Time for a Toast

(NEW YORK) "Their wedding is something I've been promoting for some time now," laughed Vera Wang as she arrived at the Neue Galerie on Monday night for a cocktail reception hosted by Evelyn and Leonard Lauder in honor of Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo's engagement. "But I don't know if I've still got the dress!"

As it turns out, Ocleppo will don Oscar de la Renta for her August 8, 2008 wedding ceremony in the backyard of her fiancé's Mustique manse. "We didn't plan it that way, to be married on the same day as the start of the Olympics," Ocleppo said. "But the number eight is lucky in Chinese." (As Hilfiger noted, the idea came from his friend Silas Chou.) Ocleppo revealed that the wedding will be an intimate affair. "My son's walking me down the aisle and there'll be no groomsmen or bridesmaids," she said, adding that Hilfiger will wear a bespoke suit of his own design. "We're keeping it very simple with a few family members. My father's birthday is actually the same day as our wedding!"

To accommodate the couple's large Rolodex of friends, a larger party at the Plaza Hotel will occur in New York on October 17.

As for the Lauders' reception, which drew over 200 friends and well wishers to the galleries of Gustav Klimt and Wiener Werkstätte jewelry, it floored the bride-to-be. "I'm pinching myself," she said. "It really speaks a lot to their mentorship of Tommy." Hilfiger, who credited Leonard with shepherding the Lauder brand into stardom, added, "When I launched my first fragrance, it was a dream come true. And tonight, I'm experiencing another dream come true. If I'd known it's be this great, I'd have gotten engaged earlier."

Indeed, Lauder was also celebrating its own 15-year courtship with Hilfiger--both the man and the brand--as the designer, who joined the Estée Lauder Cos. in 1993, was the beauty giant's first global designer fragrance licensee. Two years later, Estée Lauder's Aramis subsidiary launched the Tommy fragrance for men, which it followed up with Tommy Girl, for women, and Hilfiger Athletics, for men, just three of the eight scents Lauder has since created. (His latest, Dreaming, was gifted to guests on their way out.) This fall marks the release of a Hilfiger fragrance that represents a more mature gent.

"I remember about a decade ago, I asked Tommy to make track suits for the high school in Millbrook," reminisced Blaine Trump. "My gardener, during the winter time, was the team coach. Tommy created these great dark navy outfits with his logo. The kids were so proud."

Upstairs on the second floor, William P. Lauder, Celia and Silas Chou, Annalia and John Idol, Clive Davis, Karen Lauder, Russell Simmons, Shirin von Wulffen and Frédéric Fekkai, Teri Agins, Anna Wintour and Shelby Bryan, Terry Lundgren, Kenneth Cole, Linda Wells, Cindi Leive, Aerin Lauder, Doug Lloyd, Diana Picasso and Gilles Bensimon, Gayle King, Harvey Weinstein and Sue and Donald Newhouse were among those who joined Leonard in a spirited toast to the couple.

"Here's the drill: everytime I mention the word Dee, I want to hear cheers and applause. So at the end, I want Tommy to say, 'I've done okay,'" said the amiable Estée Lauder Cos. chairman. "When Tommy's first fragrance launched, he took Europe by storm. I remember a German newspaper that wrote as the headline, 'Who is Tommy?' He truly made America famous." And the praise didn't end there. "Tommy has great taste and Dee is beautiful. You have a fabulous life ahead of you," he said. "Someone tonight asked me what advice I had for the couple: 'Yes, Dee.' What's more, 'Yes Dee, I'll be happy to stop at a gas station and ask for directions.'"

"Leonard and the Lauder family made a dream come true for me 15 years ago," said the Hilfiger, who was joined by several family members, including sisters Betsy and Ginny and his 15-year old daughter Elizabeth. "They put their personal imprint on it. Leonard, who we all know is a very busy man, met me here at 6 p.m. tonight and went over every single detail. He is a mentor of mine, a hero of mine."

For Leonard, the prospect of a well-deserved respite from Manhattan this summer proved too tempting an offer, so he won't be attending Hilfiger and Ocleppo's nuptials. "Evelyn and I will be on a cruise on the Adriatic Sea," he said, before chuckling, "You can't be at two places at once."
JIM SHI