Gowns With All the Trimmings
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RELATED: Photos from The New York Botanical Garden’s Winter Wonderland Ball
The birch-tree backdrops, evergreen trimmings, hot chocolate, and peppermint chocolate bark offered to guests on their way home all helped set a seasonal tone. However, the Winter Wonderland Ball at the New York Botanical Garden on Friday lived up to its name because of its women guests, who wore jewels the size of snowballs and gowns with all the trimmings.
The president of Escada, Lawrence DeParis, was particularly admiring; many of the event’s chairwomen, including Cristina Cuomo, Dalia Oberlander, and Claiborne Swanson, wore his firm’s designs.
Not all men were gawking at the ladies: Some picked up tips on running model train sets from the operators of the garden’s spectacular train show. Actor Waris Ahluwalia was celebrating his last day of filming what he described as a “Shakespearean vampire movie, or Shampire thing.” At his dinner table were his girlfriend, Chiara Clemente, wearing earrings of his design, and the founder of the soon-to-launch Web site Bigthink.com, Victoria Brown.
The refined evening, which raised $200,000 and drew 370 guests, prompted some to think of less refined winter activities. Anthony Damiani made mention of “reindeer shenanigans,” involving “making snow angels … on top of each other.”
agordon@nysun.com
