The young man, tall, lean and sporting a short beard of ginger-colored growth arrived in blue jeans and a V-neck sweater to mix and mingle with Orange County women dressed for success.
The theme of the day was, in fact, high fashion, inasmuch as Tyrnauer’s film chronicles the life and times of fashion icon Valentino Garavani, and his rise to international prominence along with his life and business partner Giancarlo Giammetti.
“All Valentino Garavani ever wanted was to dress the world’s most beautiful and famous women. All Giancarlo Giammetti wanted — from the day he met Valentino on the Via Veneto, in 1960 — was to help him do it,” begins Tyrnauer’s Vanity Fair article titled “So Very Valentino,” which was the impetus that eventually led to the making of the documentary.
Many of the women in the Chapman crowd, including Corona del Mar’s socially prominent Eve Kornyei dressed in signature red Valentino couture in stark contrast to Tyrnauer’s relaxed attire.
It didn’t matter.
The crowd adored the filmmaker and he enjoyed the interaction as they chatted him up at a very swank luncheon, screened his film and then participated in a taped television interview with him hosted by Chapman President Jim Doti and Dodge College lead donor and trustee Kristina Dodge. The television interview will air on KOCE-TV’s “Dialogue with Doti and Dodge” in the coming weeks.
Among the glitterati were O.C.’s most philanthropic pioneer citizens: Marion Knott, Libby Pankey, Terry and George Schreyer, Marybelle Musco, and Richard Rodnick. Also front and center were Newport’s elegant and always best dressed Zee Allred, Mary Roosevelt, Harriet Sandhu and Marta Bhathal with her daughter Lisa Vogel. Chuck Martin was on hand supporting his wife, Twyla, who is a super-charged Chapman devotee.
The beautiful Tricia Berns, Victoria LeVasseur, Sue Stern, Barbara Bowie, Bette Aitken, Valerie Whiting and classy Peggy Sprague all participated in this exceptionally smart afternoon exploring the behind-the-scenes world of documentary filmmaking, international fashion, and 20th century culture.
All of this along with the indomitable presence and signature of Doti and Dodge College Dean Bob Bassett setting the tone for a decidedly uptown afternoon in downtown Orange.
THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.
