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ICE CUBES: On the April ball and gala tip
On the April ball and gala tip, nothing beat the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts' (PIFA) opening soiree that was held with you and 849 of your closest friends eating Wolfgang Puck's food and watching French aerialists at the Kimmel Center.
ICE CUBES: On the April ball and gala tip
On the April ball and gala tip, nothing beat the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts' (PIFA) opening soiree that was held with you and 849 of your closest friends eating Wolfgang Puck’s food and watching French aerialists at the Kimmel Center. I say “you” because I couldn’t make the Thursday Kimmel bash due to mega work commitments. Besides, I had a funny feeling that either Pia or Stefano were going to get voted out of American Idol and I wanted to catch it. Oh, America when will you learn?
There was a greater factor at work as well — I was saving myself for the next night’s PIFA VIP bash/runway fashion show with South Philly’s Ralph Rucci. Rucci won the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts Visionary Award for Fashion — handed to him at the end of the runway by Anne Ewers, President and CEO of the Kimmel. Rucci is a sweet down-to-earth man (who I’ve chatted with for several publications including this one) whose connection to the French is a solid one. His definitive Balenciaga-meets-Capucci-like designs have made him (in 2002) the first American couturier in more than 60 years to be invited to show in Paris by the French Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Rucci showed his haute couture collections in Paris for the next three seasons to boot. Just as cool and doubly colorful was the fashion show run by Sharon Waxman Productions featuring Wilhelmina models with designs by local lums like Sarah Van Aken, Carmelita Martel, Janice Martin, Bela Shehu and Philadelphia University's Kaitlyn Doherty.
Plus, if I wanted to catch aerialists, flame swallowers and stilt-walkers I could just wait a day and hit the PMA’s Art After Dark Vivid Gala where proceeds went to benefit the Museum’s education department. Michael Schmercomish and Nancy Glass were there but they give me a headache so I concentrated instead on the diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiviiiine must-see "Roberto Capucci: Art Into Fashion" exhibition. I knew a great deal about Capucci and wrote about the exhibition from my memory with having studied him and seeing select pieces in other shows around the globe. Seeing so much of Capucci’s sculptural algebraic wizardry in one large beautifully staged exhibit (chronologically, from his discovery in 1951 to more recent pieces) was breathtaking. The cool thing was that Vivid asked people to dress in Capucci-inspired colors. A few folk did. That was OK, I suppose. Good thing, though, that I had a cocktail. Then, the next thing you know, the live auction occurred: Two aerialists started flying above the Great Stair Hall, an artisan cake by Classic Cake’s Chef Robert Bennet got served on the “skirts” of live models and the sculptures started dancing. I’ll have another cocktail, please.
Sandwiched between these events was the Gift of Life’s "THEParty" at the Four Seasons, where I got a chance to hang out with my favorite smart-dressing couple: Don and Renee Freeman, the local face at the forefront of the swanky charity. Icepack fans know I’m a great advocate of this organ donation event as I mentioned THEParty previously and even sstopped by the Gift of Life’s Home Cook Heroes launch party at their new Family House at Fourth and Callowhill the week previous. The ninth annual Donors are Heroes and Gift of Life's 'THE Party' raised more than $100,000. Brava and bravo to all y’all.
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