Monthly Archives: November 2024

……………..The “VIP ROOM”……was hardly that…….It was in the basement, and the staircase going down into it was guarded!!!….Only the most SPECIAL celebrities were allowed…It was a DUMP….basically a storage room where it was a “safe place” to take drugs….mostly cocaine……..I had my surprise 30th birthday party there….but…..Donna and our staff, unbeknownst to me, arranged to use it for my party…..Schrager told them it was a mess, and if they wanted to clean it up they could have it. The only thing that was there was a chain link fence…..So the work began….Our assistants cleaned the place out. They made it into a school yard as described at the upper left….Graffiti was spray painted on a white washed wall of all the guests that were coming to my party….the swing set and kiddie pool were brought in as well as real grass, beach balls, and even a sand box…….That was all done by my people, and the Studio 54 people were happy with what we did!….On the night of my party a small group of us, four, went to Raoul’s, a small well know French restaurant in the village where we ATE and had plenty of red wine to drink……Afterwards, about 1am, Donna and Steve, her husband, suggested we go to Studio 54. I was surprised because Donna wasn’t a party girl, and I really didn’t want to go….I was full and had too much to drink. I was tired and not in the best form to be going partying….but EVERYONE wanted to go….so since it WAS MY BIRTHDAY I couldn’t be a party pooper, and we all piled in a cab and went up town….The place was PACKED! we got in immediately and Donna took my hand and led me through the dance floor where I thought we were going to dance…..but no…..we continued on to the back staircase to the “VIP ROOM” entrance. As we were going down the stairs I saw my name on a sign down below, but I never put two and two together…..I was clueless! Once down stairs we went around the corner to the chain link fence and everyone YELLED SURPRISE!!!!!! I sobered up quick! There were 50 of my nearest and dearest…my closest friends….lots of designer friends, and models I was close to…..Needless to say it was the best surprise party I ever had…..The only one missing was JAC!!! She was in Europe doing the COUTURE SHOWS and couldn’t be there. After opening presents in the “playground”, we all went upstairs and danced the night away, and went home when it was broad daylight……I never went into work that next day……The picture at the upper left with the man holding on to the fence was my boss, Frank Mori in the “playground” he was already 10 sheets into the wind!!!!…..I heard he never made it into work the next day either……LOL……I’ll never forget it! We had some very special parties at Studio 54….like when Donna and I won our first Coty awards…..but that’s another story for another time!

……………..Chantal gifted me with this book on her last visit……”STUDIO 54″…..since I went to the “Studio” very often she though I would enjoy all of the photos of the club, and since there was a photo of me in the book,  she thought I should have it……Studio 54 was created by Ian Schrager and Steve Rubel. It originally was an old movie theater that they gutted and created into this “NIGHT PALACE”…….Nothing was like it then, and nothing has ever come close to it again! It was the destination everyone wanted to be at! It was THE PLACE to see, and the place……..TO BE SEEN!

…………….The opening night of Studio 54…it was a SENSATION! and BEDLAM…….EVERYONE WANTED TO GET IN!!!!……….The hordes of people outside pushing and shoving to get near the VELVET CORD ENTRANCE was astounding!…..but only the “SPECIAL PEOPLE” made it past the bouncers at the entrance led by one man who had strict instructions by Schrager and Rubel who were permitted to enter…He was a handsome MAJOR DUOMO!…You had to be BEAUTIFUL, FAMOUS, RICH, A WELL KNOW DESIGNER, a famous ACTRESS and ACTOR, NY SOCIETY, POP STARS, the most FAMOUS singers of the time….EVERY beautiful Model, women and men…..and FAMOUS people from all over the world were there…and the more extreme eccentric types in outlandish outfits were let in just to add to the carnival atmosphere…..If you had a great body, beautiful and were wearing next to nothing you got in…..Practically nude women and men who were beautiful were welcome and were expected to go wild on the dance floor, and a show they put on!!!….the most ELITE of the elite….everyone who was hot and at the top of “THE A LIST”, high society doyens and columnists got immediate entrance….Famous authors and artists were in abundance……other wise you would clamor at the entrance for hours….NEVER making it inside……..It was a who’s who of the most famous people of the world……Even First Ladies of the presidents, and high powered politicians were in attendance!……Every night was the same……..You would arrive….and be escorted through the masses to the velvet rope where they unlocked the cord and immediately let us in…YES, THAT’S ME with the bow tie, and Donna Karan and her husband Steve…Inside it was mayhem……music blasting….everyone on the dance floor or hanging out on the banquets or in the many tiers of balconies….The higher the balcony the darker it got…..and EVERTHING went on in the balconies!!….I’ll leave that to your imaginations, and whatever you could possibly imagine went on was only the start…..it was that and MORE!…Drugs were plentiful…..The higher darker balconies were Sodom and Gomorrah!!!…… Scantily clad muscular waiters, all hand picked by Steve Rubel, were constantly serving drinks….The super expensive bottles of Champagne  flowed…..EVERONE who was anyone wanted to be seen at Studio 54…..and they were…..every night until the dawn broke…….There were many nights I went home early in the morning……took a shower and went straight to work………….AH YOUTH!

……………..It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas decorations!…….Before you know it Christmas will be here…….Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is around the corner…..and then IT’S HERE………..CHRISTMAS!…….I have started gathering things I know I will be using for different displays, and seeing what needs to be “spruced up”…I’m taking things down from the third floor where I store it all, and have been putting it on the sun porch. Years and years ago, when Jac’s mom lived with us, she asked me if I would like to make ANGLES with her. I said, “sure mom, but I don’t know how?”…she said “don’t worry I’ll show you step by step”….So we sat at the kitchen table with all of her supplies…..old sheets, wire clothes hangers. styrofoam balls, scraps of lace trim, string from mops, gold spray paint, cardboard, and whatever else she had in her bag of tricks and notions!…….After all of these years the patina of gold on the angles has gotten dull so I decided to give them a new coat of GOLD…..I found on Amazon the BEST GOLD spray paint I have ever used……..”24 CARAT GOLD”….They came out great…….While I was at it, and the weather was still warm to spray outside I gathered pine cones, and all kinds of pods I still had in the house from when Jac used them for wreaths….which I still have…..Years ago, when Jac and I were visiting my parents out in Ridge, Long Island where they had moved….I noticed tons of pine cones that had fallen under the trees…..I asked my father if he would gather some for us when he had nothing to do….he said “sure”…….The next time they came to visit us in Ct. he brought 6 large paper bags FILLED with PINE CONES…….I’m still using them!!!!……..Everything got a fresh coat of gold paint, and some of the cones I tipped with white acrylic paint to look like snow….From the pine cones I moved on to Hydrangeas…….I cut them from my garden and spray painted them gold. I will put them in vases around the house……and all it cost me was a few cans of spray paint…..and a little time!

………………..It’s that time of year when I start to crave……VEGETABLE SOUP!……..This was my first foray into making vegetable soup in my slow cooker crock pot Angela and Chantal gave to me…..I really should call it my “KITCHEN SINK VEGETABLE SOUP”, because it had everything in it……parsnips….turnips….celery….potatoes….corn….diced tomatoes….lentils….barley….onion….carrots……vegetable stock….bay leaves……thyme…and some salt and pepper…..As I said “kitchen sink”……I let it cook on low for almost 5 hours. I made enough to feed an army so I put some in glass jars and Tupperware to freeze, and kept a good portion in the refrigerator to heat up and eat…..It’s a thick soup so it really is a meal…..It smells incredible and the taste…..OH…LA…LA!….Success!……..Now I can add vegetable soup to my repertoire!.