NYC Fall 2014. At every autumn, orange sunset in Manhattan, Central Park trees float their last yellowy orange leaves down, and a leafy shag carpet begins to rise, ready for tomorrow’s millions of feet pestles to mortar into the pavement. Perhaps every Fall, this city-infused herbal potion prepares us for some wintry healing magic for making dreams come true. Imagine, the alchemist of Nature driving us to throw down and mash up our own tea leaves in the metallic glass beaker bottle of NYC, towards what mysterious effects we have no sensory awareness of!

On the ponds of the park, loons make their last dives of the day, owl eyes wink-pop open, silver stars emerge slowly and hundreds of sparkled gowns get zipped up for Fall’s shiny, gold galas, award and charity red carpet events, many to benefit children halfway around the globe just waking up to their day.

This ritual of nature and the ritual of philanthropic humans of NYC, this giving, these grand parties, these gems…I’m calling it my big Orange Crush, a term I use for what makes me happy, expansive and lustful for life.  Here’s a few of the more stellar Orange Crush events and thrills we zipped up for.

One Hundred Years for NYC Kids…Kips Bay
On one recent evening, all this Giving and Glamour, made the Central Park Boathouse glow for the Kips Bay gala, set on a glimmering pond reflecting a pearl moon and city lumens winking like gems…

Inside hundreds of gala goers threw down to benefit the legendary Kips Bay children’s programs, reaching its 100-year mark. These people party hard! Donna Summers‘ coo-ing and bossa nova pumped the dance floor filled with all kinds of folks “cutting the rug”…Baronesses, even a federal judge, and my favorite, Orange Crush #2, a neon orange lace, swirly coat dress buttoned up and matching heels I lusted for as the perfect party frock for this event, the essence of positivity, the changing leaves, the transparency. (Its sexy, authoritative neon-ness later lit up a gondola on the lake, as boatloads of dancers ventured out.)

I thought my own Marlo Thomas/ That Girl out-on-the-town look, with my circa 70’s silver lame high-waisted pants topped with the above fuzzy puff sleeved orange-red rib sweater with silvery roses – hit the same smart note, given the Donna Summers vibe and the garb of the guests. The dance floor was awash in men in pale pink suits, puffy cocktail frocks and even a frenetically dancing lady who resembled “a Lufthansa stewardess.” (quipped a friend)

Design notables form a core base of support for Kips Bay, as every May, The Kips Bay Designer Showhouse is where these top designers and others really throw down for the cause.  Designers at the boathouse event included our client, Scott Sanders, interior designer, who hosted our table; Gideon Mendelson, James Rixner; Charles Pavarini; John Eason; Jennifer Flanders; David Scott, and industry leaders such as James Druckman.  

Evenings end, limping socialites lifted centerpieces and crawled out of the park to 5th Avenue taxis.

Hello, for a week that orange lace dress has haunted me. Why? Why was it so perfect for this evening? Was it just that it matched the leaves? Or was it the Nobel Prize-winning Malala factor? Her orange garb standing for hope, giving, sunniness? 

Malala, my Orange Crush #3.

Photo by Brad Barket/Invision /AP Images)

Or is all this orange just a color Power of Pop, like the Princess Rihanna factor? (My #4 crush for sure)

Orange signals change, hope or caution. Sunrise and sunset. From monks and Malala to Rihana on the red carpet…to…these waving-like-Malala, these orange hello kitties in the shop window of jeweler, Marie Helene Taillac on the upper east side. Imagine seeing 50 of them waving in a window! This was my next Orange Crush, #5.

I met Marie in Paris and am excited to see her shops expand into NYC and Japan. A fashion veteran, including work with Philip Treacy, de Taillac had a revelation when she met with some of the finest artisans in India, who still work according to traditional methods dating back to the maharajahs.

I saw this same inner sacred = “gems in metal enclosures” pattern at an interior design show this season, my senses tell me we are about to see more of this given the season and the times, now is when we lust to frame our desires/our fiery gems as the earth grows cold in the northern climates. Cultivating inner gems are what inner clarity, outer charity and celebrating do for a person. Imagine if we do more of this as Humanity.

A Night For Educating Girls, Furthering Dreams

Next in the chain of events, brilliant sari’s, smiles, malas and gems galore came together for an event at the Indian Consulate, featuring the art of Shreya Mehta to benefit the education of girls and orphans in India through the work of Commit-2-Change and our client, The Satya Foundation. Orange Crush #6.

We are proud to work with native New Yorker, Satya Scainetti, who discovered her passion for gemstones and sacred symbols on a yoga retreat. Her vision to create jewelry and give back to children, by supporting their desire for education, led to her founding of Satya Jewelry, with two stores in NYC and her founding of The Satya Foundation, which held their first gala on one of the first cold evenings this season. I’ve been calling Satya, “NYC’s Malala.”

Gemstones rule at Satya, in a more downtown cool-girl vibe. Two powerful rings by Satya are my Orange Crush #7. I would wear one in citron and one in onyx, to capture the season’s shift of light into dark. The citron, French word for lemon, for that quiet strong visionary, pale daytime light and the onyx for the strength of the longer Winter night.

Fascinating, that sparkling citrine, ranging in colors from pale yellow to vibrant orange “assists in acquiring wealth and helps in maintaining it. It is a stone of abundance and manifestation, attracting wealth and prosperity, success and all things good. It also encourages generosity and sharing good fortune.”

The world is realizing that educating a girl fosters a loop of community, connected feminism, change and civil rights. Onyx the gemstone “fosters inner strength, focused attention, willpower, self-mastery, discipline, reason.” This concentration matches the inner fire of girls determined to go to school despite so many hardships.

For her gala, “NYC’s Malala” went for the strength of an inner Malala look, while on the outside she shimmered like Rihanna in a long, slim onyx gown of shinees to match her long black hair. Beautiful!

Celebs in film, fashion and finance raised funds for the girls in the schools the Satya Foundation has supported for over eight years, including friends of Satya, Ed Norton, actor; Shauna Robertson, producer; actresses Cassandra Seidenfeld and Sejal Shah, and Kim Jackson, film producer.

Power people in government and business included Ambassador Dynaneshwar Mulay, Consul General of India; my friend and inspiration, Baldev Duggal, president, Duggal and NYC green developer; Adam Oestreich, president of NY Cares; Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, Former NYC Deputy Public Advocate under Bill de Blasio, author; and Sharon Manner, Ashrams for Autism.

Fashion luminaries included Kiran Rai, CEO of Satya Jewelry and Sir Alistair Rai; Alexis Maybank, founder of Gilt Groupe; Cushnie Carly, designer; Alisa Ng, founder of L-atitude.com; Sindya Valloppillil Kalghatgi, founder HELIX Men and Rebecca Parekh, COO, Deepak Chopra Radical Wellbeing.

The finance world braved the cold and crushed with guests such as Sapna Werner, GH Smart; Amish Barot, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank; Mamta Kaushal, Director of Integrity, World Bank; Abney Poonja, VP Deutsche Bank; Mousmi Sharma, Managing Director, Hudson Bay Capital; and Brian Wood, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley.

Read more about the event and support the education of girls on the foundation’s Crowdrise, a site founded by Ed Norton and Shauna Robertson.

The Luminous Inner Sanctum of a Stellar NYC Party

And, sometimes, the humans throw down just to celebrate LOVE.

Orange Crush #8. My friend, the beautiful inside and out, Dr. Shirley Madhere sent me a cryptic email asking for my address. A few days later a large golden envelope arrived in the mail with an invite to a party at the NYC Library to celebrate her engagement to Michael Weil, president of American Realty Capital.  Not just any party, five hundred people gussied up and partying hard at one of NYC’s most spectacular venues.

Shirley’s spirit is best described as a beautiful, captivating spark. A holistic plastic surgeon, she hosts monthly salons bringing the best leaders of beauty and intelligence together and makes regular appearances on Dr. Oz. As founder of Beauty 4 Empowerment, “a campaign for global awareness… invested and engaged in the empowerment of women worldwide through the language and power of beauty…” you best believe she is my Orange Crush #8!

While I knew my Aries-sister would do it up right, nothing prepared us for this thoroughly glittering, power crowd, with amazing folks of all walks of life, from characters such as Uncle Blinky, the son of Flava Flav, to Tia Chibani to trusted biz associates of Michael living all over the world. Was everyone flawlessly beautiful inside and out? Maybe it was the occasion and the scene, and Yes, well, they were.

Ascending the steps to the entrance…(good practice for my future Met Costume Exhibit gala entrance)

A vast hall with tree silhouettes and a spot-lit torch singer.

This is just one end of the hall, guests still arriving!

The, oh…about 30 foot long bar. No crushing of bodies here, just elegance of ritual.

The descent to dinner.

The vast dinner hall, folks of all kinds, family and friends breaking bread and feasting from, oh about 20 tables laden with sumptuous food of ALL kinds!

Sparkling above.

Sparkling below. Moi, the Jade Dressler and The Dr. Vincent Pedre, my client, integrative physician, author and friend. Hot dancer too! He made me do Spanish things on the dance floor.

At one end of the cavernous room, a golden wall gleamed.

The couple in the lights looked mythical, like professing their LOVE in front of a Greek temple of immortality.

And yet another silk orange frock mocking a float of a leaf with the wind lifting and twisting. (note: Dr. Shirley is working the Power of Pop, the Princess Rihanna factor here. And note, my Manhattan cocktail is affecting my poetry. And note, this dress is my Orange Crush #9. )

The toast ends.  Let the dancing begin! Back upstairs y’all.

The Lights!

The waving, dancing feathers and orchids!

The People! The Scrumptious Designer Tia Chibani in a silk flower. (It was way more than a dress.) We connected via our mutual designs, I loved her dress, she loved my Flava Flav necklace.

Purple rain, girl in bunny ears.

The dance floor.

My dancing feet. Gold leather pants and rhinestone shoes for glitz and black thigh-highs…because, well that’s my world.

Shirley and Michael throw down. Shirley changed gown. Now a red and ultra-violet blue dress of feathers. Accessorized with a diamond GEM and candy bracelets.

My date for the evening, (remember he’s a holistic doctor) literally stopped everything on the dance floor to lure me over to a dessert table which was about 50 feet long. I think he smelled the sugar. White orchids, feathers and pearls. Fluted vases, canisters and trays. What a way to lighten up about dessert!

How perfect to cap the night by evoking both a white downy bed and a blanket of snow to dream in.

Sugar. Dance. More sugar, more dance.

At exactly midnight…everything stopped. Music off. Lights up. Party over in an instant. Crushed…but…How perfect is that?

After this event, and late nights, it is time to leave the evening’s gold shoes by the door…

the orange sun of winter’s dawn is coming…

The owls are getting sleepy…XO LOVE

People.  Rihanna and her many sparkling pasties and outfits.

Places.  Support the inhabitants of NYC, the humans of Kips Bay and the flora and fauna of Central Park. 

Things.  Pretty citrine ring and stalwart black onyx ring. A thrifty $109. allows you to also make a donation to the Satya Foundation!

LOVE!