WHO KNEW DESMOND TUTU WAS A FASHION DESIGNER?

The design team of Lutz & Patmos, that’s who! Although the Archbishop/Nobel Laureate didn’t actually whip up the design, he DID green light their idea for an organic cotton, deep scoop-neck sweater and necklace inspired by his robe. A portion of the proceeds ($40 for each sweater and $30 for each necklace) will benefit the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre (scheduled to open in Cape Town in 2011) as well as the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust, whose beneficiaries hand-beaded the necklaces. At a recent trunk show/party hosted by Mary Jo Basler, Deirdre Huxhold and moi, I got a chance to meet half of the design team, Marcia Patmos. Marcia and Tina Lutz have been designing together for nine years. Their collection offers a complete range of sweaters, knits, accessories, coats, dresses, pants and t-shirts all in luxury fabrics and created with the highest quality yarns that are meant to be timeless not trendy–although many of the pieces naturally are. November’s Vogue featured a full page of another celeb designer tapped by the team, supermodel Natalia Vodianova, who designed a gorgeous multi-purpose dress that transformed beautifully into a chic evening gown. Fifty dollars from the sale of each of her dresses went to Natalia's favorite charity, the Naked Heart Foundation, which builds playgrounds for children in Russia. (BTW, you will be seeing a LOT of Natalia come spring/summer when she will be appearing in campaigns for Yves St. Laurent, Givenchy, Stella McCartney, Guerlain, Etam Lingerie and Calvin Klein perfumes.) The mission statement of Lutz & Patmos sums them up best: "Two designers/living in NY/tired of 5 minute trends/longing for integrity/wishing for purity/looking for the fusion of modernity and tradition/decided to start Lutz and Patmos in September 2000." What more could you want out of fashion? A design conceived with a conscience! Other famous designers they have collaborated with include Sofia Coppola, Julianne Moore, Carine Roitfeld (editor-in-chief of French Vogue) and Jane Birkin (the inspiration for the famous Hermes Birkin bags) so Desmond is in very good company! The trunk show/party was held recently at the gorgeous Gold Coast home of Mary Jo and Doug Basler where Marcia introduced her collection to a very appreciative crowd. The event was catered by Mary Jo’s long-time friend George Jewell who was fussing over every detail when I arrived. The elegant floral designs by Jonathan Ryan perfectly complimented the sleek, modern living space. Guests in attendance included Brandon Frein, Arlene Matthews, Maria Hagen, Rhonda Sanderson, Samantha Amato, Lisa Malkin, Toni Canada, Heather Farley, Caitlin, Katherine and Connie Saville, Edgar Bernal, Kristin and Paul Skordilis, Colleen Pricco, Jeanne O'Neil, Christine D' Hondt, Susan Winter, Emily Rice, Helen Melchior, Corinne Melchior, Paul Iacono, John Regas, Paul Rehder, Gregg Zgonena, Shaun Moslik, Kimberly Gleeson, Sandy Deromedi, Rochelle Smith, Jennifer Oppenheimer, Shelley and Carter Sharfstein, Allison Wolf, Russ and Bill Huxhold, Kelly Owens, Margaret Benvenuto, Mary McDonnell and Suzie Glickman among others. Click here to view more photos!

I was a little leery when I was approached to be a judge recently at the Hello Stiletto Shoe Ball—mainly because this was an event I had never heard of. Well, shame on me: Hello Stiletto is a free social club for individuals who love shoes but more importantly, their signature charity that benefits from all of their fun events is the Accelerated Cure Project which is dedicated to curing multiple sclerosis. It has over 10,000 members nationwide and on this evening, I was a judge with Thomas Dent, Barbara Glass, Graham Kostic and Nancy Plummer. Marc Silverman from ESPN radio was the emcee for the evening. The contestants for the “Shoe Walk-Off” strutted down the pink carpet in various categories such as “Women’s Most Stylish Shoe,” Women’s Sexiest Shoe,” Men’s Wildest Shoe” and so on. There was all manner of footwear on the women; the men didn’t seem to have much creativity on this night. In the end though, the winner for the evening (the Best in Shoe!) was the glamorous Kathryn Cole who really knew how to work the runway! Musical entertainment for the evening was provided by Tovi Khali, DJ Whiz Kid and the Revelettes. The committee for this fun and worthy evening consisted of Sandra Aussem, Melanie Aussem-Walk, Bridget Carroll, Stephen Huntley, Rashida Jones, Lynell D’Sylva, Jackie Nakamura, Alicia Saxton, Judy Schultz and Shelley Wheatland. Great job everyone and thanks for including me in all of the fun! Check out more photos from this enjoyable evening here!  
 
Martini Park was the venue for a recent party celebrating some of Crain’s famous “40 Under 40” recipients. On this night, we feted Amanda Puck, Christopher Clinton Conway and Fernando Beteta. Amanda, as you all know, is Executive VP of Experiential Public Relations and Christopher Conway is the Executive Director for The Joffrey Ballet. Fernando is the Sommelier and Manager of NoMi at the Park Hyatt and oversees the operation of the dining room as well as their 10,000 bottle wine cellar. It was a fun party and all of their friends came out to toast them and celebrate this wonderful achievement. Guests seen in the crowd included Jan Melk, WB Prez Christine Ott, Richard Cassis, Scott Worsham, Kerry Bowler, Joe Martinez, Floyd Elwell, Joffrey Ballet Artistic Director Ashley Wheater, Aleksandra Efimova, Jean Wilson, Joe Wagner, Rick Meyer, ESPN Sport’s Johnny Cooks, Lecretia Johnson, Rhonda Brown, Samantha Rinella, Margie Habermann, Eric Kicherer, Grace Barry, Jay Franke, David Herro, Marybeth Brandabur, Beth Silverman, Graham Kostic, Samantha Saifer, Herb Migdoll, Chris Long, Amelia Silva, Kathy Corday (the voice of WTTW) and Manolis Alpogianis among others. Congrats to this deserving trio as well as all of the “40 Under 40” winners! 🙂 Click here for some additional photos!

For the Joffrey Ballet’s upcoming production of “Cinderella”, there will be cross country celebrations to kick off this fun event with a twist. The “Cindy’s Having a Ball” luncheon will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Friday, January 29th. The Joffrey will be returning to its one time home, L.A., for four performances of Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella: January 28th through 31st at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and will open in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre on Feb. 17th through the 28th. Famed and handsome Bally head designer Brian Atwood has designed Cindy’s diamond stiletto and one lucky lady at both luncheons will receive the key that unlocks the door to these gorgeous shoes (not to worry, they will be made in the winners' sizes and signed!). Megan Quiroz McSween will be playing Cinderella and, for the invite photo, she was shot by Victor Skrebneski. One of the raffle prizes will be a signed photo of Cindy by Victor. The event will honor Shelley MacArthur Farley and the featured speaker will be Artistic Director Ashley Wheater. Whitney Lasky and Shawna Owen are co-chairs and Junior Co-Chair is Elena Besser (who is fresh off of her high as hostess of the Teen CelebTV Awards). Tickets are $200; for more info, please contact Julia Jankowski at 312-386-8921.
 
Tom Kehoe is the “King of Décor” in Chicago. Period.  Here is a gorgeous pic of the recent Service Club of Chicago Ball that he did at the Four Seasons. He was also the go-to guy for the Paws Fur Ball and has donated his services to them for the last three years! I’m sure his best friend, Rajah, is part of the reason! And we all know he is just back from the White House, having done the First Family’s Halloween décor. Now I hear he is doing the Joffrey Gala as well at Union Station on April 23, 2010! He is one busy guy and so deserving of the wonderful accolades he is always receiving since not only is he uber talented but he is also one of the nicest and most charitable guys I know! Keep up the great work, Tom! We will all be watching!

Speaking of charitable friends, Chef Art Smith is in South Africa now cooking for the kids at The Oprah Winfrey Girls Leadership Academy! I can’t wait to see his new show on TLC, “Craving Comfort.” Perfect timing for a show dedicated to comfort foods we all crave!!! He might not have won "Top Chef Masters" but he sure won over the producers’ hearts!

Business is certainly booming at Nello’s Restaurant at 696 Madison Ave. in NYC. Recently, 39-year-old Russian billionaire Roman Abramovitch (who is ranked 11th on Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest) hosted a nice little lunch for five and the bill came to $47,221.09. This included two bottles of Chateau Petrus at $5,000 each, two bottles of Cristal Rose also priced at $5,000 each as well as three bottles of La Tache Romanee Conti for $15,000. Oh yeah, and they had some food too…

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know we did: It’s always fun, food and friends at my sister and brother-in-law’s, Nancy and Os Steinwald, and I’m still full! Hope you are all getting into the holiday spirit…I think Chicago comes alive during the holidays and I’m hoping all of these gorgeous decorations will chase away some of the gloom from these rather tough times. Until next week, enjoy this wonderful video of a man and his dog.
 
Love,
Candace 🙂
candace@candidcandace.com
 
P.S. Don’t forget the World of Chocolate event benefitting the Aids Foundation of Chicago on Thursday, December 3rd at the Hilton Chicago from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Fun, friends and CHOCOLATE…what more could you want? :) Call 312-922-2322 for tickets and more info.