kuwait); Cheryl Catarino (Portugal); Carmen Ducaru (Romania) and Flor de Maria de Castillo (Guatemala). HOW SWEET IT IS That chick Giorgio Via is squiring
around town is actually his longtime
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
wife Anna Maria, who says for her summer she had some nips and tucks done by cosmetic surgeon Steven Hopping. (Frankness is the mode today; surgery is now as straightforward as changing your hair color.) One happy bonus: at a recent Italian embassy evening she heard someone ask Giorgio, “How does it feel to have a trophy wife?” Steve Hopping and his wife Julia are chairing Arts for the Aging’s gala Jean-David and Marie-Cécile Levitte will host at their French embassy residence. Julia is the daughter of the late Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa, for over thirty-five years the Nicaraguan ambassador here, with direct access to the president when he presided as dean of the diplomatic corps. SHIP AHOY
| OCTOBER
| washingtonlife.com