Smoke and Mirrors

Ivanka Trump and Gilles Mendel host a book signing for Life in Color
Wednesday, January 28, 2009

(NEW YORK) Doom and gloom, be banished! Last night, Gilles Mendel and Ivanka Trump hosted a cocktail party at the J. Mendel boutique on Madison Avenue for Life in Color, a new book by wardrobe consultants Joe Lupo and Jesse Garza of Visual Therapy.

"I can't take this coat off," announced Carmen Dell'Orefice as the coatcheck girl attempted to wrangle her large fur. "Gilles gave it to me as a gift." The model mugged appropriately for the cameras with everyone in sight before quickly ducking out. "My foot is bothering me so I must go," said Dell'Orefice as she made a grand, sweeping exit.

Mendel and Trump mingled with champagne-swillers like Vogue's Meredith Melling Burke, Dr. Lisa Airan, and Amy Fine Collins. "To be profitable in this environment is no easy feat," noted Trump, who was decked out in J. Mendel as well as one of her own diamond necklaces that was draped over her decolletage. "We're there so we must be doing something right."

Mendel was equally optimistic. "I think this is going to be my best collection ever, and I never say that, so I really believe it. It's going to be very beautiful and innovative." The designer hosted the book signing due to his long running friendship with Garza. "He worked with me at the very beginning. He's a star on his own." (Garza helped Mendel on an extensive trunk show circuit.)

"I love to go trunk shows in Texas," remarked Mendel. "But the last time I was in Texas for a show, I had a terrible time. I went out afterward with friends from Texas where they cut my tie. It was apparently a tradition of the restaurant. I had a Thom Browne tie on, which was devastating."

Garza and Lupo's book documents the art of a wardrobe facelift to tony clients. (Rita Wilson wrote the forward.) "Our clients were lost in a sea of black, grey, and brown," said Garza. "We like to give pick-me-ups." Wandering into clients' closets hasn't always turned up couture. "One time, I found a joint," laughed Garza. "They blamed it on the kids." Which Upper East Side doyenne likes to take a hit? The Daily awaits the memoirs.
ADAM P. SCHNEIDER