Daily Front Row

2009 April 8

Drink Up!

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Lauren Bush and Monique Péan in Lanvin
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(NEW YORK) "Come on, don't be shy--you need to walk the runway," Monique Péan informed Lauren Bush last night as the jewelry designer celebrated her Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award for accessories (the first fine jewelry designer to be honored) with a Charity:Water-sponsored cocktail party. "This has really meant so much to me," she said. "It's an honor to be in the class with previous winners like Zac Posen, Erin Fetherston and Alexander Wang. It's exciting to bring the fine jewelry market to the Ecco Domani world, because it's definitely a difficuly industry to break."

The runway in question provided a location for a "Water Walk," which invited guests like Kate Davidson Hudson and Robert Verdi to strut holding gallons full of clean water. For each turn down the blessedly short catwalk, Péan donated $20. "Just do this and you can give one person clean drinking water for 20 years!" she pleaded. Bush and many others obliged--Péan, after all, is pretty convincing.

Models sporting Péan's latest collection for Charity:Water posed around the room as photographs documenting the charity's work loomed large in the background. Every piece sold from the collection will provide clean drinking water for ten people for 20 years. So far, Pean has ensured that 2,200 people can consume safely. "One of every six people don't have access to clean drinking water," said Péan. "So we put six to 12 months into research and development so we can be sure that our jewelry production is 100% green."

It turns out that Péan's design talents apply to more than just jewelry. "I thought it was strange that the models would wear someone else's clothes with my jewelry," she confessed. "So I made their dresses myself! Now I don't plan to do this full-time anytime soon, but in the future...why not?"
ASHLEY BAKER