fabiola-beracasa

The Friday Party Report

cityfile · 01/09/09 12:40PM

Louis Vuitton celebrated Marc Jacobs' new collection in honor of Stephen Sprouse last night with an exhibition preview, cocktail event, and after-party. Marc and boyfriend Lorenzo Martone (left) were joined by a long list of fashion, art, and society types, including Donna Karan, Leigh Lezark, Nicole Miller, Jeffrey Deitch, Anna Sui, Patricia Field, Patrick McDonald, Erin Fetherston, Russell Simmons, Rachel Roy, Linda Fargo, Nina Garcia, Anne Slowey, Agyness Deyn, Molly Sims, Bettina Zilkha, Andrew Saffir, Jane Holzer, Tim and Helen Lee Schifter, Lisa Falcone, Terence Koh, Adi, Coco and Ice-T, Casey Spooner, David Hershkovits, Kim Hastreiter, Rogan Gregory, Chanel Iman, Eva Amurri, Fabiola Beracasa, Chuck and Candy Pratts Price, Brooke Shields, Amalia Dayan and Adam Lindemann, Mickey Boardman, Serena Bass and son Sam Shaffer, Glenda Bailey, Robert Burke, Peter Marino, Andres and Lauren Santo Domingo, Marjorie Gubelmann, Paul Sevigny, Andre Harrell, Andres Serrano, Stephen Knoll, Andrea Rosen, Maurizio Cattelan, Kipton Cronkite, Kehinde Wiley, Debbie Harry, Jackie Astier, Tatum O'Neal, Marcus Schenkenberg, Veronica Webb, Waris Ahluwalia, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Dr. Frederic Brandt, Monet Mazur, Peter Davis, Dori Cooperman, Mary Alice Stephenson, Melissa Berkelhammer, Luigi Tadini, and, of course, Patrick McMullan and son Liam McMullan. [PMc, Wireimage, NYO]

Who's Profiting from the Madoff Mess: Fabiola Beracasa!

cityfile · 01/07/09 02:26PM

One person you probably didn't expect to be profiting from Bernie Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme: Fabiola Beracasa! The oft-photographed social butterfly has a day job, in case you were unaware: She's the creative director of CIRCA, the estate jewelry company where "Madoff-related jewels had been incoming all month, like expensive shrapnel," according to the current issue of The New Yorker. Fabiola's boss, Chris Del Gatto (left), says his company has been inundated with precious pieces since news of the scandal broke, which he then proceeds to prove to reporter Lizzie Widdicombe by dumping a manila envelope filled with "the day's harvest from Palm Beach"—more than $250,000 worth of jewels—on a desk. Del Gatto is quick to point out that he isn't a "pirate" for profiting off desperate sellers. (If anything, his outfit here strikes as "safari guide" more than anything else.) And he adds that his firm has since had to assume the role of "priest, rabbi, and psychiatrist" to help distraught Madoff investors cope with the loss of family heirlooms. It's a role we imagine Fabiola has settled into quite nicely considering her first-hand experience with the subject.

Move in with Mom & Dad? Socialites Do It, Too!

cityfile · 01/05/09 12:32PM

So you're looking to conserve cash now that you've been laid off from your job. You've even contemplated moving back in with your parents. A horribly depressing scenario? It doesn't have to be, says Page Six magazine, which reports that lots of twenty and thirty-something New Yorkers choose to shack up with their parents during career lulls, even glamorous social scenesters like Charlotte Ronson and Fabiola Beracasa. Both ladies, the mag points out, have since decamped to abodes of their own, although in Fabiola's case her move out of mom's Fifth Avenue penthouse probably had less to do with spreading her wings than another recessionary trend: the rising foreclosure rate.

Your Internship Has Been Turned Into a Publicity Stunt

cityfile · 12/17/08 11:13AM

It's never been tougher for young New Yorkers trying to break into the media business: No one is hiring, of course, and to make matters worse, you now not only have to compete with children of the rich and prominent for unpaid internships, but with actual grown-up celebrities attempting to grab a bit of cheap publicity.

Wednesday Party Report

cityfile · 12/03/08 12:48PM

The New York iteration of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its opening last night with a party in the new SoHo space. Attendees like Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner and Theodora Richards (left) mingled with Taylor Momsen, Molly Sims, Matthew Modine, Ciara, David Foote, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Liz Lange, and Ryan Locke, listened to performances by Debbie Harry and Dave Mason, and inked their names on a plywood wall. [Paper, Wireimage, PMc, GoaG]

The Wednesday Party Report

cityfile · 11/26/08 01:38PM

At last night's opening night party for the New York City Ballet's David H. Koch Theater, guest of honor David Koch and wife Julia mingled with Candace Bushnell, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alicia Keys, Al Roker, Debbie Bancroft, Lisa Falcone, Mary Alice Stephenson, Alexandra Lebenthal, Zani Gugelmann, Annie Churchill, Peter Martins, Veronica Webb, Mark Indelicato, Blythe Danner, Valentino, Rachel Roy, Derek Lam, Peter Som, and Vanessa Williams, who all ate, drank, and danced to inaugurate the new Lincoln Center venue. [Wireimage, PMc, Style.com]

Fabiola's Essential Etiquette Guide

cityfile · 11/21/08 12:46PM

It's almost impossible to believe that anyone would dare—or want—to do the "looking over the shoulder to scan the room" trick when talking to Fabiola Beracasa at a party, but no: "People do it all the time and it's so rude," says the beloved social fixture, who gives readers of December's Allure tips on how not to disgrace yourself this party season. (The article is not online, unfortunately.) As well as always maintaining eye contact with whomever you're talking to, her other directives include magnanimously ignoring a companion's mispronounciation of a politician or designer—"correcting her will embarrass her, and you'll look like a know-it-all"—and resisting making a big exit: "When people say goodbye, it can be a buzz kill... tell one or two close friends you're leaving, then quietly kiss the host good-night and go." Oh, Fabi, as if your sudden absence wouldn't kill a party anyway, but it's a point well taken for the rest of us.

The Rise and Fall of a Golddigger

cityfile · 11/10/08 10:02AM

How did Veronica Hearst (excuse us, Veronica DeGruyter Beracasa de Uribe Hearst, aka Fabiola's mom), get through three rich husbands and still wind up $45 million in debt? As Vanity Fair's Vicky Ward discovers, the talents that enable one to ensnare wealthy old dudes don't necessarily include financial acumen. In 2000, Veronica persuaded her husband Randolph Hearst—whom she'd married in 1987 when he was 72 and she was a once-divorced, once-widowed, forty-something mother of two—to pay $30 million for Villa Venezia, a 52-room, 28,000-square-foot Florida mansion.

Wednesday Party Report

cityfile · 10/29/08 02:01PM

Dylan Lauren celebrated the re-launch of Dylan's Candy Bar on Monday night with a bash at her Third Avenue store. In addition to siblings Andrew and David and mom Ricky, guests included Woody Allen and Soon-Yi (with their kids), Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and wife Vanessa Trump, Lauren Bush, Dan Abrams, Olivia Palermo, Katie Lee Joel, Rachel Roy, Fabiola Beracasa, Stacey Bendet, Eric Villency, Jamee Gregory, Bettina Zilkha, Amy Sacco, Thom Filicia, Dori Cooperman, Ingrid Sischy, Dave Zinczenko, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Karen Duffy, Kira Plastinina, Jason Biggs, Tyson Beckford, and fraudster Tatiana Boncompagni. [PMc, NYO, Wireimage, GoaG]

Mid-Week Party Report

cityfile · 10/22/08 01:48PM

♦ Last night Karl Lagerfeld was in town to celebrate the Chanel Mobile Art exhibition with a cocktail party in Central Park. Undeterred by the chilly weather and/or enticed by the chance to be photographed in Chanel: Kate Bosworth and James Rousseau, Glenda Bailey, Linda Wells, Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond Jr., Zac Posen, Dasha Zhukova, Peter Davis, Helena Christensen, Terry Richardson, Eve, Ann Dexter-Jones, Boykin Curry and Celerie Kemble, Cory Kennedy, Victoria and S.I. Newhouse, Terry Richardson, Julie Macklowe, Debbie Bancroft, Katie Lee Joel, Tiffany Dubin, Kim Raver, Christopher and Amanda Cutter Brooks, Fabiola Beracasa, Amy Astley, Stefano Tonchi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Carine Roitfeld, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Kate Schelter, Ferebee Bishop Taube, Luigi Tadini, Eleanor Ylvisaker, Jackie Astier, Fran Lebowitz, Justine and Jeff Koons, Genevieve Jones, David Hershkovits, Kate Schelter, Sophie Auster, and Vidal Sassoon. [The Daily, PMc, GoaG]

The Week In Parties

cityfile · 10/17/08 02:54PM

♦ Soon-to-be-single Madonna premiered her directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom, at the Sunshine Theater on Monday night. On the red carpet and/or the after-party at the Thompson LES: Lindsay Lohan (left), Jerry Seinfeld, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, Ann Dexter-Jones, David Blaine, Alan Cumming, America Ferrera, Brooke Shields, Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone, Glenda Bailey, Jessica Alba and Cash Warren, Juliette Lewis, Jason Biggs, Jeremy Piven, Vanessa Williams, Becki Newton, Malin Akerman, Lake Bell, Max Minghella, Padma Lakshmi, Terry Richardson, Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson, Joe Zee, Byrdie Bell, Fabiola Beracasa, Ferebee Bishop Taube, Zani Gugelmann, Katie Lee Joel, Beth Ostrosky, Eleanor Ylvisaker, Kelly Klein, Minnie Mortimer, Maggie Rizer, Chace Crawford, Amanda Cutter Brooks, Ingrid Sischy, Ross Bleckner, Nancy Jarecki, Derek Blasberg, Ed Westwick, Rose Byrne, Taylor Momsen, Debbie Bancroft, Terry Richardson, Bruce Weber, Guy Oseary, and Ali Wise and Jason Pomeranc. [The Daily, PMc, Wireimage, Style.com]

Halloween 2008: Socialites Make Their Costume Plans

cityfile · 10/15/08 01:18PM

Just because the stock market is continuing to flail around, that doesn't mean people should forget this month's primary issue of national import: Who's going as what for Halloween? The Transom has helpfully surveyed the city's glitterati in order to discover what costumes we'll see at the Central Park Conservancy Halloween Ball, Allison Sarofim's party, and Susanne Bartsch's bash. While some people are as yet undecided—poor Fabiola Beracasa's been so rushed off her feet, she hasn't even had time to think, and Charlotte Ronson hasn't made up her mind either—others are all set.

Surviving the Recession in Style

cityfile · 10/01/08 08:51AM

In these difficult times, it's so tricky to know how to manage one's budget, especially when it comes to buying a fall wardrobe. (It's even trickier when even the homeless in the city are carrying Gucci shopping bags.) Luckily, we have the wisdom of socialites to guide us—lead by example, as is their birthright!—through the kind of scary decisions that now loom. For instance, dare you imperil your reputation by succumbing to the Barneys rack at Filene's Basement? What a relief: Kate Schelter says you're allowed. Celerie Kemble, for her part, counsels "going back to vintage," while Fabiola Beracasa gives permission to wear the same thing (we can hardly type it!) more than once—advice seconded by Harper's Bazaar's Mary Alice Stephenson, who claimed to have worn the same Dior gown three times! We didn't know clothes could withstand such heavy usage. [NYO]

The Week in Parties

cityfile · 09/19/08 02:58PM

♦ As we've heard, the financial crisis isn't stopping the benefit crowd from turning out, and Tuesday night's New Yorkers for Children Annual Fall Gala managed to rake in $1.85 million with the help of Mariska Hargitay, Julianne Moore, Juliana Margulies, Christine and Steve Schwarzman, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Campion Platt, Lauren Remington Platt, Annelise Peterson, Adam Lippes, Patti LaBelle, Annie Churchill, Oscar de la Renta, Moises de la Renta, Julie Macklowe, Nancy Jarecki, Hope Atherton, Olivia Palermo, Holly Dunlap, Denise Wohl, Frederic Fekkai, John Demsey, Jeff Zucker, Gillian Hearst Simonds, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Zac Posen, Lola Schnabel, Tory Burch and Lyor Cohen, Robert and Nanette Lepore, Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Olivia Chantecaille, Gillian and Sylvester Miniter, Julia Restoin Roitfeld (pictured), Zani Gugelmann, Peter Davis, Lydia Fenet, Bettina Zilkha, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Meredith Melling Burke, Muffie Potter Aston, Jamee Gregory, Heather Mnuchin, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Jamie Tisch, Amanda Cutter Brooks, Marjorie Gubelmann, Poppy de Villeneuve, Jennifer Creel, Marina Rust Connor, Sylvana Soto-Ward, Jessica Joffe, Taylor Momsen, Blake Lively, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Liles, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Gayle King, Gilles Mendel, Maggie Betts, Topper and Tinsley Mortimer, Monet Mazur and Alex de Rakoff, Joy Bryant, Kelly Klein, Sylvana Soto-Ward, Horacio Silva, Patrick McMullan, Fabiola Beracasa, and Angel Sanchez. [The Daily, Park Ave Peerage, PMc]

The Week in Parties

cityfile · 09/12/08 01:30PM

» The Liv Tyler-hosted party for Hearts on Fire diamonds at the Rose Bar was the hottest ticket in one of the busiest social weeks of the year: Leonardo DiCaprio, Alexandra & Theodora Richards (who DJed), Keith Richards, Elizabeth Banks, Catherine Keener, Mena Suvari, Dave Navarro, Ellen von Unwerth, Tara Subkoff, Alan Cumming, Tinsley Mortimer, Adrian Grenier, Sean Avery, Emma Roberts, Monet Mazur, Richie Rich, Ingrid Sischy, Jamie Burke, Russell Simmons, Lauren Santo Domingo, Diego Garcia, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict all stopped by. [The Daily/Paper]

Fashion Week Highlights: Day Six

cityfile · 09/11/08 10:16AM

» The scene at Michael Kors was inevitably the central portion of the fashion industry/magazine world/reality TV venn diagram: Nina Garcia, Rachel Zoe with her client Joy Bryant, Heidi Klum, Joanna Coles, and Joe Zee drew the limelight away from Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Blake Lively, Bette Midler, and Kors' mom Joan. On the runway the (smiling!) models, who were told "you are the most glamorous beach bums in the world," showed off middle-of-the-road, cheerful outfits with polka dots and gingham aplenty. [NYO, NYDN, IHT]

Fashion Week Highlights: Day Five

cityfile · 09/10/08 08:20AM

♦ At Betsey Johnson, the front row—Kelly Osbourne, Perry Farrell, Miss J Alexander, Bow Wow, Ugly Betty's Mark Indelicato, Jason Lewis, Mickey Boardman, Lynn Yaeger, and Patrick McMullan—sat at little tables festooned with frosted cupcakes and lollipops for a Peter Pan-themed show in which Liam McMullan played a pirate "throwing gold coins at the audience and pinching the models' exposed bottoms as they walked by." Betsey did her customary finale cartwheel, showed off her granddaughter (left), and went off on vacation with her boyfriend (an Italian decades her junior, of course). [NYO, The Cut, Fashion Wire Daily]