“Je ris de me voire si belle” – Jewel Song: Gounod’s Faust

Last week, Christie’s Auction House in Rockefeller Plaza, my personal favorite because the doorman is so nice, threw an opening cocktail party for their April auctions: Jewelry and Russian Art. Because I’m enchanted by the famous gems of history, I went especially to see Catherine II of Russia’s astonishing brooch, long considered one of the great jewels of the world.

The Christie’s installation, a combination of painting and applied arts, including many Fabergé pieces and dazzling Tiffany and Cartier examples, as well, was simply beautiful. So, were many of the attendees, including Natalie Kossof, Dierdre Bialo-Kadin, Stephen Lash, Yana Balan, Jemima Jones, Marion Von Burchard, Fernando Bustillo, Mei Gian, Andrew Gadlin and Marisa Tuchinsky.

The food, caviar blinis, wild mushroom timbales, lobster en croute, champagne and Ultimat Vodka, was sybaritically suitable as well.

Still, the emerald stole ... Read More

I don’t know Carla Bruni.
I've just shaken her hand.

But before ever having seen her, I, like everyone, knew her reputation: A fascinating, dangerous, talented and beautiful woman; a modern femme fatale with her own free morality who had captivated the heart of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and, by extension, the hearts of a nation of Frenchmen and the headlines of countless tabloids around the world.

Her artful nude photos are all over the internet and also the sensitive songs she has sung and composed.

Curiosity was inevitable. And so, when I was invited to meet the first couple at the inauguration of the Sky Room at the Alliance Française and despite very short notice, I instantly said, “Yes!”

A privileged twenty or so of us waited over half an hour, wilting gradually from anticipation and consoled by expectant conversation, for the glamorous duo to appear.

Finally, a flurry of security ... Read More