Daily Front Row

2010 May 13

Museum Nights

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Carolina Herrera, Marcia Gay Harden, Nanette Lepore
CHANCE YEH/PatrickMcMullan.com View Gallery

(NEW YORK) The weather may have been unseasonably frigid last night, but friends headed uptown for a spring celebration to benefit Solving Kids’ Cancer at the American Museum of National History. Guests including Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Marcia Gay Harden and Nanette Lepore filed into the museum’s Powerhouse for a silent and live auction, followed by a musical performance by Shawn Colvin.

This is the event’s first year, and Herrera predicted, “I know that it’s going to be very successful in the future.” She motioned towards the butterfly pins each guest was given upon entering, and smiled, “I love the beautiful purple butterfly symbol, too! So lovely.” The designer is in the midst of working on her resort collection, and she sighed, “There have been many evening events recently, and so going out every night is a bit tiring. But don’t worry, I always find a bit of time to relax.” Amy Sacco and Seth Herzog served as the evening’s co-auctioneers during the live auction, and guests indulged mini sliders and shrimp cocktail before a dinner of salmon and pasta salad, settling in for a musical performance by Shawn Colvin.

“This is a very straightforward charity, and it’s different than others in that 100% of the proceeds go right to research,” said Gay Harden. A fan of the museum, the actress revealed, “My kids adore all the space stuff, but I love the anthropological exhibit. I need to go back soon, bring a sleeping bag and camp out!” Lepore was just thankful to be free of volcanic delays. “I just got back from Paris a night early, luckily, because if I stayed I really would have gotten stuck.” The conversation quickly turned to sunny destinations and Lepore explained, “Eight of us are going on a family trip to Venice and Capri next week. We’ll probably laugh a lot, drink and dance.” Gay Harden also had warm weather on the brain. “I recently went to Hawaii and surfed for the first time in my life. It was so much fun, although I’m sure I looked like an orangutan trying to keep my balance. But I was thrilled that I got out there and did it!”
EMILY POPP