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Urban Chic benefit heats up runway with record $100K night
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In its third year, Urban Chic, the annual fashionably minded benefit for AID Atlanta finally hit its stride on and off the runway. (SEE RUNWAY PHOTOS)
Not to mention a record $100,000 raised in a single evening for the charity. In past years, looking good in the month of August in hipster overheated nightclubs had been an ongoing challenge for the glittering moneyed crowd. Thursday night’s event was held in the larger, lavishly air-conditioned Egyptian Ballroom at the Fox Theatre in Midtown.
Eyeing a nearly naked, leggy blonde model graciously submitting to body paint applications from attendees, co-chair Ken Goldwasser told Buzz: “This year, the only body heat in here is being generated by the models. And it doesn’t appear that anyone minds that!”
Still, the always-outrageous co-chair Richie Arpino (pictured left with co-hosts Tom Sullivan and Karyn Greer) dressed for the occasion, sporting a red tartan kilt and black combat boots.
“These people have seen me in everything else,” Arpino claimed. “Now I know why women wear dresses. They’re very comfortable. Especially when you go commando.”
Considerably more refined was host committee member Darlene Trigg, who turned up in Armani Black Label with sexy candy apple red Valentino shoes.
Discussing her distress at recent spikes in HIV infection among African-American women, Trigg told us: “I’m delighted with the diversity here tonight. I’m thrilled that this year’s event is bigger and that more people are embracing this cause.”
Providing the evening’s emotional center was former Clinton administration AIDS advisor Denise Stokes, who’s been living with HIV for 25 years. A spoken word artist, Stokes silenced the crowd as she rapped about being raped as a teenager and her later substance abuse struggles after being diagnosed.
“I took the wrong path and fell a few times,” Stokes told the crowd. “But I’m telling it like it t-i-s. I’m going to keep on keeping on.” Stokes received a standing ovation as emcee Greer observed: “That’s why we’re here folks.”
A fashion show, creatively conceived by catwalk expert Randi Layne, wowed the crowd with the latest threads from Atlanta boutiques, including Luxe, Tootsies, Kaleidoscope, Sage, Threadhouse, Bill Hallman and Festivity.
Opening the evening, was rising Atlanta singer-songwriter Ben Deignan, whose noisy quartet rocked arrivals at the VIP party. Deignan’s impressive set took us back to the days when we piled into Eddie’s Attic to watch a young John Mayer trying out his latest compositions. Only the scrappier Deignan and mates might well wipe the floor with Mayer’s band in a bar fight.
Deignan wasn’t fazed that most of the crowd was ignoring his set. The singer told us: “It’s like being that cool band that has a cameo in a cocktail party scene on an episode of ‘Sex and the City.’ It’s early, people are drinking and finding their hook up. We’re just excited to be here.”
Ready for football?
Preparing for tonight’s Atlanta Falcons pre-season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars? You may want to visit the team’s online store or its retail locations at Perimeter or Lenox Square malls. Among the products that tempted Buzz on Friday: the all-wood Falcons cheese board, the team’s official hammock, a black-and-red bed comforter (“the perfect addition to your Atlanta Falcons sheet set!” as the Web site tells us) and a snack helmet with a detachable top perfect for chips. But the biggest bargains we found? Dog tags from former Falcons Warrick Dunn and DeAngelo Hall were going for just 93 cents a set. Current Falcon Keith Brooking’s will run you $5.56, however. Perhaps not unexpectedly, there was no sign of Michael Vick dog tags to be found anywhere on the site. For info: Falcons365.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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