| EVENT REPORT 03.13.07 9:00 PM |
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| Varvatos Throws Kid-Friendly Block-Party Benefit |
| The annual Stuart House fund-raiser at the Melrose boutique brought lots of activities for children, and a Macy Gray concert for parents. |
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| It’s not surprising that menswear designer John Varvatos’s kid-friendly annual benefit for Stuart House has grown every year since its launch five years ago. But who would have expected the fund-raiser, which helps sexually abused children, to feel more intimate than ever in a year when attendance doubled to a healthy 2,000? |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | | At John Varvatos’s kid-friendly annual benefit for Stuart House, activities for kids included story time with celebrity readers Angie Harmon and Melina Kanakaredes; magic performances by Justin Kredible; dress-up-like-a-rock-star photo ops, with event volunteers snapping Polaroids of children sporting granny glasses and guitars; and balloon animals crafted by Wild About Balloons. |
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 | | Decor was simple, with red Table 8 daybeds and gray industrial carpeting in sync with the color palette prescribed by Varvatos’s visual design team. |
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 | | Guests circled silent auction tables at one end of the main tent and inside the store, which donated 25 percent of the day’s purchases to Stuart House. |
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 | | Diva Arts artists gave kids glitter and airbrushed tattoos and helped them decorate Converse sneakers donated by the sportswear company and event partner. |
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The secret: Event producer Travis Jackson of Ikus & Company, working with Varvatos marketing and corporate communications vice president Donna Faircloth, simply turned the stage around. The centerpiece of the event was a concert by Macy Gray in a tent on Melrose Avenue adjacent to Varvatos’s flagship boutique, on the 8800 block. Last year, Chris Cornell performed at one end of the tent; this year’s 40- by 80-foot main tent was bigger than its predecessor, but the stage was turned to run lengthwise, so no guest was far from the performers. Also enhanced this year was the children’s tent in Varvatos’s parking lot, which held an array of play for kids, who were admitted for free.
Salt Catering served up buffets of California rolls, pizzas, and turkey on foccacia while waiters circulated with crudités and In-N-Out burgers. TV vets Drew Carey and Heather Thomas helped a Christie’s auctioneer stir up the live auction before surrendering the stage to Gray and her band, who serenaded the gathering for 40 minutes. Helping to grease the afternoon’s many moving parts were Stuart House’s 12-member event committee, chaired by Gail Abarbanel and Joanne Cohen; music wrangler Sharon Ainsberg of Starworks Music Management Group; and sponsors Base Curve, the City of West Hollywood, GQ, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Shiseido, United Airlines, Vanity Fair, and Zirh. The benefit raised more than $400,000 for Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center’s rape treatment center for children.
—Irene Lacher
Posted 03.14.07
Photos: John Scuilli/WireImage (tent overview), Donato Sardella/WireImage (Converse, seating, auction)
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