This week was a welcome break after last week’s flurry of events. But gala season is still in full swing and red carpets await. I’m also excited to attend a new friend’s art opening and dive into the sparkling world of diamonds.
Designer Feature: Claudia Amaya
To get ready for the week ahead, I visit designer Claudia Amaya’s midtown showroom. She is warm, friendly and immediately endearing. Her showroom is full of colorful string, chic fabrics and her little puppy running around underfoot. While I’m admiring her work, a client comes in to pick up a custom gown Claudia made for her to wear to the Golden Globes.
“Claudia’s incredible. She made it so perfectly and on such short notice. Everything she makes is of such amazing quality.”
A Claudia Amaya client
Claudia has a background in costume design and has worked with major New York designers like Prabal Gurung. I select two stunning gowns for my galas this week.
Best Friends Animal Society Annual Benefit Gala
In a season full of red carpets, Best Friends Animal Society stands out with its signature move: celebrities and VIPs pose with adorable rescue animals on an orange carpet. Hosted by Sara Haines, the seventh annual Benefit to Save Them All brought together animal advocates and supporters, with co-chairs Andrew Lauren, Natascha Schuetz and Ivy Getty, to celebrate the everyday heroes of animal welfare.
I wear a glamorous gold sequin gown by Claudia Amaya and I’m paired with an adorable puppy named Charlie Brown for my orange carpet appearance. The dress is classic gala attire with a sweeping train and a sexy low-cut back. Interviewer Josh Horowitz grabs me for a chat on the orange carpet that somehow ends with me (badly) singing a song for the cameras.
Evangeline Ellingsworth Tells the Story of Leather
Leather is my love language for fall, so I’m excited to pull some unique, beautifully crafted pieces from designer Evangeline Ellingsworth. Evangeline is a recent FIT graduate who is building her label as a space for textile research, material experimentation and a generative approach to slow fashion.
Leather has quickly become one of her favorite materials, and her approach to it is unique. Instead of buffing out every imperfection for a smooth, uniform piece, Evangeline sources antique and worn textiles, then embraces the story behind the material and lets it guide her creative direction.
“The natural imperfections and rawness of each hide present unique characteristics, and I’ve learned to embrace their influence in the finished product. Staying committed to sustainability and slow fashion, I’ve really grown to love the time-intensive process and appreciate sourcing hides from animals that have lived well.”
Evangeline Ellingsworth
Her guiding principles show in her work. I’m particularly obsessed with a leather top that laces up the front. Her leather jacket embodies her whole design philosophy: its storied appearance gives it a look and feel that is authentically vintage.
The Luxury Atelier Presents Artist Karina Lumiere
On Thursday, I head downtown to a private art event hosted by The Luxury Atelier, created by Avalon Ashley Bellos. Avalon and I met just a few weeks ago, seated at the same table at the Casita Maria Fiesta Gala at The Plaza Hotel. Since then, I’ve run into her at all the most exclusive galas I manage to score invites to (and her outfit is always fabulous). Tonight is a private vernissage titled “The Colorful Language of Becoming”, featuring artist Karina Lumiere.
My outfit for the evening is a whimsical, chic take on cottagecore: a bubble skirt cut from soft, expensive-looking fabric and a corset in my favorite print of all time, toile de Jouy. Both pieces are by designer Elisse Hanssen.
Arriving at the gallery, I immediately spot Karina in a fabulous sky-blue top with a fluttering tulle cape, custom made for her by a friend who is also an artist. Standing next to her is Robin Cofer, another artist, wearing an intricate, ornate headpiece she made herself.
Karina’s art is beautiful: colorful and unexpected, with abstract imagery painted in painstaking detail in a palette of bold, optimistic shades. The crowd is a very cool, art-world set, and the outfits reflect it. I run into Evan Hirsch, the CFDA designer known for his collaborative collections with Goodwill, and we catch up on all things fashion. Everyone seems to be wearing a piece of wearable art they made themselves. I’m drawn to Tyvette Symone, a taxidermy artist in whimsical maroon, who shows me the real taxidermied bird wings she is wearing.
After the vernissage (complete with caviar-topped chicken nuggets and a lovely toast from Avalon), we head up to the penthouse of the building next door for the after-party. It’s a very sexy affair, with a DJ in an outfit reminiscent of a disco ball and a sparkling view of the city skyline.
Designer Feature: Samma Diamonds
My recent foray into gala season has inspired me to up my jewelry game, so I make a special trip to Manhattan’s diamond district to visit Samma Diamonds. Diamonds are a family business for founder Dhwani Shah. Her father deals in natural diamonds, and she has forged her own path with high-quality lab-grown stones. Dhwani also lets me in on some secrets about diamond quality and how to get the best stones and sparkle. I have the time of my life trying on sparkling tennis necklaces and pink diamond rings, and leave with a few pieces for my events this week and plans to return the next.
Alisa Roever Hosts the Annual Angel’s Helpers Gala and Valerian Hughes Runway Show
Saturday night I make my way uptown for the Angel’s Helpers Gala, in another dress by Claudia Amaya, cut from shimmering light-pink silk. It’s sexy and sheer while still classy and elegant. I pair it with a necklace and earrings from Samma Diamonds, which happen to be the most exquisite pieces of jewelry I’ve ever worn. The necklace is a strand of diamonds with a deep green, sparkling emerald at the center, framed by a soft halo of more diamonds. The matching earrings are the same glittering emeralds, framed in diamonds. The effect is spellbinding, and every single person I chat with throughout the evening comments on my jewelry.
The gala, hosted by socialite Alisa Roever, features an art auction and a runway show. I’m excited to recognize the whimsical tulle silhouettes as they come down the “runway” between the gala tables. The designer is Valerian Hughes; I’ve seen his show twice before during New York Fashion Week, including one with a finale where an artist live spray-painted a design on the model. Alisa wears a fabulous feathered piece by Valerian Hughes as well. It’s a smaller, more intimate affair than most galas I attend. I run into a friend from boarding school in Connecticut and sit next to a media founder I met at the Halsey House Gala in Southampton this past summer.
A Quintessential Fall Day in the City
On Sunday I bop around SoHo. I stop by Best Friends Animal Society’s Snoopy collection launch and snuggle some of their adorable rescue animals looking for a home. The new collection is adorable and the line is down the block. I try a cinnamon roll from Loosie’s that is larger than my face. Known as one of the best in the city, Loosie’s used to sell out of the trendy downtown restaurant-slash-nightclub Jean’s; it has now expanded to a tiny serving window marked with a sheet of laminated paper. I also stop by the Bloom Nutrition pop-up to try their new apple flavor.
It is a quintessential New York City fall day, and I am dressed for the part in a polka-dot coat from designer Elisse Hanssen’s Cara Collection (launching Spring 2027). Polka dots are my favorite print of the season, and I adore the brown, black and light-blue color story Elisse chose for this piece.
Best Dressed List
Photography: Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for Best Friends Animal Society; Skylar Searing / BFA.com; Slavik Lyzhov; BFA.
