Yes, that was Bette Midler and her husband, Martin von Haselberg walking hand in hand through the fabled Academy Mansion on the Upper East Side last night.
Famed actresses Christina Baranski and Isabella Rossellini were caught chatting with publicist for the stars Peggy Siegal.
It was that kind of night for Airmail.com’s Graydon Carter, who’s used to giving A list parties. He did it again last night, combining with Bloomingdale’s for a night called “From Italy with Love.”
The fashionistas were all there. Thank goodness I ran into The Fashion Guru herself, Fern Mallis, who knows everyone and can introduce them at the drop of a hat. Mallis created this whole Fashion Week thing years ago, and it’s still going strong
“We’re already three days into it,” she told me when I asked when Fashion Week started.
Wearing a brocade cape a Cheshire grin, the legendary Rossellini, a host of the evening, told me she was one her way to the Toronto Film Festival. She’s getting raves for her role in a movie called “Conclave.”
“I play a nun,” she told me. What would her famed movie star mother Ingrid Berman think, I asked “She played a nun, too!” Yes, indeed, in “The Bells of St. Mary.”
Christine Baranski was one of the invitational hosts. And there she was, beaming, telling me about her four grandsons and her boyfriend. Baranski is Emmy nominated, of course, for her role as the haughty, wealthy Agnes van Rhijn in HBO’s “The Gilded Age.” So imagine running into another “Gilded Age” actor, Morgan Spector, who plays Mr. Russell, in the series.
“He’s your enemy, no?”
“No!” she said. I wondered if Baranski was at home in the Academy Mansion? After all Agnes lives in a similar Fifth Avenue mansion.
“It’s too new,” she said, and she was right since “The Gilded Age” takes place in 1882 and the Mansion was built in 1920. “Also,” she said, “we shoot on a set in Queens. It’s just a narrow little room.” Aw shucks, she ruined it.
Where was she going next? To a Netflix party for the movie, “His Three Daughters.” She said, “Carrie is in it, I want to support her.”
“Your rival!” I said of the Gilded Age actress who plays Mrs. Russell. Barasnki rolled her eyes. “I guess so,” she said, smiling.
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