Putting well-known names on invitations and tip sheets is a standard way of publicizing a charity event in New York. The promise of clinking glasses with an actor or a socialite brings out a larger crowd to bid on whatever is being auctioned off, and ultimately brings in more money for the cause. Everybody wins.

But then there is the shameful practice of advertising glittering guests who have not in fact confirmed that they’re attending.  read more »

It’s Saturday night, and Izzy Gold is in what looks like his natural environment.

In the back of the long, tubular space on Broome Street called GoldBar, behind parted curtains of gold chain, he stands at his turntables. He’s wearing clunky headphones around his neck, one akimbo DJ-style, and a T-shirt of his own design, black with a gold skull in the center, a pack of Marlboro Reds rolled into the left sleeve.

The gold skull is picked up in the wallpaper pattern; not far away, a row of “thrones,” tall chairs upholstered in gold fabric, are lined along the bar.  read more »

Q: Who is "Izzy Gold"?

A: According to a HELLO MY NAME IS sticker on Izzy Gold’s Web site:

I WAS BORN IN NYC
I’M A ROUGH TOUGH BADASS
BUT…
WASH ME COLD, TUMBLE ME DRY
AND DON’T FORGET
IZZY GOLD KNOWS!!!

Mr. Gold was born in New York and raised both here and in Arezzo, Italy. He designs a line of T-shirts including one that is called Kiss Kiss inspired by a 1996 Patrick McMullan book of the same name. One of Mr. Gold's dear friends is Ally Hilfiger; in fact one is rarely spotted very far from the other of a New York evening. Ms. Hilfiger guest-designed a special T-shirt for his line and they’ve collaborated on art works that were displayed at the Chelsea Art Museum.  read more »

Zena Scharf, the 24-year-old daughter of painter Kenny Scharf, has recently joined fashion photographer Patrick McMullan’s staff, where she works in the art department. She said it’s a nice place to work: "I’ve known him my whole life, basically.” When we ran into Ms. Scharf, she was on hand to help her pal-cum-boss at a party he was co-hosting on Thursday, Feb. 14, at uptown boutique The Parker. Ms.  read more »

The Parker, a small boutique on Madison Ave. near 78th Street, was overflowing last night with an eclectic mix of partygoers who had come to celebrate downtown designer-DJ Izzy Gold’s new, limited-edition “Kiss Kiss” T-shirt. The design of the soft, gray item was inspired by Patrick McMullan’s 1996 book of the same name—a weighty chunk of pages, it features the party photog’s favorite kissing pics taken over his 25-year career. (Later on, after the party moved to the meatpacking district nightclub Kiss & Fly, photos from the book were blasted onto a large projection screen dangling over the empty dance floor.) Mr. McMullan, a co-host with Mr. Gold, 26, and Ally Hilfiger, 22, was schmoozing and signing copies from behind a table in one corner of the store.  read more »

On a sunny Tuesday morning in early January, a strange noise was echoing through Ally Hilfiger’s apartment, a one-bedroom condo located in the faddish badlands of SoHo’s western frontier. “It’s the tailor,” said Ms. Hilfiger, motioning toward a closed door from her cozy perch on a white Art Deco love seat.

Before the interruption, Ms. Hilfiger, the 22-year-old daughter of the designer Tommy Hilfiger who herself dabbles in design and fine arts, had been describing a sentiment she shares with a small subset of female New Yorkers: women who are born of wealth, committed to various charitable causes and creative pursuits, but who claim they are weary of the flash of Patrick McMullan’s cameras, in search of a more … bohemian sensibility. These are not Upper East Siders with pageboys and pearl chokers, sitting on museum boards but living below 14th Street, in their own Petit Hameaux replete with easels, dress forms or turntables.  read more »

Maybe it was the rain, which had soaked through coats and leather boots, causing a vaguely earthy smell to permeate the packed bleachers at Cipriani 42nd Street; or perhaps it was bronzed, shiny supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who—exhausted from sucking all the life essence from New England Patriot Tom Brady?—didn’t walk the runway, but took a seat beside actress Julianne Moore just before the lights went down; or maybe it was just that it was Friday night, and there was a bar.  read more »

Adam Moss stood with a glass in champagne in one corner, Look Book's Amy Larocca was in another, and social princess Ally Hilfiger was sitting on a plush couch catching up with old high school friends ("We took retarded math!" exclaimed one. "Like, we did decimals" she replied). But as for familiar editorial faces, there was only a handful last night at the Bowery Hotel, as Mr. Moss' New York magazine celebrated its newly published Look Magazine with a party for fashion and advertising types.

New York publisher Lawrence Burstein, who went much of the night without a drink, and didn't look to be having much fun, said that his magazine goes without any competition, but also said that he reads Vanity Fair, The Economist and The New York Times Magazine.

Lockhart Steele and Nick Denton were sitting at the bar as the free drinks came to an end around 8:30. Asked about the lack of familiar media faces, a New York spokeswoman said, "Well, we can't invite everyone."

On Monday, Nov.  read more »

After running into Ally Hilfiger, daughter of fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and the recent subject of a Page Six Magazine cover story, we decided to ask her how she reacted to the piece.

“My mom’s name is not Sheila; it’s Susie, which is funny, because we kind of laughed about that. But other than that, they really understood where I was coming from and I was really honest,” she told the Daily Transom last night at a party hotelier Andre Balazs and GQ magazine co-hosted for Mr. Hilfiger and ad wizard George Lois’ new book, Iconic America: A Roller-Coaster Ride Through the Eye-Popping Panorama of American Pop Culture.

Ms. Hilfiger, 22, purports to enjoy attending events at night, but she winces a little upon hearing the word “socialite.”

“I believe in giving back to the world. And however I can do that is my goal, one of my goals in life. If that labels me as a socialite, so be it. But I’d like to be known more for my talent and for my creativity, as well as giving back to underprivileged people, sick people and charities and things like that. My main goal is definitely not to go to a lot of parties and go out all the time and be seen. It’s more to do better for the world,” Ms. Hilfiger said.

Plus, she doesn’t have much time for party-hopping these days. Ms. Hilfiger, who just designed a t-shirt for Izzy Gold (“a hip, cool line”), said she is currently working on several upcoming art shows and is in talks to star in a theatrical production on Broadway.