Diane von Furstenberg is branching out yet again. In an interview with the Florida's Centre Daily Times, DVF let it drop she's been dabbling in interior design, and now plans to design a few rooms at Claridge's, her fave London hotel. We're going to chalk this up to a little payback considering Andre Balazs' new Standard Hotel in the meatpacking district now shadows over DVF's "diamond-shaped glass bedroom." [Centre Daily Times via HC]
Publicist (and new mom) Lizzie Grubman turns 38 today. Dick Cheney turns 68. Christian Bale is 35. Gene Hackman is 79. Wilmer Valderrama turns 29. Vanessa Redgrave is 72. Phil Collins is turning 58. Theater impresarios Harold Prince and Bernard Gersten are 81 and 86, respectively. NHL star Chris Simon is 37. Singer/songwriter Josh Kelley is 29. Weekend birthdays—including that of Andre Balazs—after the jump.
There's been tons of coverage of Andre Balazs' new Standard hotel this week. (See here and here.) If you're too lazy to actually read—or you've been mispronouncing his last name and not giving it the Hungarian accent that it cries out for—perhaps this video of Andre discussing the property will satisfy your thirst for all things Balazsian. Or just skip over to Curbed for photos from the hotel's unfinished rooftop, where Balazs plans to install two venues, including a casual bar and a "more refined club." [Curbed]
It looks like Marc Jacobs is packing his bags and leaving behind the Mercer Hotel suite that he's long called home in NYC. He's not going very far, though. He's reportedly renting a 2,500-square-foot apartment a few blocks away at Andre Balazs' Jean Nouvel-designed 40 Mercer Street for $30,000-a-month. The sixth-floor condo comes with three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, and at least one cute neighbor, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe. What more could you ask for? Marc's new floorplan after the jump.
Whoopi Goldberg served as emcee at the National Board of Review's annual awards ceremony at Cipriani 42nd Street on Wednesday night. Attendees at the Bulgari-sponsored event included Alec Baldwin, Meryl Streep, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber (left), Clint and Dina Eastwood, Ed Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Salma Hayek, Anne Hathaway, Julian Schnabel, Diane Lane and Josh Brolin, Sir Howard Stringer, John Patrick Shanley, Eva Amurri, Tim Robbins, Joy and Regis Philbin, Meredith Vieira, Heather Graham, Amy Adams, Debbie Bancroft, Veronica Webb, Bethenny Frankel, CNN's Alina Cho, Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel, director Danny Boyle, along with a smattering of Bulgaris, including Ilaria, Veronica, Nicola, Natalia, and Beatrice. [PMc, Wireimage, The Daily]
Cinema Society, Nextbook and Grey Goose hosted a screening of Defiance last night with an after-party at Shang inside the Thompson LES. Host Andrew Saffir and the film's stars, Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, and director, Edward Zwick, were joined by Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone, Naomi Watts, Olivia Palermo (left), Jason Pomeranc, Agyness Deyn, Tory Burch and Lyor Cohen, Donna Karan, Martha Stewart, Jay McInerney, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric Villency, Amy Sacco, Russell Simmons, Zani Gugelmann, Ivanka Trump, Andre Balazs, Steve and Christine Schwarzman, Ann Dexter-Jones, Ellen Barkin, Paula Froelich, Richard Johnson and Sessa von Richthofen, Larry Gagosian, Bettina Zilkha, Carson Kressley, Jennifer Creel, Valesca Guerrand-Hermes, Rachel Roy, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Douglas Hannant, Rosanna Scotto, Heather Matarazzo, Joshua Bell, Leelee Sobieski, Jill Hennessy, Debbie Bancroft, Marina Rust Connor, Nina Griscom, Caroline Murphy, Judah Friedlander, Patrick McMullan, Liam McMullan, Mary Alice Stephenson, Dan Abrams, and Dave Zinczenko. [PMc, Wireimage, The Daily]
You didn't think Andre Balazs hired all those hot staffers at The Standard to just answer phones and carry bags, did you? The hotel's 2009 calendar is out with photos of employees from the New York, Miami, and LA outposts acting out various high school stereotypes. (Think slutty cheerleaders and sexy stoners.) Unfortunately there aren't any photos of Andre himself included, although we're hoping that's just because he's saving the pics for a full-size poster. [The Standard via Curbed]
Andre Balazs may have inadvertently stumbled on a brilliant new hotel amenity. A tipster who stayed at Balazs' new Standard NYC last week tells us the hotel is making up for its lack of a restaurant by not only providing guests with menu binders in their rooms, but you can also call down to the front desk, tell them what you want to eat, and they'll do the ordering for you. Sadly, it appears the service is only temporary. Then it's back to holding guests hostage with $35 hamburgers and $6 cups of coffee.
Andre Balazs' shiny, new Standard NYC soft-launched this past weekend with rates as low as $195 a night. But if you think even that is too much to spend on a hotel that doesn't have a functioning restaurant, bar or gym, Curbed kindly points out that the Liberty Inn across the street is still open for business. And it may be the best bargain in town—$60 for two hours, although you'll have to pay $40 extra for a "romantic interlude room." Just consider the tranny hookers in the hallways and the used needles in the bathrooms a memorial to the meatpacking district of days past. [Curbed]
After months of delays and several projected opening dates that never quite happened, Andre Balazs' Standard NYC finally opened its doors to guests yesterday. It's a soft opening, which means people who book rooms for $195 a night still won't have access to a restaurant, room service, or gym. Nonetheless, the reservation line (212-784-5530!) has been switched on, which we'll count as a victory in these scary, recessionary times. [HotelChatter]
Adrian Grenier and Jessica Stam hosted Scott Harrison's third annual Charity: Water benefit last night at the Metropolitan Pavillion. Attendees at the event included Richie Rich, Olivia Palermo, Whitney Port, Byrdie Bell, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Rocco DiSpirito, Jenna Elfman, Emma Snowdon-Jones, Jamison Ernest, Cee-Lo, and models Larissa Bond and Masha Rudenko. [PMc, Wireimage, GoaG]
Andre Balazs may be having trouble filling rooms at his collection of boutique hotels and his Standard NYC will open this week without a lucrative bar or room service operation in place, but it seems he's come up with a new way to keep the cash flowing: He's unveiled a series of limited-edition Standard T-shirts. Balazs commissioned three artists to design the $55 tees, and they're now on sale in the lobby of his hotels as well as on the Standard website. [notcot.com]
Andre Balazs' long-awaited Standard NYC is opening its doors beginning on December 10th with rooms starting out at just $195 a night. The catch? Construction on the hotel hasn't been completed as of yet, so guests will probably have to dodge a bit of dust and debris for the first few weeks. Oh, and room service won't be available when the hotel opens, although Balazs promises that "guests will receive an in-room binder consisting of our favorite local restaurants which will provide delivery service." At least tourists can be grateful that the Standard won't be slipping them under their doors.
Art Basel Miami, the most talked-about art event of the year, is in full swing and all the usual suspects have turned up. At a party on Tuesday night hosted by the Times' T magazine and hotelier Andre Balazs, faithful scenesters like Calvin Klein, Takashi Murakami, Naomi Campbell, Rachel Zoe, Yvonne Force Villareal, Dasha Zhukova, and Ingrid Sischy all put in appearances. So how is it all going? It sort of depends who you ask! Judging by the breathless coverage on sites like Fashion Week Daily, all seems to be fine and well. It's "bigger than any recession-concerned naysayers could have predicted," reports Adam P. Schneider in a piece titled "The Best of Times." Over at Dasha's table, for example, the "important topic" on everyone's lips wasn't the recession; it was the "internet craze surrounding Shiba Inu puppies." Of course it was! Unfortunately, that cheerfulness escaped New York's Alexandra Peers, who reports that the fair itself had about half as many people as last year, and that everyone is still waiting for the gazillionaire buyers—like, say, Dasha's boyfriend, Roman Abramovich—to show their faces."Everyone is asking, where are the Russians?" Yes, Miami is very much empty at the moment, as we confirmed when we made a few phone calls this afternoon.
It's not just dealers and artists who will be feeling the effects of a much more subdued atmosphere at this year's Art Basel. Further evidence that the annual art event is not going to be teeming with hedge fund moguls, Russian billionaires, and party scenesters as in years past: Rooms at Miami's top hotels are not at all hard to come by, judging by what's available on sites like Expedia and Orbitz. A run-of-the-mill room at Andre Balazs's Standard Hotel, for example, will cost you $426 a night if you arrive on Thursday and leave on Sunday. And there are availabilities at a number of other spots that would normally be booked months in advance, including the Delano, Sagamore, Shore Club, Four Seasons, Gansevoort, and Ritz-Carlton. If you're thinking of making a last-minute trip south, you need not worry about transportation either. Seats aboard flights from NYC to Miami are still up for sale, and although we didn't call to check, we're guessing that NetJets customers won't have any trouble booking a reservation either.
The Tribeca Film Institute hosted a benefit screening for the Quantum of Solace last night, which was followed by an afterparty at Tavern on the Green. Attendees included Daniel Craig, Becki Newton, Chris Diamantopoulos, Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower, Craig Hatkoff and Jane Rosenthal, Julia Stiles, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Jeffrey Wright, Debra Messing, Andre Balazs, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Hoda Kotb, Jill Stuart, John Sykes, Judy McGrath, Howard Stringer, Rob Wiesenthal, Liya Kebede, Stewart Rahr, Molly Sims, and Serena Altschul. [PMc, Wireimage, GoaG]
Diane von Furstenberg is blogging—sort of. In the most recent entry on the DVF website, she welcomes the Standard Hotel to the meatpacking district (which, in case you haven't heard, is a "new luxe hotel" that's "minimalist chic but with a downtown NYC twist.") We're going to go ahead and place the blame on her assistant, though, for referring to the hotel's owner as "Andre Balaz." [DVF.com]
♦ Michael Phelps is telling people he's single even though he's actually dating Miss California runner-up Nicole Johnson. [R&M]
♦ Peter Cook's interview with Barbara Walters airs on Friday, but Christie Brinkley's lawyers now say he violated a confidentiality agreement by speaking with the network. [OK!, ABC News]
♦ Hugh Hefner says his relationship with Holly Madison began to crumble six months ago when they found out his sperm count was too low to father any kids. Also, he's already auditioning new girlfriends. [E!]
♦ Anna Wintour's latest celebrity obsession? Gerard Butler. [P6]
♦ Yesterday evening the New York Women's Foundation Fall Gala took place at Gotham Hall: Michael Bloomberg and Diana Taylor, Iman, Joel Klein and Nicole Seligman, Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower, Felicia Taylor, Jamie Niven, Herbert Wachtell, and Jonathan Farkas ate, drank, and watched a performance from the American Ballroom Theater Youth Dance Company. [Wireimage, PMc]
