New York, 1984

Tonight was a true star-studded media event. Everyone had turned

out for Countess Dani diPortanova.

The creme de la creme of New York society--the glitterati from

the charity ball circuit, the movers and shakers from Central Park

West to Madison Avenue, the Old Guard and the Eurotrash from the

Upper East Side, SoHo, and Tribeca--had all put on their party clothes

for the evening s festivities at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Oscar de la Renta was there, the sand still clinging to his toes, just

back from his home in the Dominican Republic. Calvin, of course,

looking trim and handsome. Ralph Lauren and his wife, Rickie. Di-

ane Von Furstenberg, shorn of her shoulder-length waves for the first

time in years, sporting a freshly bobbed haircut. Norma Kamali, flip-

ping through her "life book" as she walked past the photographers

strobes, double-checking what party she d he attending afterward.

Halston, as usual dressed from head to toe in black.

Escorted by a famous photographer, an equally famous model

mugged impishly for the reporters and photographers from People,

the New York Post, the Daily News, Interview, Women s Wear Daily,

and the tabloids. Close behind was Andy Warhol and, behind

him, the leaders of the fashion industry, writers, and retailers, as well

as a flurry of titled Europeans.

Everyone who tracked fashion trends and the A list crowd was also

present on this gloriously balmy September evening for the 42nd An-