Great player, true gentleman
Fans remember running backs and tight ends and,buy tiffany rings, after their National Football League careers are done, their names draw polite applause and perhaps a cheer or two when introduced at a banquet.
But quarterbacks? That's different. Introduce a Hall of Fame quarterback and you'll see a standing ovation and hear the loudest cheers.
That's the way it was Friday night for Len Dawson, the former Kansas City Chiefs' great. Mr. Dawson attended the "Evening in Red" event at the St. Joseph Country Club. As his name was announced, a room full of Chiefs fans jumped to their feet and paid homage to the man who was the face of Kansas City football during its infancy.
In his younger days, Mr. Dawson eluded hulking defensive tackles and blitzing linebackers with an unhurried presence,tiffany money clips clearance, all the while tracking receivers downfield. Now, he calmly signs his name on programs,tiffany key rings clearance, hats and footballs, while still telling stories and greeting each fan with understated class. Every fan who approached left the table with an autograph and a quiet smile.
Len Dawson accomplished just about everything a quarterback can in football. He was the AFL's Most Valuable Player in 1962. Super Bowl MVP in 1970. The NFL's Man of the Year in 1973. First-round draft pick coming out of Purdue in 1957.
Now he talks about the game as a sports announcer for KMBC, a Kansas City television station, and as color man opposite play-by-play announcer Mitch Holthus on the Chiefs' radio broadcasts.
Mr. Dawson's biography on the KMBC website leads off with a quote: "I'm one sports fan talking to another."
True, except most sports fans didn't play 19 years of professional football or win a Super Bowl.
Thus, Mr. Dawson's commentary is always realistic and can be critical. He will point out that the Chiefs' offensive line needs to better protect its quarterback or that the defense needs to stop the other team's running game. He leaves the cheerleading and spin to others. For that, he is a unique voice on the airwaves.
You might not know what to expect if you were to sit and have dinner with Len Dawson, which I had the pleasure of doing. Would he be the stereotypical ex-jock who relives the glory days over and over, spinning stories of his greatness to local businessmen and Chamber of Commerce members? Would he be arrogant? Aloof? Too good for the backwater stage that is St. Joseph?
Turns out, Mr. Dawson was none of those things.
He was calm and poised. His quietness seemed to be innate, present whether he was reading defenses from legendary coach Hank Stram's "moving pocket" like he did decades ago or carving up a banquet meal and exchanging pleasantries with VIPs.
He did tell a few stories, mostly about college. He'd just returned from a function in West Lafayette, Ind., home of the Boilermakers,bracelets, and told a story about a particularly fearsome defender who terrorized opposing quarterbacks.
"That's when I learned the quick release," he said with a wry smile.
But he also talked about Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon and a Purdue graduate two years ahead of Mr. Dawson. Turns out, Purdue has produced 20 astronauts, including Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon.
After the banquet, when the speeches had run out and diners had picked at the last bits of strawberry cheesecake, the crowd rose and several attendees sought out the Hall of Fame quarterback to say hello or score an autograph.
Despite the press of the crowd and the groups of fans waiting to pay homage, Mr. Dawson made time and eye contact with everyone. He takes it in stride when fans tell him what a thrill it is to meet him,cheap tiffany Pendants, or how they admired him when he played football. He has the demeanor of a man who has attained success in both football and broadcasting and has nothing else to prove.
Steve Booher's column runs on Monday. He can be reached at steve.booher@newspressnow.com.
I-85 wreck kills Durham woman
A Durham woman was killed and three others injured in traffic accidents that shut down Interstate 85 on Wednesday evening for about three hours, police said.
Michelle Leigh Smith, 35, of Sherron Road,bangles, was taken by helicopter to Duke Hospital, where she died of her injuries, according to Durham police spokeswoman Kammie Michael.
Smith was a passenger in a Chevrolet Lumina that crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer that had been involved in a previous accident in the southbound lanes of I-85 near Roxboro Road, Michael said.
According to traffic investigators, the first accident occurred at 5:12 p.m.,Bead bracelet, when a southbound Western Star tractor-trailer driven by Lawrence Dixon Jr., 58,tiffany, of McComb, Miss., apparently attempted to change lanes and clipped a Jaguar driven by Dwight Edward Mason, 53, of Durham.
The impact caused the Jaguar to spin in front of the tractor-trailer and then into the right side of a Chevrolet van driven by Jason Elijah Tabares, 29, of Hillsborough, police said.
Three minutes later, the Lumina, driven by Betty Ellis Stephenson, 63, of Sherron Road, hit the back of the tractor-trailer. According to witnesses, Stephenson hit the brakes and swerved in an attempt to avoid hitting the truck, police said.
Stephenson was taken to Duke for treatment of serious injuries, police said.
Mason and a passenger in his vehicle, Sallie Diane Mason, 47, of Durham, were taken to Durham Regional Hospital for treatment and then released, Michael said. Dixon,necklaces, Tabares and a passenger in his van, Vernon A. Pratt, 28, of Durham,pendants, were not injured.
Credit: The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.
Discount Window Borrowings Plunge To Just $11 Mill
In all the recent hoopla over Excess Reserves and spurious rumors over whether or not they should generate any form of interest (readers will recall a key catalyst for a surge in the market two weeks ago was the expectedly false rumor that Bernanke would announce the elimination of any IOR (Interest Paid On Reserves) rather than keeping the even current minimal 0.25% rate), everyone seems to have forgotten that old staple: the Discount Window. And probably logically so: while the Excess Reserve issue is one that deals with excess liquidity in the banking system (by definition: otherwise it would be lent out to consumers), Discount Window-related concerns deal with the opposite, or a liquidity deficiency. Logically, the two are mutually exclusive: near record excess reserves held with Federal Reserve Banks simply means that banks are not in any want for money (of any term, but most specifically ultra-short term).Looking at the Fed's H.4.1 statement confirms that for the week ended July 29, the Fed's Primary Credit facility (aka the current version of the Discount Window, together with the Secondary Credit and the Seasonal Credit Facility) usage has plummeted to just $11 million: a negligible number for a "rescue facility" that at the peak of the crisis saw more than $100 billion in overnight borrowings. The finding is not surprising, when considering that the rate on the Primary Credit Facility is 0.75%. As this is higher than the rate on the 2 Year Treasury, there is very little banks can do in reinvesting capital that is more expensive than even long-term funding sources. In other words, with well over a trillion in Excess Reserves, banks are becoming increasingly self-funding, at least in the medium term, and seek to disintermediate themselves from the Fed. In looking at the same problem,Charm bracelet, but from the perspective of the IOR, the Atlanta Fed concludes: "One broad justification for an IOR policy is precisely that it induces banks to hold quantities of excess reserves that are large enough to mitigate the need for central banks to extend the credit necessary to keep the payments system running efficiently. And,tiffany, of course, mitigating those needs also means mitigating the attendant risks." An environment in which banks are increasingly leery of relying on the Fed for funding, irrespective of whether IOR at 0.00% or 0.25%, is not one in which consumer should expect to see any incremental lending any time soon.
The chart below shows discount window borrowings since 2007, combing the Primary and Seconady Credit facilities.
A glance at the other side, or the Fed's "excess liquidity" liabilities, reveals that while Excess Reserves have declined by almost $200 billion since their peak of $1.227 trillion on February 24, to the current $1.045 trillion, the balance has been more than made up by the Deposits with FR Banks other than Reserves, which during the same period has more than offset the Excess Reserve decline, climbing from $45 billion to $250 billion. Indeed, as the chart below demonstrates, banks continue basking in the glow of the Fed liquidity excess, whether they collect 0.25% on this capital or not. While the $205 billion increase in the latter category deserves an analysis of its own, we will put that off to a future date.
Combining the two charts yields the following observation: there are three distinct regimes visible: the first one pre Bear Stearns, was one in which the ratio of Primary Credit Borrowings to Excess Reserves was negligible. Then, at the collapse of Bear (blue shaded area), the ratio of Discount Window Borrowing to Excess Reserves surged to over 100%, at its peak hitting 250%: this was Regime 2. However, Regime 2 promptly ended when Lehman also failed, pushing the ratio back to historical levels, as Excess Reserves took off to offset for the massive surge in Fed "assets" as part of QE 1.0. With the most recent reading,necklaces, the ratio of the two is back to 0.0%.
So what happens next?
If, as Bullard expects, QE 2 is imminent, then the assets imminently purchased by the Fed will result in yet another massive offset of Excess Reserves: in other words, should QE 2.0 prove to be about $2-3 trillion, all of a sudden banks will find themselves depositing instead of $1 trillion in cash with the Fed, anywhere between $3 and $4 trillion. When one considers the FRNs in circulation are less than $1 trillion (as the other main Fed liability), and this relationships starts to get problematic. If the Fed has difficulty explaining why banks are unwilling to lend to consumers when there is over $1 trillion in cash sitting and collecting dust, or 0.25% as it is technically known, the problem gets even thornier when Bernanke (and Jamie Dimon) have to defend 4 times this number. Surely, the US consumer will demand that banks open up the spigot and provide cash to everyone no matter what their creditworthiness, simply as a result of all the excess money floating around. Will lowering the IOR to 0% at that point help? Not at all due to massive problems such a move would create in the shadow banking system. Very much contrary to expectations of lowering the IOR to 0%, Bernanke in fact provided reasons for why such a move would make no sense:
"... Lowering the interest rate it pays on excess reserve--now at 0.25%--could create trouble in money markets, he said.
" 'The rationale for not going all the way to zero has been that we want the short-term money markets, like the federal funds market, to continue to function in a reasonable way,' he said.
" 'Because if rates go to zero, there will be no incentive for buying and selling federal funds--overnight money in the banking system--and if that market shuts down ... it'll be more difficult to manage short-term interest rates when the Federal Reserve begins to tighten policy at some point in the future.' "
In other words, all those who say QE2.0 will do nothing to stimulate the economy are correct, as all such a greenlighted action would encourage is the warehousing of yet more cash by banks. And since banks have no incremental incentives to lend it out, it doesn't matter if the Fed's liabilities are $2.5 trillion or $2.5 quadrillion. Instead of stimulating inflation, which is the end goal, all such an action would do is to create further doubts about the stability of the dollar, which in turn, as Ambrose Evans-Pritchard discussed, is a sure way to go to hyperinflation without first passing either Go, or inflation. Hyperinflation: not in the sense of a pull-driven rise in prices from cheap consumer credit, but a complete collapse of faith in the monetary unit of exchange, likely predicated by a rush to physical commodities and a collapse in the paper system supporting the forced shorting of commodities such as gold. And with Treasuries yielding next to zero courtesy of the expectation of the Fed becoming the end buyer for all paper, and stocks surging to infinity, on the assumption that the Fed will not allow the failure of any risk assets, the end result will be the most divergent market in history, in which both inflation and deflation are priced at the very margins with no gray area inbetween (a theme we have been observing increasingly more often on the pages of Zero Hedge). While that may be good in the short-term for long-only holders of any asset classes, in the medium run (not to mention long), it means the end of the financial system, as the Fed will be caught in a Catch 22 whereby it needs to sustain the perception that it will print into infinity to maintain the divergence,rings, or else the convergence will be one of catastrophic proportions. Of course, even the continued decoupling between inflation and deflation will ultimately eat away at the core of the monetary system, resulting in the complete destruction of the dollar. And with both inflation and deflation priced in at the extreme margin, the only sure alternative will be non-paper based forms of exchange. And unless someone can come up with a substitute to the 2,000 year old legacy cash alternative of gold, it is obvious what real asset class will benefit at the end, as society once again reverts from a monetary system to something far simpler,tiffany, and far less encumbered by the scourge of any society that are Central Banks.
Credit: Zero Hedge
The views expressed on blogs distributed by Newstex and its re-distributors ("Blogs on Demand(R)") are solely the author's and not necessarily the views of Newstex or its re-distributors. Posts from such authors are provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confer no rights. The material and information provided in Blogs on Demand(R) are for general information only and should not, in any respect, be relied on as professional advice. No content on such Blogs on Demand(R) is "read and approved" before it is posted. Accordingly, neither Newstex nor its re-distributors make any claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained therein or linked to from such blogs, nor take responsibility for any aspect of such blog content. All content on Blogs on Demand(R) shall be construed as author-based content and commentary. Accordingly, no warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions, commentary or anything else offered on such Blogs on Demand(R). Reader's comments reflect their individual opinion and their publication within Blogs on Demand(R) shall not infer or connote an endorsement by Newstex or its re-distributors of such reader's comments or views. Newstex and its re-distributors expressly reserve the right to delete posts and comments at its and their sole discretion.
Dior’s Shanghai Lady
The third episode of the online Lady Dior handbag saga, Lady Blue Shanghai a mini movie directed by David Lynch and featuring Marion Cotillard will be unveiled in Shanghai on Saturday in tandem with the showing of Christian Dior's cruise collection. The film will then go up on the Tiffany Charm bracelet Web site.
It's about memory, Lynch said of the 12-minute movie, following a screening in Paris last month. And then, when you remember, it's different.
The love story is enigmatic, rich in mystery and flashbacks. The action centers around Shanghai's iconic Pearl Tower and Cotillard fretting about a Lady Dior handbag (which emits light and fog) that appears in her hotel room. The director of Blue Velvet also interjected a blue flower as a prop.
For both Cotillard and Lynch, the two-day shoot for Lady Blue Shanghai in December marked their first visit to the Chinese city. Lynch liked its people.
The surprise, I think, was traffic jams and the fact that the city never ended, he said. You could drive for an hour and a half and never be out of Shanghai. And the amount of construction that was going on 4,000 construction sites during the time we were there. So it's an incredible, fast-changing [city].
Meantime, Cotillard was struck by the Pearl Tower.
It is pretty amazing because, when you are on top of it Tiffany Cushion Drop earrings you walk on this glass floor, you see the whole city under your feet, she said.
Cotillard described her character in the Dior spots as someone connected to her time and also connected to all the history of many things the history of women, the history of fashion and of life. She's also someone who has a vision of this time we live in and a global vision of our world and the way a woman lives in it. I think she's someone who travels travels in time, travels many places.
One memorable moment during the filming came in a dance scene, which doesn't appear in the movie but is in an accompanying clip. The floor was uneven and [Marion] was in high heels, so she fell over, recalled Lynch. It was scary and funny, both.
To him, short-format work differs entirely from full-length films.
I always learn something on every commercial, said Lynch, who has lensed another advertisement for Dior for the Fahrenheit men's fragrance. One of the reasons is that technology is moving fast. Sometimes commercials have more money, so you are using the latest and greatest technology. You learn things. You learn about more and more possibilities, and you meet new people and [go to] new places, so it's great. These short films are interesting to do.
On the longer-format front, Lynch is working on a documentary about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The story is really about knowledge, and it is very abstract, and so I don't know exactly how I am going to tell [it], he explained.
Cotillard remembered her first encounter with Lynch, one of her filmmaking icons. It was in Los Angeles, and I went to his studio. He arrived and I could see myself as a kid watching all his movies when I was not allowed to because they were sometimes too weird or violent. And we started Tiffany Cushion Hoop earrings, she related. I tried to behave myself like a normal person and not jump all over the place. At a certain point I told him, You know, I have to tell you something. I can't believe I am here, I can't believe I am talking to you.
Before I met David Lynch, I knew that he's a director you can trust, because when you watch his movies, he respects people, life, everything movies, music, lights, sound, continued Cotillard. He has this energy of respect. And so it was two unforgettable days.
New Jewellery Sales Down 9% Due to Recession and High Gold Prices
The rise in the price of gold and the recession are being Tiffany keys heart key locket for a 9 per cent drop in new jewellery sales in the last 12 months.
http://www.froggybank.co.uk, the UK's leading cashback shopping website, has analysed the spending habits of its half a million members between November 2008 and 2009.
Not only are people buying less jewellery, but they are more likely to sell existing gold items to make some spare cash.
froggybank.co.uk's marketing manager Nadeem Azam said: "While there are a number of factors affecting jewellery sales, the cost of gold is certainly having a major impact.
"Jewellery sales as a whole are down on last year, and the price of gold jewellery has contributed heavily to the figures."
He added: "Families are still tightening their purse strings and therefore are unable to splash out on extravagant purchases such as jewellery."
"On top of this, the cash-for-gold schemes are proving to be a very attractive option for people to make money quickly on their excess gold jewellery - meaning they are less likely to buy more."
Consumers log on to http://www.froggybank.co.uk before Tiffany Blue Box Charm and Chain online purchases, to earn cashback on everything they spend.
The network consists of 180 websites led by http://www.froggybank.co.uk, the UK's first and only green 100% cashback site.
It's estimated there are more than 20 million online shoppers in the UK who are yet to discover cashback and get back up to 100% of the middleman's fee on all their online shopping.
Shoppers log onto a cashback site before making online purchases from major retailers as normal.
The referral fee paid by the retailer to the cashback site is returned to the shopper.
froggybank.co.uk has committed to work with PURE the Clean Planet Trust, to offset one million tons of carbon by 2012.
That's equivalent to the annual emissions of 180,000 Tiffany Notes heart tag key ring UK homes.
100% of the cashback paid by retailers can be turned into charitable donations that will support PURE. Shoppers can alternatively give the money to another charity, or keep some or all of it for themselves.
Notes to Editors
World Premiere Musical ‘Carmen Miranda
WHAT: "Carmen Miranda- The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat." World Tiffany 1837 Lock bracelet engagement of a new musical.
WHO: Written by Sam Mossler. Directed by Adam Schlachter. Musical director: Dennis Kaye. Choreographed by Daniel Coffman. Presented by Tocayo Productions, Inc. in association with Hudson Theatricals. Magi Avila toplines the cast of eleven.
WHERE: Hudson Backstage Theatre, 6339 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038.
WHEN: Previews May 21-23. Opens Friday, May 28, 2010., runs through June 27. Show times Fri. & Sat. at 8, Sun. at 3.
ADMISSION: $45. Previews $35.
RESERVATIONS: (323) 960-7740.
ONLINE TICKETING: www.Plays411.com/carmen
ESTIMATED RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 50 Tiffany 1837 Loop pendant.
Carmen Miranda (1909-1955) was born in Portugal and raised in Brazil. She became a successful radio singer, making a transition first into Brazilian films, and then to America, first on Broadway and then to Hollywood. She was a sensation, making 13 Hollywood movies and, at one point (1946), becoming Hollywood's highest earning star. The singer, dancer, actress was known for her unabashedly Latin screen persona, her musical talent, her sex appeal, and her distinctive headgear. She was the lady in the tutti frutti hat, like the title of the song in her film "The Gang's All Here." A disastrous marriage to an exploitive husband/manager who overworked her and allegedly beat her contributed to her early demise. She succumbed to a fatal heart attack the night after her final television appearance. Her body was flown back to her beloved Brazil, where half a million mourners lined the streets.
The show "Carmen Miranda- The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat" does not purport to be a documentary about Miranda's life. Rather, it is the celebration of the life and career of a unique and legendary entertainer, who brought joy to millions.
Enjoy 16 of Miranda's songs and production numbers, sung by Avila and Tiffany 1837 pendant by the live on stage band.
The show is suitable for family audiences.
The cast includes Magi Avila (as Carmen), Dennis Kaye, Robson Vieira, Edgar Lopez, Marcello Olivas, Jeff Markgraf, Geremy Dingle, Larry Meregillano, Ron Hershewe, Cengis Yaltkaya and Michael Solomon.
Philip Sokoloff Publicity for the Theatre
SOURCE Tocayo Tiffany 1837 ring
The special ministry aims to build confidence, manners
The dangling pinky keeps the Tiffany Rings from tipping as you take a sip.
Cross your ankles as soon as you sit.
Walk with your head up, and please don't slouch.
"Being here," said Daitia Brinson, 17, "you learn the right way of being a lady."
Brinson and friends Markia Harris, 12, and Danielle Dous'e, 16, weren't shy Saturday afternoon about sharing etiquette tips from a banquet table in a hotel on Jacksonville's Northside.
For the last few months, they've been part of a group of about 25 girls taking part in a new organization aimed at polishing their manners, building their self-confidence and teaching abstinence.
Earlier this year, retired Duval County schoolteacher Ellafair Jones-Tiffany Money Clips launched the Christian-based ministry known in short as "The Experience." On Saturday, the former home economics teacher's efforts began to pay off as her young members showcased their society skills while parents joined them for a tea party.
From kindergarten age up to high school students, the members stood to introduce themselves to the crowd by name. They also put in a word or two about their hobbies, which set up some chuckles when a high-school girl said she liked "texting," and 5-year-old Treasure Jones declared this:
"I like to swim, and I like to breakdance."
Club members meet once a month at a city library to learn skills ranging from the Tiffany CuffLinks of conversation, to dressing for occasions, to setting job and personal goals for the future.
"Here they're telling us 'your body's a temple' and out there they're dressing in little clothes and telling us to put it out there," said 16-year-old Arnicia Alexander.
The First Coast High School sophomore said she's seen friends struggle with poor decisions, including one who is trying to recover emotionally after an abortion.
Alexander said the tea party's theme "It's all about me," was a message about self-respect.
"You're your first priority, but you're not better than anybody else," she said.
Before the afternoon event ended, the girls sang, danced and Tiffany Key Rings long-stemmed red roses to their mothers. Each member also got her own tea cup to keep.
Use them and cherish them, Jones-Swain told members.
She left the rest unsaid.
Pinkies up, ladies. Pinkies up.
Prosecutor reveals $1m details of Madoff’s jewellery mailing list
The extent of Bernard Madoff's attempts to transfer his family's valuables was revealed yesterday as prosecutors detailed contents of at least five packages shipped from his Manhattan apartment to relatives and others.
The list reads less like a court document than a catalogue of the trappings of Park Avenue privilege: diamond Cartier and tiffany jewelry watches, a diamond bracelet, four diamond brooches, a jade necklace, a gold watch and other assorted jewellery.
The money manager, who is accused of perpetrating a $50bn (pound(s)33bn) "Ponzi" scheme, sent the items in an apparent violation of a court order and should be jailed pending trial, US prosecutors claimed in a court document made public yesterday.
One package contained about 13 watches, one diamond necklace, an emerald ring and two sets of cufflinks and could exceed $1m. At least two packages were sent by Mr Madoff and his wife to his brother and an unidentified couple in Florida.
Mr Madoff's lawyers said last night he should remain free because he "simply did not realise that [the asset freeze] necklaces to these personal items". They added "the value of these items was purely sentimental".
Mr Madoff's sons alerted prosecutors last week that they had received jewellery in the post from their father. Mr Madoff's alleged fraud came to light last month when his sons turned him in. Ira Sorkin, Mr Madoff's defence attorney, had said that the packages contained heirlooms innocently sent to Mr Madoff's children and brother, Peter.
Under a $10m bail agreement struck by prosecutors and his lawyers following the charge of security fraud, Mr Madoff is under 24-hour house arrest in his Manhattan flat. White-collar defendants are rarely jailed pending trial.
But his continued release presented "a danger to the community of additional economic harm and further obstruction of justice", wrote Marc Litt, the assistant US attorney. There was no practical way "to prevent the dissipation" of Madoff's assets, and asset transfers made it more difficult, "if not impossible", to recover all available assets to recompense victims.
Mr Madoff's lawyers said there was little risk of flight and the bail conditions are "more than adequate". silver bangles may submit additional papers today and a federal magistrate judge is expected to rule by tomorrow.
Comment, Page 11 Madoff scandal, Page 23
After Hours: Fashion’s Night Out
After almost a year of conspicuous contrition, New Yorkers, armed with rainbow-colored maps highlighting the location of participating stores, took to the streets or hopped on Gray Line buses decorated with the graphic black-and-white Fashion Night's Out logo and donated for the evening for what one reveler described as a fashion Mardi Gras. Donna Karan, who had jazz pianist Eric Lewis give a concert in her Madison Avenue flagship while at DKNY Coco Rocha danced an Irish jig for packed crowds, compares the night's giddy mood to a new holiday: It was like a mixture of Halloween and the ball dropping in Times Square on New Year's Eve all over the city! she says.
President of the CFDA Diane von Furstenberg, who kicked off the worldwide shopping celebration at Macy's in Queens with Mayor Michael Bloomberg,VOGUE's Anna Wintour, Michael Kors, Kate Hudson, Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren, and the cast of Hair, agrees. It was like having invented Mother's Day, she says. Valentine's Day gift have back to school, and now we have Fashion's Night Out!
Whether it was Sienna Miller at Intermix signing the official FNO T-shirt sold throughout New York, with 40 percent of the proceeds going to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum or Oscar de la Renta performing old standards (including the impromptu classic There's No Business like Clothes Business ) with Barbara Walters, Bette Midler, and Sarah Jessica Parker, the stores were filled with a heady mix of starry names, beautiful clothes, and fabulous entertainment, while at the same time a citywide clothing drive took place to benefit the NYC AIDS Fund.
Perched on two stools on a makeshift stage on the second floor of Giorgio Armani, where shoppers were snapping up the sleek fall collection, Nora Ephron (accompanied by Rosie O'Donnell) introduced her and her sister Delia's about-to-open play, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, based on the memoir by Ilene Beckerman. With Paulina Porizkova, rock-star glamorous in a ruffled-front midnight-blue satin dress by the designer, in the front row, Nora described a red Betsey Johnson shirt that she remembered more fondly than her first marriage. Then Rosie performed a monologue from the play called I Hate My Purse, in which she talked about her relief at settling on a bag it turned out to be a neon yellow and blue plastic MetroCard tote that had never been in style, so it could never go out of style.
At Barneys, among other standing-room-only events, Alexander Wang held a fashion-runway walk-off; Ruben silver bangles illustrated copies of Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out;Juan Carlos Obando gave salsa lessons; Justin Bond performed cabaret songs in a Rodarte dress; and the Olsen sisters served drinks on the third floor of the men's store, causing a stampede. Nearby, on Fifty-seventh Street, screen siren Charlize Theron along with It-choreographer Benjamin Millepied drew a delirious swarm to Dior, where upstairs Arthur Elgort took photographs of clients in their new purchases. By the time Andr Leon Talley arrived at around 9:00 P.M. at the Chanel boutique, where DJ Omi was spinning pink vinyl records, the house had sold 100 customized classic quilted chain bags.
Compared with the civilized cavalcade of the Upper East Side, Fifth Avenue had the atmosphere of Rio during Carnivale. Lit up in hot pink, with lines of people waiting to get inside the door, Bergdorf's was a glamorous madhouse. Zac Posen hand-painted dresses on model Anna Cleveland;VOGUE held a book signing for Extreme Beauty with Daria Werbowy and Caroline Trentini; Victoria Beckham created bedlam just by showing up; and on the seventh floor, Padma Lakshmi judged a designer cook-off in which Gilles Mendel re-created his mother's meatballs while Peter Som cooked up panko fried oysters. The event was so jammed, the doors to the restaurant apparently started to come off their hinges, and Lakshmi had to stand on a wine crate behind the bar. It felt like being onstage at a Nirvana concert, she says.
Next door, in the jewel-box setting of Van Cleef & Arpels, opera phenom Danielle de Niese dazzled guests with Mozart arias from her new album, wearing a traffic-stopping red Donna Karan dress and a spectacular Zip Pompon diamond and white-gold necklace modeled after one worn by the Duchess of Windsor in 1939.
Across the street from Tiffany's, whose sidewalks were lined in white roses and carpeted in the store's trademark blue, VOGUE's Grace Coddington, with her FNO T-shirt draped over the shoulders of her black Prada dress and tied in front in a giant Dutch-boy bow, had transformed the windows of Prada (with the help of longtime collaborators Mary Howard and Julien D'Ys) into a fairy-tale version of Little Red Riding Hood, inspired by her fashion feature for the September issue. Customers were met by a translucent forest backdrop by Mert and Marcus and a pack of silver rings dressed in Prada suits. They were having a meeting, says Coddington. Some were talking; some were looking at the moon.
And at Juicy Couture, Hamish Bowles, looking very 1930s in a Tom Ford tuxedo and a dashing mustache, regaled the room with Nol Coward ditties, accompanied by Next to Normal's musical director, Charlie Alterman, and Juicy Couture's Gela Nash-Taylor, in green coq feathers and a Lanvin beaded headband.
Meeting Justin Timberlake at Saks was my favorite thing, says eighteen-year-old tennis sensation Melanie Oudin, fresh off her charmed run at the U.S. Open giving voice to the thousands of other young girls who flocked there to see the pop star. That was child's play compared with the arrival of Hugh Jackman at Jeffrey New York. Straight from rehearsing A Steady Rain and exuding, in a rakish black fedora, the kind of old-fashioned movie-star quality that can't be bought, the actor caused more pandemonium signing FNO T-shirts than even the latest skyscraping Balmain bootie.
IT WAS A FANTASTIC IDEA, A GREAT SUCCESS, AND A LOT OF FUN, SAYS OSCAR DE LA RENTA
Downtown took on a life of its own, from the fans waiting around the block to glimpse Pharrell, who was working the cash register at his BBC & Ice Cream Store in SoHo, to the block party on Howard Street held by Opening Ceremony, where fashionphiles could enjoy dancers dressed in Alexander Wang voguing in the window and treats from the Van Leeuwen ice cream cart.
At the circus-like block party organized by Vena Cava and Bird in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the label's designers, Sophie silver bracelets and Lisa Mayock, their faces painted like butterflies, wandered around the crowd as the dress they designed for the occasion flew out of the store, while a dunking tank, says Fashion Fund finalist Sophie Theallet, who also made special dresses for the night, was a really great way to get the party rolling. Muses Mayock: Bridge-and-tunnel has now become chic!
By all accounts, the evening was a huge success. As Mayor Bloomberg says, The creativity and support we saw from the city's fashion designers and the more than 800 local retailers that participated were tremendous. Most important, perhaps, was the infectious energy, which drew everyone in. It had the right spirit of inclusiveness, says Amy Astley, who presided over the Teen Vogue block party on Bleecker Street. People came for a major night of fashion and ended up feeling like celebrities themselves.
On her way home early to prepare for her 4:00 A.M. call the next morning for the filming of Sex and the City 2, Sarah Jessica Parker passed through the fashion-fueled frenzy of Fifth Avenue. Her driver, a Pakistani man who's been here for 20 years, said in amazement, It's like a different time. Yes, she replied. It's like the past, and hopefully the future.
LIMA CRASH INJURES MOTORISTS, DAMAGES JEWELERY STORE
A handwritten sign saying "closed due to accident" could be seen on the front entrance of Dunkin's Diamonds only minutes after a car came smashing into the building.
Two people were seriously injured around 12:40 p.m. Tuesday following a two-vehicle collision at tiffany the intersection of North Cable and Elida roads.
Patrolman Rick Mays, of the American Township Police Department, said Anton Arnett, 21, of Lima, was driving his red Ford Thunderbird LX at a high rate of speed north on North Cable Road when he ran the red light at Elida Road and struck a car driven by Linda Clay, 62, of Lima, who was traveling east on Elida Road.
Mays said Clay's blue Chevrolet HHR finally came to a stop in the intersection after a 90-degree turn.
Chief Tom Hadding, of the American Township Fire Department, reported one person was in critical necklaces condition and another was in stable condition Tuesday afternoon at St. Rita's Medical Center.
Shards from both cars covered the street and snowy grass bordering Dunkin's Diamonds.
Capt. Joel Wills, of the American Township Fire Department, said the display room within Dunkin's Diamonds sustained heavy damage. The wall into which the car drove was made of stucco and cinder blocks.
A witness said as she was traveling south on North Cable Road she saw smoke from the accident.
"I saw a great bunch of smoke in the sky that covered the area and I thought there was a car silver bangles on fire," she said. "Then I saw the car in the middle of the road. It was very sad."
The manager of Dunkin's Diamonds declined to comment.
Arnett was cited for a red light violation.