Last night, Charlie and Lauran Walk (he's head of Epic Records) hosted a dinner at Andrew Borrok's house in Watermill. Borrok is a real-estate tycoon who likes to cook. He did a six-course meal for a crowd that included Hamptons magazine publisher Jason Binn, Donny Deutsch, and Ken Sunshine, who is the publicist to Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake. He mentioned that Affleck has directed a picture that is Oscar-quality. The house is a big white Southern-style mansion--waterfront with a big pool and tennis court right on the water. Yum.
And Donna Karan and The Cinema Society screened "Crazy Sexy Cancer" for her Urban Zen Initiative at her house in East Hampton's Northwest Woods. She lives a few doors down from Diddy. But her house is far more spectacular.
There is a main house filled with chunky white furniture, candles, and big antique mirrors and such leaned up against the wall. And then there is the spa house - far larger. The walls were all open in the front. Inside, the furniture is ethnic and oversized. Think lots of white and wood and massive orchids - waist height with four stems in large wooden boxes - just a few here and there.
The actual spa room has a long stone sink next to a massage table. A sunken wooden bath is next to that. And then a large room with Pilates equipment up against the wall has pillow-cut stone floors.
Of course, it has a Zen feel, and it is heaven. And there is a chunky wooden path down to a beach, where there was a bonfire and seating with heavy, colorful blankets, where people were cooking Smores on long wooden sticks. And there were men playing drums. Karan had on a white jumpsuit from her Urban Zen collection.
Fred Schneider of the B-52s, Christy Turlington, Ed Burns, Dick Cavett, Christie Brinkley, and Katie Couric were just a few of the famous faces lapping up the luxurious surroundings.
Karan also has houses on Parrot Cay, where Bruce Willis lives, and she has a penthouse apartment in Manhattan on Central Park West, which has wraparound terraces. So, apparently, the design business has been VERY good to her.
She is so nice and fun and really tries to bring attention to good people and causes. When she was in England, hanging out with Barbra Streisand this summer, she met with Prince Charles and they talked about bringing her Urban Zen program to that country.
The Cinema Society party at Karan's house in the Northwest Wods was crazy sexy. And she screened "Crazy Sexy Cancer," a film about a woman who was diagnosed with a rare cancer and who took the task of fighting back with good humor and a terrific attitude.
The subject of the film was there in person at the screening, so this writer is assuming the approach worked.
- JEFFREY SLONIM
