Chris Heinz – John Kerry’s stepson – is probably the best thing ever to happen to the Democrats, at least the female ones. He looks like the late JFK Jr., has a Harvard MBA, is worth half a billion dollars – and is still very, very single.
Everywhere the 30-year-old turned at the socialite-heavy book party for Jill Kargman and Carrie Karsyov’s “The Right Address” on Wednesday night, he was mobbed by groups of hopeful girls clamoring for his attention. “He’s so cute,” cooed one pert blonde as he passed.
The next generation, all married or otherwise engaged, including Vogue’s Meredith Melling Burke, pregnant Marjorie Gubelman Raien, new mom Liz Cohen and candy queen Dylan Lauren, could only watch from the sidelines. One girl did get lucky: Heinz’s tall, rosy-cheeked ex-girlfriend, Margaux Butler, his former Morgan Stanley pal. Safely out of sight of his fan club inside, he snuck out of the store to give her a snuggle. But Heinz was on a break from both politics and romance, his mother Teresa explained. He was simply there to support his old friend Kargman. “I’m Jill’s godmother,” she said, “And her father, Arie [Kopelman] is Chris’s godfather.” Then she looked around for her son, but, much to the dismay of girls there, he had already left – alone.
DIDDY’S COSTUME DRAMA
Black tie doesn’t mean much anymore – that was pretty clear Monday night at P. Diddy’s jam-packed “A Raisin in the Sun” after-party.
Marquee bouncers said the invite for the opening-night bash specified formal wear. But inside the club, many guests were defying instructions by dressing down for the event instead of up. Even Combs himself opted for an all-white suit and T-shirt – accessorized by girlfriend Kim Porter – instead of the requisite tux.After the Met Costume Institute Ball on the same night, Zac Posen, his date Stella Schnabel and Ivana Trump all went home and got into something more comfortable for P. Diddy’s party. “I was wearing a beeeg, pink dress by Oscar de la Renta – then I switched to theees,” explained a Zang Toi-dressed Trump, who arrived escorted by her younger Italian companion Rossano Rubicondi and Gotham magazine editor Jason Binn.
Some guests should have changed.
“The bouncers didn’t want to let me in!” complained one male guest in a Lacoste-cardigan-and-tie-combo. N.E.R.D’s Pharrell Williams, in jeans, was initially turned away – along with his gun-toting bodyguard – but Williams was allowed in the club once the firearm was dealt with. Girls in jeans had an easier time getting past the doormen – all they had to do was prove they were in good enough physical shape to handle the event. Apparently, upholding a certain dress code wasn’t Combs’ only challenge. Playing host, he grabbed the mike and yelled “Put your hands up! Put your hands up!” But the crowd, including friends Andre Harrell and Farnsworth Bentley, failed to follow orders. “Maybe it’s been so long since I’ve been on the mike that you forgot,” he reminded everyone. “When I tell you to do something, you do it!”
WANNABE VIPs
Note to social climbers: next year, don’t even bother with the $500 “cheap” tickets to the after-party for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Benefit. Aspiring socialites who can’t afford the $3,500-a-plate dinner economize in hopes of rubbing shoulders with the likes of Renee Zellweger, Tom Ford and Anna Wintour. But all the big names clear out as soon as the hoi polloi comes in – leaving the bargainistas to mingle with one another.
As soon as the dinner plates were cleared Monday night, the fashionable set hightailed it to Bungalow 8, which instantly turned into an F.I.T student’s dream: Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, and Nicolas Ghesquiere table-hopped with Donna Karan, Stella McCartney, Domenico Dolce (minus Gabbana) and Michael Kors. Charlize Theron helped her friend, actress Ivana Milicevic, celebrate her 26th birthday with candles and cupcakes. Lauren Bush danced with her Princeton pals, Saturday Night Live-r Chris Kattan literally bounced around, socialite Anh Duong tirelessly posed for photos, Sophie Dahl and boyfriend Dan Baker Jr., mingled while supermodel Carolyn Murphy seemed to stay as far away as possible from Linda Evangelista.
Nobody was thinking about the ball’s discounters back uptown, craning their necks for just a glimpse of what wasn’t there.
HOW TO BE AN IT-BOY
If you want to be a celebrity – and aren’t embarrassed to invite paparazzi to your own party – you could do worse than follow the example of self-anointed “it boy” Fabian Basabe, a dilettantish Pepperdine University graduate who’s working hard to cement his status as a male Paris Hilton.
Like Paris, he knows the key to fame lies in the camera lens. So it was no surprise that his favorite guests included the photogs at his 25th birthday party Thursday night at Marquee, hosted by Elite Models – celebrity division, of course.
Basabe, who learned his best dance moves from women more famous than himself – including First Daughter Barbara Bush and socialite Elisabeth Kieselstein-Cord – flipped and twirled his supposed fiancée Martina Borgomanero.
Not all the guests were impressed with the man some call “Fauxbian Wasabe” and his exuberant social gyrations. One nattily dressed New Yorker surveyed the scene, looked down at his open-bar wristband, and archly declared “I really view him as a newcomer to all this.” But Basabe seemed pleased – he waggled his hips, swilled champagne and smiled blissfully for the flashbulbs.