Parties You Will Never Get Into

MacDella Cooper, the humanitarian from New York who is also known as “Liberia’s Angel,” revealed her plans for the MCF Academy in Liberia that she carried out with the support of the MacDella Cooper Foundation and her committee of luminaries of media, fashion, and design. She said that the plans would be primarily about the establishment of the first tuition-free school for the less fortunate children in Liberia.

On the final night of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York, the MacDella Cooper Foundation Fashion Week After Party planned to raise $500,000 for the MCF Academy, which will open next year.

“Having escaped the brutality of a decade-long civil war in Liberia myself, I know firsthand that Liberia desperately needs a new generation of empowered, educated individuals to continue its recovery,” said Cooper, who is also the president of the MacDella Cooper Foundation.

The After Party had Winka Dubbeldam’s (the architect for the Academy) designs for the institution. It also had an exclusive Fall 2009 Collection screening by famous fashion designer Korto Momolu, an appearance by a Project Runway Season five finalist as well as a keynote speech by the chief executive officer of Women’s Wholesale at Jones Apparel Group, Susan Metzger. Cocktails were served that night filled with dancing and tunes from DJ Dusko.

Some of the hosts for the MacDella Cooper Foundation Fashion Week After Party were: Interview magazine’s publisher Samantha Fennell, New York Post columnist Julia Szabo, Ralph Lauren Corporate Sonya Pankey, The Rachel Ray Show’s designer Evette Rios, CESLIE-The Women’s Network’s editor-in-chief Ceslie Armstrong and Lifetime Networks’ Barbara Brennan.

Among the honorary chairs of the event were Krystyna Houser, a dedicated sponsor to one of the many academic facilities on the MacDella Cooper Foundation Academy, and Donna Poyaidjais.

Fashion designer Marc Jacobs threw an extremely exclusive Fashion Week after party at Robert de Niro’s Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca. Known for throwing big bashes without really thinking up on the guest list, this September 2008 New York Fashion Week after party was a different one. For starters, the party was divided into two groups. One group gathered at the open bar while Jacobs and select friends partied in the back courtyard.

Second, while the group of people huddled closely at the bar danced, mingled, and enjoyed their merrymaking, the designer and his friends, including actresses Winona Ryder and Kirsten Dunst, and director Sofia Coppola, savored a three-course steak dinner. The meal was served to them in style by a uniformed staff. Although there were about 100 guests, not all were invited to the exclusive family-style dinner table.

Jacobs threw the party to celebrate the success of his Fashion Week show where models sashaying to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” paraded the designer’s latest masterpieces. Jacobs’ collection combined grunge with gleaming fabrics, Hollywood glamour, and vintage looks. The designer also acknowledged all the celebrities who attended his shows like Winona Ryder, Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Coppola, Martha Stewart, Joel Schumacher, Anne Hathaway, Elijah Wood, Kanye West, and Nicole Richie. Not all these celebrities were invited to the party, though, as even Lord of the Rings alumna, Wood, had a difficult time getting into the after-show bash.

Hathaway, who essayed the role of an ugly duckling-turned-fashionable princess in The Devil Wears Prada, did not join the other celebrities at the fashion show but was present at the tightly-guarded after party. She had to miss Jacobs’ show because she was at the U.S. Open. She had her fill at the party, though, even if she had to leave early.

Other celebrities and A-list guest who found their way into Marc Jacobs’ Fashion Week After Party at Greenwich Hotel included Jessica Simpson, fashion stylist Rachel Zoe, Perry Farrell of Lollapalooza, and Sonic Youth frontwoman Kim Gordon. Jacobs’ business partner, Robert Duffy — who revealed that he and the designer have not eaten in 24 hours — was also around.