Seventh Heaven - Another Fashion Reunion Party

The month of May was less then merry for me. thanks to a few personal mishaps that I'd rather not get into here.  I desperately needed something to cheer me up.  Fortunately, there was the annual mid-spring event I always look forward to - model Nancy Donahue's and hairdresser Harry King's reunion party for fashion icons on the seventies and eighties, at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York.  Yes, another night to be surrounded by gorgeous models from the Me Decade and the Reagan years who have only become more beautiful with age.              

And how do I get to go these parties when I was in grade school and middle school in the seventies and in high school and college in the eighties - and would never have been allowed in Studio 54 even if I had been old enough to go?  Again:  When you run a blog depicting beautiful women that includes the most gorgeous women of the golden age of modeling, you get attention and acceptance from those same legendary beauties. :-D

And, of course, I took pictures.

Below are two women you all know from posts about previous parties - Halston muse Alva Chinn on the left, and Jany Tomba on the right.  Both were among the pioneering black models of the seventies, and Alva was one of the stars of the famous 1973 Versailles show in which a multiracial group of American women modeling for Halston dispensed with protocol and showed up their French counterparts. Jany did a lot of ads for cosmetics and also appeared on the cover of Essence.  They are both strong, confident women who are happy with who they are and have no problem sporting gray hair . . . because they know that gray is beautiful! :-)

My dear friend Bhavaja Kat was also in attendance, as was one of my new friends - Beverly Lee, and I don't mean the woman who sang in the Shirelles.  Beverly Lee is the groundbreaking model of East Asian ethnicity who opened doors for women of all Asian backgrounds in modeling, and she was enthusiastically glad to see me at this party.  Before we met at one of Nancy's and Harry's parties, I only knew her as a still image, but now I have enjoyable conversations with her at these parties . . . which is difficult to do, what with all of the loud disco music.  Below are Bhavaja Kat and Beverly Lee (who are friends) with model Coco Mitchell second from right, joined by musician Earl Davis.

Earl Davis runs Project Brownstone, a non-profit organization that, in the words of its Facebook page, "applies a holistic approach to empowering and developing underserved youths in Harlem by using education as a tool."  It helps try to get kids in Harlem to see themselves as leaders.

I also got a picture of Beverly in profile, while was taking to makeup artist Pam Geiger.

The kid on the left is Dante Spinelli, whose father Tony was one of the leading male models of the seventies.  I'm assuming that he's reacting to Beverly's enduring beauty . . .

. . . which I captured perfectly in this photo of her with hairdresser-turned-real estate agent Daniel Cohen.

You'd be amazed how many people in the fashion business have started second careers in real estate.  Heck, I know of a woman who used to be a TV reporter who's know a real estate agent, so there's something about the field that's appealing. 

And the modeling profession certainly attracts a lot of appealing women . . . as evidenced below. 

Here's photographer Dustin Pittman with three of my favorite ladies, all among the sweetest and dearest women in modeling of all time - from left, Kim Charlton, Shanti Patty Owen, and Yasmine Guenancia.  As the old Emerson, Lake and Palmer song goes, oooooooooooooh, what a lucky man . . . he was! :-D

I was lucky enough to get a picture of Kim Charlton solo, and even though I was aiming at a candid shot of her, she noticed me and blew me a kiss as I snapped the lens.

It's too bad my camera was slow.  But I still love her expression here.

Kim comes from as far and exotic place you can come from within the lower forty-eight - Seattle, the Emerald City.  She's very happy in Manhattan, thank you very much, which, as far as the fashion world is concerned, is Oz.  :-)

And what a mystical place New York City is, with all of these beautiful people!

Linda Morand, the iconic model from the sixties, was there resplendent in red . . .

. . . as was model Asia Dyrkacz, with a gentleman friend.  Asia spent most of the night twirling her pins; when the DJ played the Bee Gees' "You Should Be Dancing," she took that advice very very seriously!  So getting a picture of her in a seated position was a fantastic stroke of luck. 

And now, a group photo of a whole bunch of beautiful people! 

Yes, that's Nancy Donahue, the hostess of the evening, looking just divine in a white dress, joined by from left, model and musician named Seth Adanmenoukon, Kim Charlton, Seth's dad Ja'Dee Murphy, Dustin Pittman, Asia Dyrkacz,  Yasmine Guenancia and Fred DeVito.  Fred is another friend of mine, a chap worked on newspaper ads for Bloomingdale's.  It was one of his ads that introduced me to the beauty of German model Margrit Ramme, another friend of mine (who, sadly, was not at this party).

Nancy is nothing if not a superb hostess.  Whenever you're at one of her parties, she's everywhere.  You can't escape her (and why would you want to?).  Here she lives it up on the dance floor. :-)

Party on, Nancy! :-) 

And here she is letting her hair down . . . literally.

Speaking of hair, Tony Spinelli, whom I already mentioned here, has perfect hair; I envy his ability to keep it straight and in place even in the middle of summer (the 2015 reunion party was in August; he kept his hair perfectly neat while I constantly had to fix mine! :-D).  But that's in part what made him one of the top male models of his day and why he's still the most handsome guy at these parties, which in turn explains why all the women still like to pose with him - including his fellow models Jennifer Backus . . .

. . . and Jennifer Brice.

And if there were any other Jennifers there, I missed them.  But I was more than overjoyed to see Jennifer Brice, whom I first met at Nancy's and Harry's 2013 fashion reunion party.  Jennifer and I connected big time, and she was eager to tell me personally that she'd be at the annual party this time, having missed the previous five. She is a very special woman to me and she's a sweet and generous person, a joy to be with. Modeling agent Joey Hunter (with Jennifer, below) would certainly agree.

Okay, how do you know I took all of these pictures or was even really there?  Well, here's Jennifer with me. :-)

I not only posed for this picture, I took it - the first selfie I ever took that I look normal in!  But then I had a lot of initiative to get it right.  I was determined to get my picture taken with a model again, like I always do, and I'm glad it was Jennifer.  See, when I first met her in 2013, she became the first top model I ever kissed.  And if you want to know if I got to kiss her or any other legendary beauty in attendance this time . . . sorry, I'm not going to say any more.  That's privileged information.  But I do have one more photo to offer, the only picture on this blog post not taken by me . . .

This is me with Bhavaja Kat to my left.  The woman on the left of the photo is a woman named Renée Rimmer.  I regret that I don't know who the woman on the right is.  I also regret that I don't remember who took this photo.

Needless to say, a splendid time was guaranteed for all, even though the DJ didn't play any Beatles tunes, and I had just that.  How could I not, in the company of so many lovely women?  This was my seventh fashion reunion party, and it still floors me that, only ten years ago, I didn't know any of these models despite having idolized them when I was a teenager and I had no idea that featuring them on a blog would get their attention, their appreciation and their friendship.  And I remain grateful to Nancy Donahue for having me at these parties - she always makes sure I'm in attendance.  Thanks, Nancy.  :-)

Another Fashion Reunion Party!

Summer may have begun on June 21, but things were really hot a couple of days earlier in New York City, and I'm not talking about the weather.  Yes, I attended yet another fashion reunion party hosted by model Nancy Donahue and hairdresser Harry King, a party not just for models and hairdressers but also for photographers, modeling agents, magazine editors, and . . . me.  I got invited, as always, because of my diligent work in preserving the work of the models of the 1970s and 1980s on my beautiful-women picture blog, which a couple of these models somehow managed to discover back in the waning days of the two thousand zeroes.  Nancy and I have been friends on Facebook since December 2009, making my friendship with her one of my longest of any model I've connected with online. :-)

And here she is with two of her peers, both of whom I met for the first time at her 2018 party, my sixth.  (In fact, I saw a lot of people I'd never met before at this party, and I enjoyed meeting all of them.)

Nancy is joined here by Barbara Neumann, at left, and and Joy Bell, both models themselves. Barbara Neumann was a top model in the late seventies and worked a lot in Paris, and she's since worked as managing modeling agencies, serving as a director of the men's divisions of the Ford and Wilhelmina agencies in Florida.  Joy Bell worked in Italy, France, England the the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s, working with photographers like Irving Penn and doing editorials for many fashion magazines.  She took a break from modeling before returning to the profession to do assignments aimed at women of her generation.  One of those assignments was for a Time cover article on - wait for it - female midlife crises.   I met both of them, and they are very nice women.  Joy Bell has a personality as bright and clear as her name. :-)

The party was well attended, no doubt in thanks to the new location - the Soho Grand Hotel on West Broadway in Lower Manhattan.  The room appeared to be bigger than the space in the old Parlor nightclub, which meant more room for dancing for these veterans of the 1970s and '80s fashion scene to the music of their time, courtesy of a DJ named Delphine Blue - which meant lots of Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Ha ha!  I am kidding, of course, as no one who liked Zep and Skynyrd back in the day would have been considered cool enough to hang out with models, fashion photographers, hairdressers and makeup artists.  But of course, even though this was a '70s and '80s fashion party, fashion icons from other periods were welcome too.   

The evergreen Linda Morand, who's been modeling since the sixties, was also there, and I was happy to see her.  We actually managed to exchange words - hard to do when there's a combination of a din and loud music! :-D - and she was pleased to see me again.  A seventies model who was also pleased to see me again was Jany Tomba (below), whom I got a picture of while she was posing for someone else.  It was that kind of party.    

A familiar and familiarly beautiful face I am always glad to see at these parties is that of Yasmine Sokal Guenancia, whose auburn hair made for a stunning and arresting presence in ads and editorials in the fashion magazines of the late 1970s.  Here she is below - still looking stunning and arresting in a black dress - with Bonnie Pfeifer Evans.

And who, you may ask, is Bonnie Pfeifer Evans?  She's a one-time model who has also worked as a fundraising consultant in New York, specializing in charities fighting AIDS.  I've seen her at many of Nancy and Harry's other parties, but I found out a little more about her that blew my mind.  She was married to New York businessman Charles Evans until his death in 2007.  And while that name may not sound familiar to you, perhaps you've heard of his brother - film producer Robert Evans.

So, Bonnie was, or is, Robert Evans's sister-in-law.   But her tireless work in the fight against acquired immune deficiency syndrome - a disease that is not, in fact, in decline - ought to make it clear that she deserves to be identified as someone other than a wife, widow or in-law.  She's doing very well carving out a distinguished identity on her own.

And then there was one of my all-time favorite models, Beverly Lee, who has a very formidable persona herself, having been the first major American model of Asian origin.

Beverly Lee remains as exotically beautiful as ever, and she's become a regular at Nancy and Harry's annual party.  She even looks great in horn-rimmed glasses! Here she is talking and laughing with Alva Chinn, another pioneering model of color and a dear friend of mine, while Bev's husband Robert Muscovite checks his smartphone.  

And here's Beverly Lee with makeup artist Pam Geiger, the two of them somehow managing to have a conversation while DJ Delphine Blue spins some platters in the background.  ("Funk #49" by the James Gang, maybe?  What do you think? :D )  

And while Madame Blue went over her request list (my request for "Green Grass and High Tides" by the Outlaws was denied), Bev chatted with a model I'd never heard of before I met her at this party.  Shailah Edmonds (above) is a veteran of the New York and Paris fashion scene, having done numerous assignments that took her all over the world.  She is now pursuing her career as a jazz vocalist, and she also coaches young models who are making their way in the business.  Both she and Beverly Lee are alumni of Ford Models, which is the premier modeling agency in the world of fashion and beauty. 

So you would have to assume that Ms. Lee and Ms. Edmonds look even more lovely in person, yes?  Absolutely. :-)

Of course, when I got to the Soho Grand, I was hoping to stay as long as possible so I could still be there WHEN DAWN ARRIVED!  No, I don't mean I hoped to stay until 5:30 in the morning.  New York fashion parties, legendary as they are, don't last that long.  I mean Dawn Gallagher, of course.

Dawn Gallagher is a nice Irish girl from Buffalo who was discovered by a fashion photographer in The City That Never Thaws and given his business card, which she promptly . . . put in her desk drawer and forgot about.  That is, until she later saw his name in a photo credit in a fashion magazine and realized he was legitimate.  And that's when she called the number on the card, and the rest is history. To think . . . she could have just as easily never seen this photographer's name in a fashion magazine and never known he was for real, then she never would have called him and become a top model . . . and then she would have missed the pleasure of meeting me! And she would have also missed the pleasure of posing for me in the picture above. :-)

And then I would have never gotten this picture.

Here's Dawn, dancing to Molly Hatchet's 1979 classic "Flirtin' With Disaster."  Ha ha, I caught you - no, Delphine Blue wouldn't have played those lead-foot stompers either, and I don't remember what was playing at this particular moment, but Dawn probably was dancing to a song from 1979 . . . just not the kind of song I could play air guitar to.

I don't dance. Fortunately, my dear friend Shanti Patty Owen - whose new memoir you already know about - does, and that I'm grateful for, because it produced this wonderful action shot! :-)

She liked this shot too. :-)

I'd gotten tipsy on Scotch and Coke without the Scotch, so I was a little taken aback when someone out of nowhere recognized me as she arrived; I didn't know I was that popular! :-D It was Kim Charlton, the lovely blonde model from the early 1980s who's now a real estate agent.  Also as happy to see her as I was was Joey Hunter, a legendary modeling agent who now works for a company providing software services to the modeling profession.  Kim couldn't help but go soft on him at the party.

Some guys have all the luck.

I mean, what could be better than to be kissed by a beautiful woman and greeted with a smile like that? 

I stole a couple of hugs and kisses from many a lovely lass at the Soho Grand. Who?  Sorry, I don't kiss, hug and tell. ;-)

But I can tell you this: Geoffrey Saunders, Nancy Donahue's public-relations man, got this photo of me standing next to one of Delphine Blue's speakers, which was not playing Deep Purple's "Highway Star." :-D  

Okay, Steve, you're asking me now, how do we know you were even there?  How do we know that all those other pictures are yours?  There aren't any pictures of you with a beautiful model or anything.

You asked for it. :-D

Yes, that's me with Beverly Lee, whom I had developed a crush on back when I was a teenager.  I don't know what prompted her to offer me to pose with her - and of course I said yes without hesitation - but it might have been because I'd taken all those pictures of her. :-)  After we looked at the photo on her smartphone, she turned to me and said, "You're very photogenic!"  

Oh my God, one of the most beautiful women of all time called me photogenic!  I was so floored - I don't think I could have possibly thanked her adequately for that compliment! 

There were several other famous faces at Nancy and Harry's get-together, including French model Anne Bezamat, who I regrettably missed this time - I think she got there after I had to leave to get the bus home.  But, as you can see from the image above, I don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. :-)  And posing with Beverly Lee was very good indeed. :-) 

As with ever other fashion reunion party I have attended, it was a night to remember, even if the music was to be forgotten. ("Got To Be Real"?  Get real!)  Okay, Delphine Blue did play the Rolling Stones from the Some Girls / Tattoo You era, so I really can't complain.

I was with beautiful women.  Do you hear me complaining? Until next time, of course. :-)

(And I was only kidding about requesting a record from the Outlaws.) 

Un . . . Deux . . . Trois . . . Book Signing!

The ongoing follies in the Washington and the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang distracted me from practically everything else, but I'm here today with something different . . . an account of a social event I went to in New York City back in January.

My friend Shanti Patty Owen, a former model and also an occasional actress, was one of the most sought-after models of the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Known for her fierce, fearless look, she's really a lovable sweetheart.  But life wasn't always glamour and sweetness for Shanti; she dealt with a sexual obsession that turned into an addiction that led to the most sordid lifestyle one could possibly imagine.  She has chronicled her dark period of sex addiction in her new book, "Memoirs of a Legal Courtesan," and she launched the book this past January 30 at Cafe Un Deux Trois in Manhattan.

Named for its location at 123 West 44th Street, Cafe Un Deux Trois is a charming little restaurant in the heart of New York's Theater District frequented by  many stage actors and actresses . . . and me.  I like to go here whenever I can, ever since I first became acquainted with it when top model Nancy Donahue and top hairdresser Harry King had one of their parties here - you know all about that!   Shanti chose this place for her book launch, and a lot of her friends showed up to buy copies of her book and get her autograph.  Alas, I couldn't afford a copy, but Shanti was nice enough to sign a promotional card for me.  And I got a lot of souvenirs in the form of pictures.    

This is Shanti Patty Owen, easily one of the nicest women you'll ever meet.  Here she is at Cafe Un Deux Trois all ready to sign copies of her book.

And here's her book. 

I have a feeling that the public library in my hometown would ban this book on the basis of the cover alone.  But Shanti is nothing if not frank about her past.    

Many of our mutual friends were there, including her fellow top model Alva Chinn, with whom she poses below.  Cool mirror image, huh? :-D.

She also received one of the most legendary models of all time, Linda Morand Phillips (below), who was modeling in Paris back in the sixties.  Of course, both Alva and Linda are friends of mine as well.   

Shanti spent two hours signing books, and she met with many of her old friends in the process.  Those of us who've only known her for a little while as well as her lifelong buddies were happy to support her in her literary endeavor. 

Yours truly got into the picture - literally - courtesy of art director and designer Fred J. DeVito, who has worked on many a fashion ad.  Here's  Fred's picture of me with my good friend Bhavaja Kat . . . 

  . . . and here's a smartphone pic of the two of us with male model Tony Spinelli.

No, I didn't change my shirt.  Some digital cameras reproduce color better than others.

It was a night to remember. like so many other nights with the veteran movers and shakers of New York fashion, and Shanti was as always a gracious hostess.  but then, she was amply surrounded by friends.

If your friends are there, then everything's all right. :-)    

You can buy Shanti's book here.

Review: 'Model,' A Documentary by Frederick Wiseman

The model's face in the picture below is perfect and serene.  She smiles gently into the camera lens, with a subtle backdrop in a close, intimate setting.  It's the type of picture you'd expect in a newspaper ad for a department store, with its unmistakable greyscale texture.   But that placid tableau was made possible only by carefully applied makeup, countless photos, strategically placed lighting, and an interesting prop - the model sat behind a partition with a square cut out from the front for the camera to project into.  The photo session for this picture is one of many behind-the-scenes surprises in Model, Frederick Wiseman's 1980 documentary about the world's most glamorous profession.

Whether you're interested in fashion, intrigued with how the magic in the fashion and beauty world happens, or just attracted to beautiful women (or handsome men; male models are presented here too), Model is a fascinating look at the New York modeling world in the late 1970s, a time when professional models and not celebrities defined taste and image in fashion and beauty and when models were just beginning to become celebrities themselves.  It's filmed in grainy black and white, so that the entire movie looks like a photo from the New York Times come to life, and the landscapes of late-seventies Manhattan appear in all their gritty, vivid glory.  In pure cinema vérité fashion, Wiseman features little commentary and very few interviews; the camera follows models, photographers and motion picture crews like a human observer.

Model shows the viewer several revealing scenes of how clients such as department stores and fashion houses get that special elegance and class in their ads, with closeups of the women being transformed by makeup artists and the men getting immaculately groomed, as well as emphasis on props such as mirrors and lights.   Photo sessions take place anywhere and everywhere in New York City and its environs  - on the streets, in grimy low-rise buildings, in staid townhouses or, in one instance, on a windswept airfield in what appears to be New Jersey.  The photo above shows the latter session, with a male and female pair posing in a particularly interesting prop - a right-hand-drive Toyota Celica with Japanese-style rear-view side mirrors.

Wiseman doesn't pull the curtain back to cast modeling in a negative light.  Quite the contrary; Model shows the profession in the most positive manner, detailing the grueling preparation for photo sessions, the devotion models have to their profession, and the attention and dedication of the agencies - in the case, the Zoli agency, in whose offices and waiting rooms the agents advise and interview young women who hope to make it into the business.  We see a commercial audition in a small studio, countless photo reshoots, patient direction from the photographers, and meticulous studies of proof sheets.  Perhaps the most fascinating scene of Model is a segment lasting a little over ten minutes showing the making of a commercial for Evan-Picone hosiery.  The commercial was filmed on location in front of an apartment house (below) and in a studio where constant shots of a model's leg adorned in the product were choreographed over a day's work to create the effect of multiple legs fanning out over the television screen.  Takes from the two different shoots were edited together to create the final 30-second commercial, which is shown here in its entirety. 

Scenes from the outside world intersect playfully with this insular profession, with people walking the streets of  Manhattan, fruit vendors peddling their wares, children trick-or-treating on Halloween, and a leftover placard from Pope John Paul II's October 1979 visit to New York, eventually cutting to scenes of curious onlookers watching a photo session or a commercial shoot.  Indeed, the gritty, raw Manhattan of 1979 is as much a star of the movie as the men and women modeling the clothes.  (Inevitably, Andy Warhol does show up to converse with a couple of models, both men, about the profession.)  There's also a poignant commentary from a Zoli agent (likely agency founder Zoltan Rendessy himself, though he's not identified as such), who defends models from the inaccurate stereotype of being stupid and lazy. His observation that many of them speak multiple languages and are quite worldly as a result of their travels ought to give the viewer pause, if the sight of these men and women putting in long hours on the set hasn't already convinced said viewer of their incomparable work ethic.

Not many of the models themselves are identified, though I recognized several of the women; I spotted Alva Chinn, Tara Shannon, Sara Kapp (above), Pia Gronning, Donna Sexton, and, in the still image below,  Apollonia Van Ravenstein, at left, standing next to her future sister-in-law Pat Cleveland, a force of nature all her own.  To witness these women on the job is to see a golden age of a profession being captured forever.

Model ends with the backstage festivities of an Oscar de la Renta runway show, with an appearance by Mr. de la Renta himself, followed by the show.  It's a far cry from today's fashion trade, in which  celebrities appear at fashion shows to be seen rather than to look at the latest styles, just as the preponderance of celebrities on fashion magazine covers have almost pushed models out of the very profession they helped pioneer.  Indeed, Model is a loving and sincere look at a period in the profession that has long since gone away; as someone who knows nothing about fashion, I came away from this film with a bigger appreciation for these men and women than I already had.

But don't take my word for it. The film can be seen here.  Oh yeah, it's 129 minutes long. :-)  

Pictures From an Exhibition - The Laundress

As I type this, Hurricane Matthew is going full tilt boogie in the Caribbean Sea and it still has a chance of literally hitting me where I live, and I'm trying - with only a modicum of success - to get my mind off it.  So I thought that writing about a reception I attended earlier this month - at which I had one of the greatest moments of my life (I'll explain in a moment) - would help do that.

Stan Wan is a fashion photographer I met through my association with the many beautiful models I have connected with, and I consider him a friend.  So I was really pleased when he invited me to a reception for his exhibit of fashion photographs at, of all places, a boutique laundry-supply store.  The store, called The Laundress, is on Prince Street, just below Houston Street, in Lower  Manhattan, and though it was an odd place for a photography exhibit - imagine, conversely, buying laundry detergent at a museum - I still had a great time looking at Stan's fashion photos from Europe in the 1980s, which are very impressive.  His photos, many of which were taken in Paris, included photos of a short-haired model named Jennifer Linley Taylor,  a young Paulina Porizkova, and a somewhat more obscure model from the 1980s named Martha Longley, whom I recognized on sight.  Stan was surprised that I remembered her or even knew her name.  It's easy to remember a woman from the eighties named Martha, because back then there weren't too many women with that name. :-D  

As much fun as I had looking at Stan's photos, though, I had an equally fun time mingling with the other guests, including several of my friends from the modeling profession, who were there in full force - along with one model among my Facebook friends that I met in person for the first time. 

And here she is with me! :-D

Yes, that is the one and only Kim Alexis, the multifaceted fashion and beauty model who was the fancy of teenage boys all across America in the early 1980s - including me.  I had missed the chance to meet her before at one of Nancy Donahue's and Harry King's parties when Facebook lost my invitation to that particular soirée, but this time proved to be the charm.  When I got there, I saw Nancy Donahue outside the store and gave her a hug, and as I was looking over her shoulder, I noticed this drop-dead-gorgeous blonde woman standing behind her, and my first thought was, "Oh, my God . . . that's Kim Alexis!"  :-D

Anyway, Kim Alexis, in addition to still being gorgeous, is a very sweet and engaging woman, and I had the opportunity to talk to her - as in a real conversation - and I told her about my writing career, while she told me about how she'd just moved after having lived out west for awhile.  She now lives in Manhattan; I imagine I'll be seeing her again, particularly at one of Nancy and Harry's parties.

I think Stan himself took this photo of us, though Nancy definitely took this photo of Kim and me with Stan. :-)

And Nancy and Kim, who modeled together a lot together in the early eighties, haven't lost their ability to make hearts melt, as evidenced below. :-)  (Disclaimer: I did not take this picture.)

I also saw Alva Chinn, who remains a dear friend as always, at the exhibit, and our mutual friend Fred DeVito got this picture of the two of us together, below. Thanks, Fred! :-)  I always enjoy posing with her.

And here I am, below. with both Kim and Alva, along with Barbara Camp, an interior designer who's also designed sets for fashion shoots, I'm led to understand.   The person who took this pic caught Fred taking a picture of the same scene! :-D 

I also met another veteran model whom I'm friends with, Yasmine Guenancia, whose husband co-owns Cafe Un Deux Trois at 123 (get it?) West 44th Street, but I didn't get my picture taken with her.  But it was great seeing her, as she's always been very sweet to me. :-) 

So yes, it was a great night, and it was a wonderful experience.  Wonderful experiences are hard for me to come by these days, so I'm glad I went.  And if you hurry, you can see Stan's photos at The Laundress, at 199 Prince Street in New York, if you live in the Tri-State area.  :-)