Gala Goes Gaga
(NEW YORK) The Accessories Council awards were always traditionally eccentric, but last night's 13th Annual ACE ceremony at Cipriani 42nd Street undoubtedly took the cake for the most bizarre and unforgettable staging of its kind. The honorees included Lady Gaga, Barbie, Burberry...and well, you get the point. Marc Jacobs, who presented the Stylemaker Award to the curious icon that is Gaga, had as much clue as anyone when he entered the premises with Lorenzo Martone. "I don't know whether Lady will come from the ceiling, or what she'll wear, or who her dates will be," he smiled at the cocktail hour. "All I know is that I still love listening to her stuff--but I'm in this with everyone else!"
And then the wait to a minor shakedown had begun. Jacobs and Martone calmly took their seats, while Gaga spent an hour and a half putting on the final touches on her dramatic outfit in a car around the corner. When she finally graced Cipriani with her presence, jaws dropped as Gaga joined her presenter, skipped the food, and went straight for the glass of water and the table's entertainment. "Marc and I played with Barbies, and after a while they ended up looking like my album cover," she noted. When she went up to give her historic speech, she mentioned nearly every designer that ever supported her and revealed the identities of her mysterious 'Haus of Gaga' members. "This looks like something I used to own!" she said as she held her award. "You know, I used to I feel like a freak in the early stages of my career, but now I know that I'm surrounded by my wonderful circle of freak friends."
She wasn't kidding. Right after host Robert Verdi fumbled his opening monologue (that's too inappropriate to re-print), Betsey Johnson shocked even Gaga by presenting Zappos.com with the Retailer of the Year award in a cheerleader outfit and a whole lot of gyrating."I love that site!" she told us. "I don't really go online ever, though. But I sit next to my daughter when she does." Calvin Klein was the polar opposite in terms of clarity as he gave the Marylou Luther Award for Fashion Journalism to Hal Rubenstein. And Rubenstein told us that he was just lucky to be standing on that stage. "I wanted to be a pediatrician," he said. "I just liked kids. But over the years I taught English, I sang and I danced for a living. I had a catering business and I reviewed restaurants for 24 years so fashion was pretty much a happy accident." When he did accept his shiny clutch award, he gave the courtesy to the audience by updating them with the World Series score. "The only Yankee coverage that I'm interested is from the locker rooms!" chuckled Mickey Boardman.
While familiar faces like Molly Sims, Hilary Rhoda, Nina Garcia, Justin Guinta, Lisa Salzer, and Linda Fargo enjoyed a meal of veal shank, baked salmon, and berry cake, Humanitarian Award winner Blake Mycoskie and his presenter Erin Wasson had fun sharing stories. "I met Blake when he did one his first trunk shows in Dallas," the model and designer recalled. "There was cold beer and great music so I got totally sucked in!" "But you drank the free beer and didn't buy any shoes on that day!" laughed the honoree. Wasson's seatmate Alexander Wang (who presented V with the Magazine of the Year honor) was looking forward to his next big trip. "I'm off to Zurich for the first time next week for the Swiss Textiles ceremony," he said. "I just can't wait to see how pristine it's all going to be." And Diane von Furstenberg (Accessory Visionary Award winner) just came back from Moscow. "The first thing I did in Russia was get a nice, long massage," she sighed.
The Burberry table was missing Christopher Bailey, who is currently en route to Seoul. "Chris is such a lovely guy, though he in Asia somewhere right now," said Agyness Deyn, who accepted on his behalf from Marylou Luther. "You always fear when you meet someone new, and I think I instantly realized how amazingly easygoing and supportive he actually is." She even outdid Gaga in the eye make-up category. "This was a last minute fun thing to do!" the model assured, referring to her dramatic lower-lash fringe. "But these lashes are strangely comfortable." Another Brit, Daisy Lowe joined Deyn and Karl Templer at the table...though not for long. "I'm moving back to London," she announced. "I have a kind of mom that missed me too much and obsessively wants me to be closer home."
Glenda Bailey showered Tomas Maier of Bottega Veneta with the Designer of the Year prize, while Gilt Group's Alexandra Wilkis Wilson and Alexis Maybank accepted the Retail Innovation trophy. "This is like the best birthday present ever for me," said an elated Maybank. But of course, Gaga had the last word of the night. "No matter what these awards are, we have to remember that the most important accessories are condoms," she quipped before departing into the night.
VALENTINE UHOVSKI
