Talk of the Town

A Hampton Can-Can

July 14, 2011 | Talk of the Town

Sonja Morgan and Justin Mitchell

If a chief in the Sudan can
If the hefty Aga Khan can,
If the camels in his caravan can
Baby, you can can-can too. —Cole Porter

Dispatch attended an old friend’s nutty waterfront party on Friday. Reality television cameras crawled all over the property, and this writer was asked to sign away the right to write about the event. I was already an hour and a half late, so I just signed and entered. Bummer.

On the way home I found an old CD by the late Bobby Short in my car: Lucien Guiltry and Réjane can. Sarah Bernhardt upon a divan can. (The French actress had one leg.) It brought back the era before reality television. And, speaking of old school, Patrick McMullan wore a crisp white suit to the fun Parrish Art Museum gala on Saturday. “Take my picture,” said McMullan, handing me his camera. “I never dress up like this.”

“He usually wears flip-flops,” quipped Rick Hilton, Paris’s dad, who wore black Belgian loafers with patent-leather piping that he’d snapped up in London. McMullan was in fact wearing flip-flops with the suit, but they worked. I shot him with Debbie Bancroft, Kathy Hilton and all the ladies.

During cocktails in a grassy tent off the air-conditioned dinner tent, fashion expert Tiffany Dubin stood with interior designer Geoffrey Bradfield. “He has the most amazing wardrobe,” said Dubin. “Hand-tailored suits by Valentino from the 1970s.” (Bradfield visited Valentino’s famed Roman atelier when he was a boy.)

Also spotted: Somers Farkas, Nicole Miller and Beth DeWoody. Her daughter Kyle has recently launched an arty fashion line called Gray Area, but was wearing an elegant “hang” dress by JF & Son. 

Back to the car for the long drive to the Love Heals benefit. If a kilted Scottish clan can. If in Wagner a Valkyrian can.

At Luna Farm in Sagaponack for Love Heals, the gorgeous Mary Alice Stephenson and model Hilary Rhoda (with beau Sean Avery) co-hosted with Avenue’s Peter Davis, who wore a bowtie by Mauvais Garcon (“bad boy” in French) made out of curtain fabric from the Beatrice Inn and Stubs and Wooten shoes that set him back $200 and looked like a Jackson Pollock painting on velvet. “I should have made them myself,” he said, deadpan.

Finally, Real Housewife Sonja Morgan mentioned that she attended the gay tea dance that afternoon (If in Lesbos a pure Lesbian can.) and that she plans to invent the Society toaster oven. 

Cole Porter would have appreciated her can-do attitude.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PATRICKMCMULLAN.COM

BY JEFFREY SLONIM