Some Beverly Hills ladies would have called it the perfect trifecta: eating, shopping, and schmoozing. All those activities flowed together at the Beverly Wilshire at the “Hollywood Bag Ladies” annual luncheon to benefit Lupus L.A.’s lupus research charity. Event chairs Noah Alexander, Peri Ellen Berne, Marla Paxson, Beverly Sasson, and Kelly Stone put together the party for 650 guests—nearly all of them female—that began with a vast silent auction of new and used handbags donated by celebrities, including a whole table from actress Sharon Stone. Guests made their bids—using girly ballpoint pens festooned with big faux flowers—in a frenzy of activity before sitting down to lunch at tables decked with flower centerpieces in vessels made from plastic handbags.Following a lunch of gazpacho with crème fraiche, chicken breast, and warm apple tart, Stone took the stage to call a live auction that included a Fendi luggage set and Nicki Hilton modeling a tourmaline necklace by Maggie Ferrari Rowland. (Stone also recently called the auction before the Macy’s Passport fashion show, where she was more lucid in her impromptu personal storytelling; this time confusing rambling spawned much hushed speculative chitchat.) Afterward guests collected their silent auction purchases, along with a gift bag containing girly treats like cosmetics and the book Handbags: What Every Woman Should Know by Stephanie Pederson, who had also delivered a speech—on handbags, natch—before the meal.
—Alesandra Dubin
Posted 11.01.06
Photos: Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images (auction tables, Stone)
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—Alesandra Dubin
Posted 11.01.06
Photos: Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images (auction tables, Stone)
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