SPROUSE IS IN THE HOUSE!

Even the rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of the joyful attendees at Louis Vuitton’s tribute to designer Stephen Sprouse Thursday night at their store on Michigan Avenue. Louis Vuitton’s creative director Marc Jacobs first tapped Sprouse to design a graffiti bag in 2001 and he’s come back to him again this season and upped the ante. The bags are a riot of color in shocking chartreuse, day-glo lime and South Beach orange. Even the windows and outdoor walls were plastered in these vibrant colors to celebrate this new line for Louis Vuitton. You could see the store for blocks away on this gloomy night filled with beautiful people and brilliantly-colored bags. Even the trays the servers held were colored in this bright graffiti print. A portion of the evening’s sales benefited student scholarships for the Department of Fashion Design at the School of the Art Institute. LV’s vice president of Midwest stores Michelle Catucci hosted the event along with store manager Tessa Gillenwater. Lucky guests included Graham Kostic, Susanna Homan Negovan, Toni Canada, Gregg Zgonena, Janice Barns Davis, Gwendolyn Butler, Julie Selakovich, Sven Asmus, Myra and John Reilly, Amanda Puck, Margaret O’Connor and hot Curtis Stone of “Take Home Chef” who was in town for a taping on Oprah. Photos from top right: Suzanne Beiling holding the new Sprouse collection handbags; Louis Vuitton par nuit; Julie Selakovich, Amanda Puck, Graham Kostic and Toni Canada; Margaret O'Connor, "Take Home Chef" Curtis Stone and Louis Vuitton manager Tessa Gillenwater; me holding an original Sprouse handbag from 2001 with Joon Ma; Jesus Salguiero, Susanna Negovan and Bessie Tsionis; Gregg Zgonega and Susan Frank; Janice Barnes David and Gwendolyn Butler. For more photos from this event, click HERE. 

Shelley MacArthur definitely did Sinatra HER way for the party benefiting the Joffrey Ballet on Friday night, February 20th, in the Empire Room of the Palmer House wowing all of the beautiful Chicago movers and shakers in attendance. The fantastic song and dance number with Joffrey artistic director Ashley Wheater brought the house down! There were even darling girls dressed like Sinatra with pork-pie hats waiting to direct you up to the cocktail reception. The Palmer House has never looked better after its mega-makeover and there are lots of hot events coming up here including the Joffrey Ballet’s ever exciting “Couture & Cocktails” in September! The Empire Room was aglow just like the lovely chanteuse who changed from a beautiful white cocktail pantsuit to a gorgeous nude evening gown. Shelley was wearing stunning jewelry from Van Cleef and Arpels valued at over $620,000 including a ring, earrings and necklace from the show-stopping Clelia Collection. Guests included Renee Crown, Linda Johnson Rice, Hayes MacArthur, Jeanouche Wopinski, Dori Wilson, Amelia and Alejandro Silva with their darling son Alex Jr. and his new wife Laura, Maureen and EB Smith, Helen Hall Melchior, Kristina and Michael McGrath with her beautiful twin, Cheryl Larson, Sheryl Dyer, Paul Rehder, Leslie and Robert Zentner, Donna LaPietra and Bill Kurtis, Jan Melk, Michel Desjardins, Rebecca and Charlie Besser, Melinda Jakovich, Kathleen and Dennis Klaeser, Scott Bobek, Anne and Ed Burke, Grace Barry, Christina Gidwitz, Joy Germont, Marty Higgins, Joe Ahern, Tony Rossi, Susanna Negovan, Pierre Desy, Felicia and Kurt Winiecki, D’Ary Frank, Diane Hollowell, Sara Crown Starr and her husband Jamie, Elsa Tullas, Vonita Reescer, Richard Miller and many more. The after party was held in the chic Potter’s Lounge with music by DJ White Shadow. Photos from top left: Ashley Wheater and Shelley MacArthur; Rebecca Besser, Whitney Laskey, Renee Crown, Shauna Montgomery and Marty Higgins; me and Helen Melchior; Susanna Homan Negovan, Sheryl Dyer, Paul Rehder and me; Michel Desjardins, Jan Melk, Melinda Jakovich and Pierre Desy; Shelley doing it her way.
 
I know there were lots of fabulous Oscar parties around town but none had more visual delights and enthusiasm than the party benefiting the Center on Halsted last Sunday night! The Red Carpet reception began at 6 p.m. with interviews and paparazzi shooting the well dressed guests. The Oscar telecast began at 7 p.m. and was shown on two jumbo screens. Gorgeous showgirls showed you the way to the gym which had been transformed into the most elegant Oscar-worthy space with fabulous floral
design by Daniel Simonelli of the Palmer House. Food was served in tiny Chinese takeout boxes with chopsticks along with many other appetizer choices by Wendy Pashman of The Entertaining Company. The fabulous event photographer Steve Starr captured all of the excitement and many of his photos are seen here and in the gallery. I was honored to be on the benefit committee for this sold-out affair along with Greg Hyder, Wayne Harth, Jean Antoniou, David Brandt, Mike Demetria, Quenten Schumacher, Matt O’Malley, Missy Vitale, Brooke Skinner, Jim Smith, Patrick Sheehan, Ann Beteta, Hazel Barr, John Gustafson, Jessica Harless, Jim Karagianes, Michael Knisely, Gil Minor, Bill Naples, Paul Ropski, Amy Wimer, Henry Artalejo, Sheryl Dyer, Susan Ellefson, Kenny Huang, Jeremy Dobbie, Patrick Harms, Joe Schroeder, Ryan Viloria and Ann Wangard. And a special thanks to event sponsors Snow Queen Vodka (Michael Perry Ladin) and to Van Cleef & Arpels (Sheryl Dyer) who donated the gorgeous vintage Alhambra cuff links for a raffle prize. Everyone's heart and soul was in this event and it was obvious by the wonderful turnout, auction donations and enthusiasm that everyone showed for this wonderful and worthy event. I thank everyone on behalf of the organization and benefit committee. EVERYONE was a star at this party!!! Photos from top left: Oscars showgirl; Jeff Corney, Greg Hyder and Amalie Drury; Sheryl Dyer, me, Jean Antoniou and Nicole Jacob; Missy Vitale, Rebecca Rose, Barkley Payne and Brooke Skinner; John Bourgeois and D'Manda Donation; Fireman, Elizabeth Crane and David Brandt; Alan Sax and Sheryl Dyer; Michael Perry Ladin, me and Chuck; Ken Norgan and Mike Noonan; David Brandt with Jean and Andy Antoniou; Tom Kehoe and Wayne Harth; me, Paul Rehder and Nicole Jacob. For more Center on Halsted Oscar party coverage, click here and for my friend David Aminzadeh's L.A. Oscar photos, click this link.

Well, hold onto your hats: Billy Dec is opening up a new restaurant that promises to blow the doors off of Asian dining as we know it now!  Sunda is due to open in River North at 110 W. Illinois St. on Monday, March 9th. It was developed by partners Dec, Brad Young and Arturo Gomez with their director of culinary operations James Gottwald and consultant Paul Lee after two years of exhaustive research all over Asia. Chef Rodelio Aglibot looks to Japan, China and Southeast Asia for his inspiration with specialties like the Food Buddha’s Crispy Rice with Toppings (hand-cut spicy tuna, seared Kobe beef tartare and spicy shrimp tempura), crab-crusted Ahi tuna with Japanese hot mustard soy glaze, Malay-style Chilean sea bass with coriander and many other mouth-watering selections including a full assortment of sushi. If the restaurant is as good as this video then we’re in for a real treat!! Click here and preview the Sunda concept for yourself. Photo: Billy Dec.

And thanks to all of you who I hounded into voting for me in the Chicago’s Best Blogs contest!!! It worked: I thought they were choosing one but they chose just over 100 blogs in the city and CandidCandace.com is one of them…woooo hoooooo!!! Thanks again to all who voted!!! 
 
I also want to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS to my friends Jim and Mary Lasky!!! They were recently awarded the “Golden Spoon” by the Chicago Free Press for their hot restaurant/lounge Chaise Lounge at 1840 W. North Ave. Check it out!!! Photos: Jim and Mary Lasky; the beautiful interior of the Laskys' Chaise Lounge.

Good luck to my friend Susan Griff Gohl on her upcoming equestrian competition season in Wellington, Florida! Horses have been her life and passion since she was three years old and now her nine-year-old granddaughter is following suit. Here she is shown on Enigma in a Grand Prix Dressage class, after which they enjoyed dinner in Palm Beach with Ann Gerber and Bernie Kaplan, Cookie Cohen, Averill and Buddy Leviton and Mamie and Julius Walton. Ahhhhhh….the good life! Photo: Susan Griff Gohl astride Enigma. 

If you missed my debut on 24/7, not to worry because here it is!!! Thanks to Catie Keogh and Marcus Riley for letting “the kid stay in the picture!” I had such fun meeting the other incredible members of the NBC Street Team; they rock!!!! 🙂

That’s all for this week! Don’t forget to make plans to attend Common Threads World Festival on March 23rd at the MCA!! It’s an event you won’t want to miss! And now here’s something to put a smile on all of my animal loving friends' faces! 

See you next time!

Love, Candace 🙂