Our Oscars

Can I tell you...about the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America)Awards night. It's our version of the Oscars. This year is the 25th Anniversary of the awards show and it was Diane Von Furstenburg's 1st major event as President. The designer attendance was impressive. Donna, Vera, Ralph, Oscar, Marc, Michael ( you don't need last names do you?) and the rest of the membership. She even got Calvin Klein to come out and he almost never shows up for anything. We also got our share of Hollywood A-listers: Eva Mendes, Claire Daines with BF Hugh Dancy, Chloe Sevigny, Oprah Winfrey, Kate Bosworth, Uma Thurman, Heidi Klum, Iman with husband David Bowie, The Olsen Twins and Ellen Barkin who was the hostess of the evening.
My date for the evening was Japanese runway superstar Anne Watanabe (yes, she is Ken's daughter) who flew in from Tokyo a couple of days before. Coincidentally she was scheduled to be in town for a photo shoot so it all worked out. I got her a white mini bustier dress from Peter (Som) to showcase my silver snake clutch and bejeweled platform slingbacks. She looked divine of course with smokey eyes, a little bit of glitter and a neutral glossy lip.
This was her first CFDA awards so she brought her camera to take her own pictures. At some point we were starting to compete with each other it was kinda funny. She knew a lot of the designers she already modeled for so that was great. We worked the room during cocktails til Diane was literally shooing everybody to dinner. Cocktails is the best part of this event as far as I'm concerned. You get to see everybody up close and it's the best people watching...I swear. The champagne is flowing so the mood is festive and you can chat up almost anyone you want to. There's a lot of networking going on and secret deals being hatched, or so I've heard.

The dinner was brief, thank God but the whole ceremony still took several hours. We didn't get out of there til 11:30 and we got there at 6:30. Imagine that! Poor Anne, her jet lag hit her at about 10ish and she could barely keep her eyes open but she was a trooper. Ralph won 2 awards, Oscar and Proenza Schouler were a tie ( a first), Derek took the accessories award and Piere Cardin took the International Award.

Annoyingly Monsieur Cardin gave his acceptance speech entirely in French and we know he speaks fluent English. Was this his way of giving us the finger? We all looked at each other in disbelief. Diane even made her way to the stage to bring him down but thankfully he finished just before she could yank him.
I dragged Anne to another party after for Zappos but they had already finished so we headed home. Besides, she was already falling alseep in the car. I promised to take her for some Filipino food this weekend. She was craving for some since she was in the Philippines a few weeks ago for a photo shoot. So we're off to Cendrillon!

Art & Commerce

Can I tell you...about the art scene in Beijing. Booming would be putting it mildly. It is 'out of control"! I had read about the 'scene' and how several artists and galleries took over a 50 year old former decommissioned military factory complex to form a thriving artist's community. Just like New York in the early 80's when artists lived and worked out of lofts and galleries moved in, Soho suddenly became a cool destination. The same phenomenon is happening in Beijing. Now famously referred to as "798 Art Zone" or "Factory 798", the Dashanzi Art District factory complex in the Chaoyang District was built by the Germans in 1954. It began as an extension of the "Socialist Unification Plan" of military-industrial cooperation between the Soviet Union and the newly-formed People's Republic of China. The problem was that the People's Liberation Army still needed modern electronic components, which were produced in only two of the joint factories. The Russians were unwilling to undertake an additional project at the time, and suggested that the Chinese turn to East Germany from which most of the Soviet Union's electronics equipment was imported. Hence, the unmistakble Bauhaus style of the buildings drawn from East German architects plans.
The area is a little out of the way from the center but well worth the trip. I was blown away at how developed it was and how there were so many galleries within a square mile radius. I saw several people walking out with wrapped purchases and a lot of the art had red dots beside them signifying their 'sold' status.
There was quite a crowd of people walking around, eating at cafe's and getting lost as we were despite the numerous bi-lingual signs all over the streets directing you to the galleries. It was all quite exciting and you had this feeling that you were discovering something new. Actually, there's been an exodus of artists and galleries since 1995. In 2001, Texan Robert Bernell opened Timezone 8 Art Books and publishing office, becoming the 1st foreigner to move in. Local/ international designer Ai WeiWei, an artist/curator/architect further validated the neighborhood by moving in just outside the complex. It is also now fondly called the center of "Bobo community" ( bourgeouis bohemian).
There were several openings at the same time so we hit those galleries. We had lunch at Cafe Pause, an institution and the epicenter of the area. The owners write for Time Out Beijing so naturally I asked for recommendations of what to see and where to go. Foster, Winnie and I were determined to see as much as we could and I think we did. We combed the streets, walked up deserted stairs to see out of the way galleries: we were on a mission!
Nick May, a transplanted New Yorker/fashion photographer now living there met up with us and took us to an opening of his friend's gallery / clothing store. The crowd was quite international, German, Dutch, Taiwanese, Thai, New Yorkers and Angelenos. At the end of the day, he took us for a ride on his side car which was a lot of fun...and dust! Thank God for helmets! Unfortunately, we were a week to early for the 'Affordable Art Fair' which would have been fun to see and maybe even buy a piece or two. But then again, affordable is relative, isn't it?!