Daily Front Row

2010 April 16

Happy Hunting

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(NEW YORK) It was a congress of stimuli at last night's Spring Safari-themed Museum Dance (and dinner), held in the whale room at the American Museum of Natural History. The aesthetic overload began during the cocktail hour, when one walked through the museum's main entrance to a tableau of hundreds of jeunes femmes—and that's no exaggeration—sporting colorful frocks by Lilly Pulitzer, the event's sponsor. The dress code was "Lilly or Louder," and with a few notable exceptions (Zani Gugelmann, Coco Rocha, Ivanka Trump and Veronica Webb in elegant chiffon numbers), everyone took the mandate literally.

"Can you believe this is Lilly?" marvelled Bettina Zilkha at her fuschia brocade number. "It feels very Lacroix." Indeed. It wasn't all florals—well, it was, mostly—but Lilly looks were certainly worn by most of the chairs, hommes compris, including Michael T.M. Jones and Dana Wallach Jones, Emilia Fanjul Pfeifler, and Andrew and Zibby Right. And could it be? Leadership chairs Arden Wohl and Fabiola Beracasa didn't show at all? Anyway. Ali Wise and Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss sported the most successful bright minis. A Jeep Wrangler wearing a similiar print was parked conspicuously outside—without its usual parking tickets that are familiar to any resident of Madison Avenue.

Moving on. A man with a gong summoned cocktailers out of the lobby and through a familiar route to the whale room, where a Restaurant Associates dinner awaited. A salad was served. Then, a celeb. "Is that really the guy from Three Men and a Baby ?" exclaimed one Generation Y-er, referencing Steve Guttenberg, who dropped by to bid bonjour to Peggy Siegel. It was. Emmy Rossum, who will play William H. Macy's daughter in the upcoming Showtime series Shameless, was also revelling. After an Atkins-friendly meal of filet of sole and grilled vegetables, guests were instructed to return to the main hall and enjoy dessert, champagne, a buffet of sweets, and a colorful parade of Lilly pillows. Takeaway: everyone wants another one of these prints. Do they come in bikini?

As the night wore on, guests were ogling the museum's exhibits, especially the addictive underwater video installations, as much as the stars—until Claire Danes arrived, at which point all attentions were channeled in one direction. The actress, an honorary chair of the event, posed for photos and greeted fans before admiring the floral fest and descending back down the storied steps. Just another night at the museum!
ASHLEY BAKER