Around Town - The Los Angeles Garden Tour

Today we had a perfect sunny day for the annual Los Angeles Garden Tour

sponsored by the Friends of Robinson Gardens



Most of the ladies at the event were in floaty flowery frocks and big hats
but I dressed down for the occasion
in a khaki cotton suit by Nine West ($24.99 at Ross!),

and hot pink Escada loafers and Celine bag, both vintage 2001

After seeing my my belted khaki suit...perhaps more appropriate for an African safari...
(yeah...as if I had my own Denys Finch Hatton to take me big game hunting...and then wash my hair alfresco)
my daughter kindly asked me where my bolt action rifle was.
I responded by accessorizing with vintage jewelry rather than buck shot.

like this antique Victorian diamond flower brooch in 18K
appropriate I thought for spending time some of the prettiest gardens in the city

and these adorable diamond earrings in 18K

and in the spirit of keeping it simple
a Cartier watch and a diamond line bracelet in 18K.

I would have posted some images of the amazing gardens that I walked through today
but we were not allowed to take photos on the tour in order to protect the privacy of the homeowners.
Fair enough. 
The last garden on the tour, which I missed because I had to get back to the office,
was at the Playboy Mansion.

I heard that it was amazing with mature redwoods, the famous grotto, peacocks and even a zoo!
Apparently, there were no bunny sightings on the property.

September Stories and Garden Galas

Over the summer I like to take a break from serious reading.
What about you?

Here are some of the books that I've read in the last month.

The George R.R. Martin series starting with the Game of Thrones.
If you like an epic story with political intrigue among competing clans, characters with unbridled ambition who are willing to destroy all in their paths in their lust for power, kind of like Washington D.C., these books are for you.
Consider them to be a sort of a Lord of the Rings type fantasy, except darker, much darker.
Jill, has read these books too and she's as anxious as I am for the final book to be released.

The 19th Wife, is the story of Eliza Young, the apostate renegade wife of Brigham Young who publicly denounces polygamy, cleverly interwoven with a murder mystery involving a contemporary 19th wife of Fundamentalist LDS cult member.  Ebershoff combines the development of Mormonism in 19th Century with the cult's bizarre behavior in the 21st Century. Of particular interest to me was the history of "hand cart" migration of European immigrants.  Their treatment was deplorable.

If you enjoy well written historical fiction you will like Cleopatra's Daughter.  Did you know that Roman women worried about stretch marks from pregnancy?  I didn't either.

I'm a huge fan of the New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva.  He writes amazing international thrillers centered on a main character who is an artist and art restorer.  I recently finished The Rembrandt Affair and Portrait of a Spy. If you like thrillers, I highly recommend these books, but start from the beginning of the series because the story and the characters evolve with each new book.

When not reading it's been all fancy pants parties and soirees for me.

Well not really but I was happy to attend the 100 anniversary gala for the Friends of Virginia Robinson Gardens.  It was a beautiful event held in the gardens of Viginia Robinson's home, the first estate built in Beverly Hills in 1911.

Look how pretty the tables were under the lights suspended above the lawn.  And I loved the way that pink shawls were provided for all the ladies because it was a little chilly after the sun went down.

The guests were treated to a water ballet as pre-dinner entertainment which I thought was charming until the silk chiffon of  the hem of my dress sopped up water left by the swimmers on the brick path next to the pool. Luckily, no permanent damage was done, because I really loved my dress.

You might think that my gown was a little too 'mother of the bride-ish', but I thought that it was rather Edith Wharton-ish.

My peeps from Patrick McMullin liked it too...and why will they only sell hard copy prints instead of digital jpegs?

I thought that the french blue color of my dress was perfect for this suite of moonstone and diamond jewelry as you can see from the before photo.

And here is the after photo...specifically after a couple of glasses of wine photo. 

The jewelry looks good but what's up with my shiny forehead?

We've been busy buying at Beladora and hopefully I will be able to show you some awesome Art Deco pieces soon.

Around Town - The Los Angeles Garden Tour

Topping off the week on a good note
(and totally ignoring the utter breakdown of blogger yesterday which ate our posts...
was this a hack job by Facebook?)

Today was the The annual Los Angeles Garden Tour
sponsored by The Friends of Virginia Robinson Gardens
with some of the most spectacular gardens in the city
from Pacific Palisades to Holmby Hills
followed by lunch and even more flowers
at the 100 year old Virgina Robinson estate in Beverly Hills

How pretty is this pool house?

 and here is one of the amazing floral arrangements in Cristofle silver

The expansive lawn was tented

and the event was catered by The Kitchen For Exploring Foods

the preeminent caterer of Los Angeles

 Yes, there were flowers everywhere

I wore my spring-ish dress

with garden-ish awesome estate jewelry from Beladora.com

a diamond bee ring

(this one is for FF...she deserves it after putting up with Old Testament conditions in her garden)

and two butterfly brooches and a diamond bee brooch

 Roberto Coin Diamond Butterfly Brooch in 18K $1550

Diamond Bee Brooch in 18K $1450

Roberto Coin Yellow Sapphire Butterfly Brooch in 18K $1850

So...how does your garden grow?

Around Town - The VRG Patron Gala

Every year I always try to attend the VRG patron gala at the Virginia Robinson estate in Beverly Hills because it is one of the most beautiful events in Los Angeles. This year's "Jewels and All That Jazz" gala was stepped up a notch because the "Spirit of Beverly Hills" award was presented to the Kazanjian family for their years of philanthropy through their Kazanjian Family Foundation and their "Jewels for Charity" program.

So in addition to the usual cocktails and silent auction prior to the dinner, the Kazanjian group had set up a special display in the pool house of some of the pieces from Foundation Collection as well as some stunning estate jewelry that was being offered for sale with the proceeds going to benefit the VRG group.

After drinks on the sunken tennis court at the back of the estate, the dinner was served in a huge tent on the lawn. The party was elegant, especially given the well heeled patrician patrons of the group. The tables were lovely with centerpieces with yes...even more jewelry....because you can never have enough.
And that wasn't all. During dinner there were gorgeous models traipsing around the room in couture evening gowns by designer David Tupaz and bedecked with estate jewels from Kazanjian.
After dinner there was a live auction by Ryan Kavanaugh
who could easily go into the auction business if he ever decided to give up his day job.
Finally, there was dancing...with a band that gave us some seriously bad cover music. Really, there's like nothing more pathetic than seeing a group of middle aged white people, clad in their black tie best, dancing to "Play That Funky Music White Boy"...and yes, I was one of those pathetic people.
So what did I wear...I thought you'd never ask.
Well primarily I wore big hair...thanks to Miguel at the Lab Salon in BH who put so much product and spray in my hair that if I had been anywhere near an open flame there would have been spontaneous combustion on my head.

And, I wore a few simple diamond pieces, including a big diamond brooch in my big hair.

The outfit was a larkspur blue BCBG silk gown ($325) with simple black mules with crystal accents and my vintage Martin van Schaack evening bag. Oh, and a borrowed black mink jacket because it is cold at night at this time of the year. Hey, I figured that if I wore $300,000 in diamond jewelry, I could pull off a $300 dress!

So here's the post party, after midnight, still a little tipsy, photo...big hair and all.

The organizing for this event has been going on for weeks by Kazanjian, which of course is our partner business. Liz, Renee and Stephanie, from team Beladora, stepped up to help at the party with the baubles, and they did an amazing job. Nice work team!

Savvy Shopping - Gearing Up For The Gala

One of the most beautiful events that I attend every spring is the Patron Gala for the Friends of Virginia Robinson Gardens. Every year this organization honors a special person who has had a history of contributions to the community. This year is particularly special because they are honoring the Michael Kazanjian and his family's philanthropic organization, the Kazanjian Foundation and the Jewels for Charity program.

So now the party isn't going to be until the first week of May, I don't want to wait until two days before and make a rushed decision and end up spending too much. Like I wrote about earlier this week, I hate making shopping decisions with a time constraint. So if I start thinking about it now, I have a month or so to find the right thing.

I'd love an Andrew Gn or a Jenny Packham gown but I'd also like to just order something less expensive over the internet and be done with it

like this gown from Bergdorf Goodman

Diane Von Furstenberg gown at Bergdorf Goodman $825

the price is right, the color is gorgeous and it has such pretty detail on the back

I love this color. DVF calls it Indian Jade but since I've never seen actual jade in that color it looks more like teal to me

or better yet the color one of my favorite gemstones

Mozambique or Paraiba tourmaline

here is a Mozambique tourmaline, I love that teal blue hue

and here is a mother of all tourmalines, the Paraiba tourmaline with that magnificent electric blue color.

These stones are so rare and expensive in large sizes that it's difficult to find jewelry made with them...but if I could get my hands on a suite or a demi-parure in Mozambique or Paraiba, or even just one statement ring I would definitely buy the DVF dress.

Sapphire and Diamond Butterfly Earrings $4250

Another option, sans tourmalines, would be a few Art Deco diamond bracelets and these earrings, which just scream Spring to me.
Well that's one option and luckily, I have plenty of time to consider other outfits.

Around Town - Culture and Conflict

Or perhaps a better name for this post would be
Gardens and Gulags
because I was fortunate to attend two interesting but very different lectures yesterday.

The first was a presentation sponsored by the Friends of Virgina Robinson Gardens
by Erik Haskell, Professor of French Literature
and author of The Gardens of Brécy: A Lasting Landscape
The gardens of the Château du Brécy in Normandy, are one of the finest examples of 17th Century garden design in France. You are of course familiar with the vast gardens designed by Le Nôtre at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles. Unlike those in terms of scale, the gardens at Brécy are a petit 4 acres. After decades in ruin, they were painstakingly recreated by the current owners of the Château, Didier and Barbara Wirth, and are now a little bijoux on a human scale of the cultural heritage of France.

Note: Even if you are not particularly interested in French History or Landscape Design, if you have an opportunity to attend a lecture by Professor Haskell, do go. He is fabulous speaker and charming man. And of course, buy his book!

Then last night I attended a speech by Kjell Magne Bondevik, the former Prime Minister of Norway, and the founder of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights.

The speech, sponsored by PEN and The Beverly Hills Women's Club, was well attended not only by the BHWC members and their husbands, but by diplomats from Switzerland, Uruguay, Belgium and of course Norway.
The Oslo Center's mission is to promote dialogue, democracy and human rights, which is all awesome.
But with a focus on Eritrea, North Korea, and Burma...I'm not sure that "dialogue" does really any more good than singing a rousing chorus of Kumbaya. But I admire any organization that focuses attention on the North Korean gulag and mistreatment of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

2008 Garden Tour Event

Yesterday, with the intense summer sun I could only think about lolling about on the loggia at the Virgina Robinson Estate. The loggia with the greens and blues of the delphinium covered balustrade, created by Lucas Design Group for the annual Garden Tour event, was a cool oasis in the sizzling heat. Unfortunately, I couldn't loll about because I spent the day on the rose garden patio. Luckily, every now and then I got to duck into the pool pavilion with luscious floral designs by the Bel Air, Brentwood and Beverly Hills Garden Clubs.

The annual Garden Tour event was...as always... a huge success due to the hard work of the Friends of Robinson Gardens Board and members.

With special congratulations to President Deborah Shaw, Benefit Chair Leslie Kavanaugh, Garden Tour Chairs Angela Movassaghi and Leslie Kavanaugh, Patron Gala Chairs Dani Lancer and Ricky Ring, Benefit Committee Garden Chairs Laura Alpert and Maralee Beck.

Thanks also go to Ellen Lipson and Cindy Fields who made working outside in the heat not just bearable but fun, Kim Gregory of Christofle Beverly Hills who donated the Spirit of Beverly Hills Award and showcased the most incredible sterling silver and Marcella Ruble who took such great photos including the one above.

Mother's Day Special Treat

Instead of the usual Mother's Day flowers and brunch, I had a special gift. Friday night was the annual black tie patron gala at the Virginia Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills. This event was for the benefit of the Friends of Virginia Robinson Gardens which support the oldest estate in Beverly Hills built in 1911 and its magnificent terraced gardens. In a city where so many stately buildings have been torn down to make way for the biggest and the best and the latest in contemporary architecture chic, it's a pleasure to be involved with a group that supports a living piece of Los Angeles history.

This year's theme was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the gala chairs went all out to create a whimsical atmosphere. After cocktails on the tennis court, the dinner, set in the garden, was so elegant with topiarys of red roses on all of the red clothed tables.

But what does this have to do with Mother's Day you are wondering. Well, my special treat was to take as my date my son, Mr. Handsome. And handsome he was in his tuxedo and new glasses. While it was difficult for him to give up a Lakers play off game, he rose to the social challenge and ended up enjoying himself thoroughly. And I was so proud to watch his natural charm with everyone he met.

Then, to top off the Mother's Day treat, the prodigal daughter, Miss Pretty, called with the news that she had aced all her finals and was getting A's in all of her courses. In addition, she's been asked to curate the college film festival and write the movie reviews for the local city newspaper.

So all is good for Belle de Ville, la Mere, when touts va bien avec les petites.