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.)