Party-Goers Are Rapt in Fashion
Style partnered substance Saturday night at the Atrium in Irvine, where fashion and interior designers gathered for a gala benefiting the county’s homeless and people with AIDS. The party--which drew 225 guests at $150 per and raised an estimated $35,000--was co-hosted by the local chapters of the International Furnishings and Design Assn. and the Design Alliance to Combat AIDS.
Dubbed “OC With Style,” the fashion show fund-raiser was a beauty to look at--from the modish lime-and-purple decorations to the crisply dressed guests. Best of all was wisecracking honorary chairwoman Rita Moreno, who slipped into the spotlight as if it were a warm bath.
Star Power
Emcee Bill Harris, a radio and cable TV show business reporter, introduced Moreno by noting her credit in the Guiness Book of World Records as the only woman to win entertainment’s quadruple crown: Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy. If guests expected the doe-eyed star--best known for her Oscar-winning performance in “West Side Story”--to grace the party wrapped in Hollywood ego, they were in for a shock.
Moreno mingled comfortably at cocktail hour. She smiled for countless souvenir photos. She autographed programs and chitchatted with the masses like a long-lost friend.
After Harris’ intro, she was led onstage by Mickey and Minnie Mouse (who appeared compliments of the Walt Disney Co., a major underwriter of the event).
Stepping to the microphone as the applause subsided, Moreno tossed her head in Minnie’s direction. “Look at her,” she quipped. “She’s wearing a tiara .... Trying to show up a Puerto Rican girl!” Then she stripped off her jacket and flipped it to a guest seated near the stage. “Hold that for me, would you, darling?” she said, her svelte figure hugged by a sleeveless red gown. “This is my 25-year-old Halston,” she said, striking a campy pose. “I can’t resist!”
The Program
Champagne washed down fancy hors d’oeuvres prepared by Bistango restaurant, which also dished up dinner of lobster aspic salad, lamb loin and baby greens, salmon in phyllo, and chocolate parfait.
While a three-piece combo filled the cavernous atrium with jazzy soft rock, guests took their seats at tables near the circular stage. After dinner--and a half-dozen trips to the microphone by Moreno and Harris--guests bid on outfits in an hourlong fashion show. Designs and fabric were donated, as were party decorations, raffle prizes and most of the other elements of party.
Who’s Who
Sandra Charbogne was chairwoman of the event. David Atwood, president of the South Coast Chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Assn., sang the invocation before dinner.
Rodney Gordon, president of the Orange County Chapter of the Design Alliance to Combat AIDS, had this to say of table-hopping: “I love it! You work all year just to be able to not eat tonight!”
Among fashion designers, all graduates of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (with campuses in Orange County and Los Angeles), were Allison Miller, Liana, Segal Ben Ari Gold, Fernando Moralez, Denise Ervin, Karen Mitchell and Ofelia Montejano.
Proceeds will be divided among local nonprofit agencies including the AIDS Services Foundation, Laguna Shanti, Shelter for the Homeless AIDS House, Habitat Orange County, and the Bright Light Center in Santa Ana.
Quote
I want to tell you a parable,” Moreno said to the rapt crowd, down-shifting from wisecracks to the serious side of the benefit.
“A man dies and goes to heaven--he thinks it’s heaven. St. Peter greets him at the gates. ‘Am I really in heaven?’ the man asks. St. Peter says, ‘Of course. Would you like a tour?’ ”
They walk through the streets of heaven together, observing vast banquet halls, “cornucopias of the most beautiful food,” Moreno said.
“The man says, ‘This is great!’ And St. Peter says, ‘There is one thing. Nobody in heaven can move their arms from the elbow down.’
“ ‘You mean I can see all this food, but I can’t eat? My God! That’s not heaven--that’s hell!’ says the man.
“St. Peter says, ‘What makes it heaven is, here we reach out and feed each other.’ ”
