Out & About
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

It-girls at the Guggenheim’s Young Collectors Council Artist’s ball splashed the museum’s spiraling white interior with colorful Dior gowns. Maria Bello wore sea-green; Gretchen Mol, orange; Chloe Sevigny, purple; Sally Abemarle, red; Heather Graham, turquoise. Tinsley Mortimer paired a fuchsia fur wrap with her turquoise halter dress to dramatic effect. Others were loyal to those New York standbys, black and white, including Dr. Lisa Airan and Tory Burch.
Twenty-four karat decor complimented everyone’s ensembles: The center of the museum’s rotunda boasted gold ottomans and gold glitter dusted the dance floor. Few chose to cut a rug, but DJ Jeremy Healey was undeterred, favoring remixes of Cold Play.
Rather than dancing, people-watching was the evening’s most popular activity. Guests eyed Mike Tyson, Michael Stipe, and the other faces in the crowd. The food by Abigail Kirsch ranged from Valhrona milk shakes to frozen green grapes, dipped in chocolate and decorated with edible gold leaf.
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At its first anniversary party, Marquee looked like it does any other night – with the exception of hundreds of silver balloons that decorated the place. The crowd was as beautiful as ever, the music as loud as ever, and the drinks as expensive as ever.
And of course getting in was as difficult as ever. Hundreds waited outside as others slipped right past the velvet rope – Nicky Hilton, Jeremy Piven, and overdressed folks who came straight from the Guggenheim, among them Ms. Mol, Ms. Sevigny, and Ali Wise.
Artist Peter Tunney stood on the staircase landing to install an artwork on the wall – a guitar case with words printed on it, including “possible” and “impossible.” Surveying the room, he said the party was one of the best he’d been to. “The crowd is beautiful,” he said.
Ms. Sevigny sat with her brother in the club’s smallest room on the first floor.
Her table was piled high with strawberries and chocolates on a three-tiered dessert platter. She had just unwrapped a candy in gold foil and popped it in her mouth when the New York Sun caught up with her.
She said the hip-hop being played was all right, but she prefers when her brother Paul spins on Wednesdays.
Lisa Benson, who works at the model management agency IMG, was spotted upstairs, hanging out with an investment banker and a business school student. The lesser-known celebrities scattered throughout the club didn’t much impress her. She’d been to Marquee two days before with Leonardo DiCaprio and Gisele Bundchen.
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Guests at the New York Festival of Song fund-raiser were happy to name their favorite holiday tunes. “Drummer Boy,” said mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade, one of the performers at the event.
“Santa Baby – because it’s how people really feel,” said the artistic director of the festival, Steven Blier. A chairman of the benefit, Anthony Schulte, named “The Ode to Joy,” then asked, “Does that sound pompous enough?” Literary agent Maxine Groffsky had a story to share with her selection. She broke her ankle one New Year’s Eve while dancing to Fledermaus. She was living in Paris, working on the Paris Review.
The event took place Thursday night at the offices of the architect Rafael Vinoly. The program included performances by Ms. Von Stade and Kimberly Barber.