FYIDC

FASHION CHANEL CHIC

In 1955, Coco Chanel revolutionized the handbag with the launch of the Chanel 2-55 Bag. With their chain shoulder strap, these bags were the first bags worn on the shoulder, liberating women’s hands. For its fiftieth anniversary, Chanel has produced an exact copy of the first model (shown above) in quilted leather with same rectangular fastener of the original. The bag is now also available in three different colors and five sizes. Chanel handbags are sold at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

DESIGN ARTEFACTO ARRIVES

Developer Anthony Lanier has already enticed stores Gore Dean Antiques, Contemporaria, Design Within Reach and Baker Furniture to move into the Georgetown design district Cady’s Alley, and esteemed Brazilian furniture manufacturer Artefacto is the latest addition. The company is well-known for sleek, streamlined pieces designed with Italian, French and Asian influences made with imported leather, suede, raw silks, linen and other natural materials. The hip showroom brings a fashion element to design and features a collection of artwork from 25 Brazilian contemporary artists. With swanky showrooms throughout Brazil and several in Florida, all products are the visions of its renowned Brazilian design team.

In the words of owner Paulo Bacchi,“Artefacto is for people who are not timid about expressing their style. And your style should be an expression of your life: the people you know, the city in which you live, the places you’ve been. So, Artefacto brings you a mix of styles to allow you to create your own.” Bacchi says the store here represents a “classic collection that we’ve restructured for a modern sensibility— that’s why Washington is such a fit. And what better way to celebrate our 30th anniversary by opening our store in the capital of the world!” The showroom opened on October 20 for a VIP launch party.

ART THE NEW HOLLYWOOD

Artist Andy Warhol created many portraits of personalities in the art, fashion, music, film and political world over the years. On November 10, one of his portraits of Washington’s own Ina Ginsburg will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York. Ginsburg was a friend of Warhol’s and was the Washington editor of Warhol’s magazine, Interview. The portrait is signed, titled and dated 1986.“Andy was drawn to power as much as to fame. To him, Washington, D.C. was the new Hollywood,” Ginsburg said. “For this portrait, I removed my makeup, and a pure white foundation was applied to my face, like a Kabuki mask. Andy then snapped the Polaroids from which he worked. The neutral image gave him total freedom.” Ginsburg mentioned that Warhol had painted three different panels of her, even though he normally creates all the panels the same. One will be auctioned, the other is in her possession and the Warhol Foundation has the last. Sotheby’s estimates that the portrait will fetch between $80,000 and $120,000. To make an absentee bid, visit www.southebys.com or call (212) 606-7414

GOOD DEEDS ACTIVISM& THE ARTS

Provisions Library in Dupont Circle will be celebrating the synergy of arts and social activism by showcasing some of the area’s leading poets, hip hop and performance artists on November 14 with “Amplify! A benefit for Provisions Library,” at Busboys and Poets, a hot new restaurant at 14th and V Streets, N.W. The facility offers a reading room, community forum, research center and an arts and cultural venue with an emphasis on fiction, poetry and memoirs. Performers at the benefit will include DJ’s Iona Rozeal Brown and Kristina Gray, poet E.

Ethelbert Miller, Hip-hop performer Son od Nun and artist and playwright Anu Yadav. In 2001, the Gaea Foundation opened a Resource Center for Activism and Arts in Washington to give the public greater access to alternative publications and other resources on social change. After the initial success of the Resource Center, the Foundation adopted the name Provisions Library. Opened by local restaurateur Andy Shallal, Busboys and Poets is named after poet Langston Hughes, who worked as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 20’s and who, according to the restaurant’s website, once gave his poems to famedVachel Lindsey while he was dining at the hotel. The following day, Lindsey revealed to local newspapers that he had met a “busboy poet.” For more information on the upcoming event, visit www.provisionslibrary.org

DINING CULINARY COMPETITION

Local chef Morou Ouattara of Signatures restaurant in Penn Quarter will head to New York in January to take on the Iron Chef. After a surprise ingredient is revealed, the challenger and one of the Iron Chef’s face off in a timed competition against each other. He competed for the chance in a preliminary contest held by the Food Network here in Washington on October 5 against Ris Lacoste of 1789 restaurant and Cesare Lanfranconi of Ristorante Tosca. The judges, including Mayor Anthony Williams, representatives from the Food Network and Triage Entertainment, challenged the three chefs with to make a meal using pumpkin as the “secret ingredient.”

Morou wowed them with pumpkin and lobster tea, pumpkin beignets and pumpkin sour cream with caviar. (All three chefs were nominees for Washington’s Chef of the Year Award at the 2005 RAMMY Restaurant Awards.) Morou hails from West Africa’s Ivory Coast and spices up his cuisine with a medley of African, French and American ingredients. He will compete against one of the three Iron Chefs: Bobby Flay, Mario Batali or Masaharu Morimoto. The show will air in 2006.