Cocktails & Canapés with Charles Nolan

(NEW YORK) No awards show is complete without a little pre-party festivities, and Tuesday evening FGI Rising Star nominee Charles Nolan opened his lush Chelsea studio space to fellow nominees of the 11th-Annual Rising Star Awards, which will be presented at a luncheon at The Rainbow Room on January 24. Nominee Gustavo Cadile--who just picked up a Gold Coast Fashion Award--was flanked by friends Gillian Miniter and former Bergdorf Goodman PR director Anna Pinheiro, and was nothing short of thrilled at being in such fine company. "It's such an honor to be nominated," he enthused. But thoughts of the impending fashion season weren't far from his mind either. "I'm always inspired by Hollywood glamour, and this next collection is inspired by the '40s and Balenciaga and Dior from the past," he explained.

Host-with-the-most Nolan spent the evening talking about his latest projects--and passions. "I'm designing the costumes for ABT Studio Company's "Cake," a story about Marie Antoinette premiering at the Joyce this spring," he explained. "These characters have to go from the Austrian court to the French court to being milkmaids to being dead," he smiled, "so everything is velcroed." As guests thanked Nolan for the party, he remarked, "I love Fashion Group and Margaret [Hayes, president of FGI], and anything she'd ask of me I would do. And I have 5,000-square-feet of space to use for this purpose. I'm all about empowering women and organizations that help them. In the spring I'm hosting a group that's all about microlending...do you know that if you lend money to people, the 98 percent that pay you back are women? The two percent that don't--men," he laughed.
JENNIFER BARTON