Today is 55 Secret Street's 3rd birthday*! Here is my blog-a-versary post from last year. Just pretend it says 2009 - the sentiment is the same!
I figured that today was as good a day as any to finally catch up (and yes, I realize that there are just two hours left in "today" - work with me!) I got the idea for the name 55 Secret Street from Sheila E.'s classic 80s jam The Glamorous Life and guess who I tweeted with briefly yesterday? Yep, the operative word being brief, Sheila E. merely thanked me for retweeting about the dollar drive for her Elevate Hope Foundation. The Elevate Hope Foundation provides abused and abandoned children with an alternate method of therapy using music and the arts. The very first post on this site is about Elevate Hope (the post is dated May 29 but I officially launched on June 5. At the time, I didn't know how to make sure the post was the first one so I backdated).
As miracles go, May was quite a month as I made it out of my house and away from my computer for hours on end to various benefits and other events in Manhattan. I went to a launch party for Maybelline's upcoming Color Sensational line which featured Broadway legend Bernadette Peters (top left corner) ; T.J. Maxx's Fall Preview (the shoes in the collage above) and a MAC Pro event featuring bodypainting inspired by artists like Matisse, Mondrian, Pollock and Warhol... on live (nude) models (the pictures have made my Flickr page very popular).
I went to a wonderful talk, An Evening with Diane Von Furstenberg and Stefani Greenfield, hosted by FIT's Executive Women in Fashion, an educational and networking program of the Fashion Institute of Technology. Stefani Greenfield is the co-founder of ScoopNYC and of course, Diane Von Furstenberg is Diane Von Furstenberg and she had us at "hello". She started out by saying, "I married a very good looking handsome prince. I hate fairytales
because it always ends with the girl marrying the prince. In my life,
that's how it began." She then told the story of her life and her business - at least as much as she could fit into approximately thirty minutes. The Wonder Woman picture in the top left corner is from the limited edition comic book Be the Wonder Woman You Can Be which was published by DC Comics. It features Wonder Woman cover art over the years (where IS the Wonder Woman movie by the way???), an original story by von Furstenberg and illustrations by Konstantin Kakanias. The proceeds from the book will go to Vital Voices, an NGO that identifies, trains, and
empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the world.
I also attended the National Meningitis Association's 'Give Kids A Shot!' Gala at the Rainbow Room where I had a chance to catch up with co-chair Sara Herbert-Galloway (bottom center, second collage) Tia Walker, who hosted her second annual Save the Eggs Benefit Cocktail event. Save the Eggs is the breast cancer initiative Tia started to raise awareness of egg harvesting which allows women who have undergone chemo therapy to "save their eggs" when faced with the possibility of infertility. Tia is a breast cancer survivor, so this cause is especially close to her heart.
At El Museo del Barrio's Annual Gala, I was fooled by an especially good Gloria Estefan impersonator (Julie Ellis, bottom left in the above collage) but I think I have a great excuse: champagne and the presence of Gloria Estefan's actual husband Emilio Estefan jamming onstage with the impersonator! Clearly, I must have missed the introductions. The Estefans were honored at the event but Gloria was in rehearsals for her next tour. I also had a chance to meet designers Jason Wu and Carolina Herrera (top right) and Angel Sanchez (bottom right). I had already met Isabel and Ruben Toledo and it was nice to see them again.
Isabel Toledo is, of course, known as the designer behind Michelle Obama's beautiful inauguration outfit and her husband, Ruben Toledo, is an amazing artist. He designed limited edition cigar boxes (Only 2000 boxes will be produced) that were being auctioned off that evening (and some will be sold in elite tobacconist shops and departments stores) with all profits going to El Museo del Barrio. Several were being auctioned off that evening and Ruben had one or two of the boxes himself and I thought it was pretty neat that he asked me to sign one.
Ruben also collaborated with children from the Amber Charter School in East Harlem and together they created a collection of more than 60 portraits of famous Latinos. The portraits in the collage are of Tony-winning composer and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) and Salma Hayek. Yes, Salma Hayek.
*Photo highlights from 2008: The tents at New York Fashion Week last September; a model at the Edite showroom during NYFW; Ne Plus Ultra: a Cupcake Evening Bag by Judith Leiber; Virtu: White Ladies Only Bathroom, Durham, NC 1940; Author and hairstylist extraordinaire Dickey shows my sister Charrell and I his Hair Rules; a martini at an event for Navan Vanilla Liqueur; Champagne & Chambord at NYFW; Nuj Novakett's Spring 2009 presentation; a Barack Obama t-shirt by Maria Cornejo, a Beauty.com special case by Rachel Roy; My recession-proof DIY beauty tip for Glamour.com? Deep-condition your hair with coconut oil. First Lady Michelle Obama and my pick to play her somewhere, Aisha Tyler, $55 and Under: Florabunda Tots designed by writer Veronica Chambers; Virtu: a 1960s album cover of my aunt, Margaret Tynes. I am hoping that my book on her, A Diva in the Family will be published yesterday soon!
Happy anniversary and many more!!!!!!! It's always a pleasure to read your blog.
Posted by: Diane | June 08, 2009 at 12:01 PM
happy anniversary!! looks like we started at the same time.
Posted by: andrea | June 11, 2009 at 11:05 AM
woo! happy birthday to your bloggy :D
Posted by: Jenny | June 13, 2009 at 06:04 PM