Around Town: Bethenny Frankel, Katie Couric at the National Magazine Awards
Of all the people at Monday’s National Magazine Awards, Bethenny Frankel owned up to having the biggest periodical habit.
“I like Food & Wine. I read Vanity Fair, New York, Hollywood Reporter, Time Out, Gotham,” she said. “And I read the weeklies when I’m in them. It’s hard to keep up because there’s so much information.”
When does the reality star have time to consume all these? “I only read magazines when I’m getting a manicure and a pedicure. That’s it. Every couple of weeks, I’ll stack ’em up and bring them there and do it that way.”
Dr. Mehmet Oz reads Time for perspective, loves Esquire—and Good Housekeeping. “Because they do all the lists, and when they approve something in Good Housekeeping, we look at it for our show. So it educates me editorially,” he explained.
Chef Rocco DiSpirito said he proudly places upscale magazines on his coffee table and pretends to read them while actually following his favorite titles in a more modern way.
“I follow a lot of magazines on Twitter, like Fitness and Men’s Health,” he said. “Isn’t that how we get our information?”
Katie Couric hosted the gala, and VF’s Graydon Carter, Glamour’s Cindi Leive, InStyle’s Ariel Foxman, and Self’s Lucy Danziger cheered on their colleagues. Author Tom Wolfe, in his trademark white suit, received the creative excellence award.
On Wednesday, Loomstate celebrated Earth Day with a bash at Good Units featuring the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’s Nick Zinner leading a musical performance for 41 strings. For the eco-friendly fashion label, which is known for sustainable business practices, celebrating the environment makes sense. But why now, we asked deisgner Rogan Gregory, since Earth Day was actually back on April 22?
“Uh, I’m going to be honest with you, this was a lot of coordination,” the designer told FashionEtc. “So we intended on having it on Earth Day, but we didn’t quite make it, so we thought better late than never. That’s the honest truth.”
Gregory and partner Scott Mackinlay Hahn recruited Julie Gilhart to host the evening. “Julie stands for this idea of great design and she’s adopted this whole movement that we stand for at Loomstate, which is modesty of scale and quality of life,” Hahn said.
Glihart is currently weighing her options as to her next step, post-Barneys. “I just got back from 19 days in Mexico,” she laughed. “I was at Barneys for 18 years, so I’m entitled to take a break.”
But the eco-conscious Loomstate designers admitted to some less-than-environmentally sound habits. While Gregory uses a fuel-efficient car for commuting, he also keeps a vintage 1964 Biscayne that guzzles gas. “I have a house out in Montauk and I drive back and forth to the beach, and it definitely is all about style, there’s no fuel efficiency in any way,” he said.
Hahn acknowledged that just trying to be gentle to the environment can be a pain. “To maintain the fortitude and the stamina and the courage to keep making the right decisions, it can be exhausting,” he said.
So, we teased, did Hahn do anything extravagant, like fly to this party in a helicopter? “I wish,” he laughed. “I took the train.”
The designers’ friend Winona Ryder, who popped in after a long day on a movie set, insisted that she has pretty good habits, environmentally speaking, because she lived in a commune while growing up and took on her parents’ values. “They were, you know, hippies,” Ryder said.
Photo: Bethenny Frankel at the National Magazine Awards