Fetherston's Friends

(NEW YORK) "It's my cotillion, in the Bahamas or Bermuda or somewhere!" explained Erin Fetherston of the aesthetic for her resort/holiday collection, which she showed last night at Van Cleef & Arpels' Fifth Avenue boutique. A melange of representatives from the fashion, art, magazine and Beatrice Inn worlds made an admirable trip uptown to toast their favorite muse. Question: How does Fetherston have so many haute-list buds? A beau like Hedi Ferjani, one of the most tied-in and well-loved guys on the fashion circuit, surely can't hurt.

He wrangled the likes of Sarah Sophie Flicker, Mary Alice Stephenson, Monique Pean, Samantha Mollett, Flaunt's Elliot David, and Sam Shaffer and Kathryn Neale while Fetherston busied herself with styling the beautifully attired models arranged in two tableaus on either side of the boutique. The crowd sipped Perrier-Jouet and munched on assorted puff-pastried nibbles while admiring all that flash. After all, Fetherston's clothes were endowed with--what else?--the most opulent jewels imaginable, courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels. Guests drooled over the millions of dollars worth of baubles from the Alhambra and Midsummer Night's Dream collection, made of gumball-sized diamonds and sapphires.

 "I have always loved Van Cleef & Arpels, and I think we have a lot in common," Fetherston explained. "Of all the fine jewelers, they truly have a romantic and whimsical aesthetic. That's so much aligned with what I'm all about--fantasy and luxury!"

No wonder luxer-than-luxe designer Gilles Mendel is a charter member of Fetherston's coterie. "She's very fresh and very beautiful," he waxed. "Very delicate and glamorous at the same time. She's very talented--besides being my friend." How very...very. Would the duo ever collaborate? "We haven't spoken about that yet. But I would be very priveleged to do something with her!" Given all those fabulous friends in Fetherston frocks, he's not the only one.
ASHLEY BAKER