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Last night, with Stephanie Seymour, and Hugh Jackman in attendance, the people who frequent such affairs could feel justified in venturing out for the fete. Fashion watchers throughout the week can see celebrities, the Mayor, Martha Stewart, politicians, and rap singers alike on any given day.  They come to shop in an environment that is museum-like, in an environment that is world-renowned for it’s architectural treasures. (The Tiffany designed rooms MUST be seen).

Whether you come to see an extraordinarily vetted selection of antiques from every facet of collecting heaven, or to do some serious shopping for a St. Valentine’s gift, (the jewelry!) this show is the place to be and to be seen.

Often shot by Bill Cunningham for the New York Times, the show is a benefit for the East Side House Settlement.  With a $20 entry fee, you collect an armful of glossy magazines, and the sought-after catalogue of this, the 57th show.

On Thursday, the Young Collector’s Night will be the hot ticket for the sons and daughters of the powers-that-be here in town.  We’re all getting ready for Fashion Week, so one never knows who will show for the party.  Last year, Maggie Rizer bowled us all over in a devastating blue evening gown.

This is a milieu where you can come from out of town, hear a lecture, cruise the aisles, and breathe in the un-haughty air of old.  It’s a place to sport that strange embroidered jacket in the back of your closet.  It’s a place to wear a fabulous hat!  No dress code required, don’t get me wrong, but how to pass up the opportunity to be a bit outré in your ensemble?

Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg

If you didn’t make it to the opening party last night, and you can’t make it to the Young Collector’s happening on Thursday, please be sure you check out the show at least once during your stay in town.   It’s one chance to get into the armory for the building itself, but at the same time, the show lays before your eyes marvels! By the way, it’s not far from the Balenciaga exhibit just down the road apiece.

Live, love and enjoy the antiques!

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Ellen Christine: Ok, so one thing: when was the 1^st time you came to New York?

Roberto Alagna: It was, the first  time  in New York was for the Pavarotti competition….. because we made the  first eliminatory (sic)  for the competition here in ‘85…..

Ellen Christine: I thought that was in Philadelphia, non?

Roberto Alagna: The final was in Philadelphia, but the beginning was here, in New York.

Ellen Christine: So, you were a baby.

Roberto Alagna: I was a baby…I was …at that time  I don’t remember, it was 23, or 22.

Roberto and Ellen: something like that, yeah.

Ellen Christine: About NY and you : because you have so much energy, that I think that New York is a good city for you because it’s on par with your energy.

Roberto Alagna: I love New York, but I will give you a secret:

Ellen Christine: What secret?

Roberto Alagna: I have a secret in New York:  because I know a place in Central Park, it’s  just a small sq,1  meter, (Italian) metre carre. And in that  square, it’s total silence, and when I am full of musique  and everything in my head, I  go there, and I stay there for 1 hour, 2 hours, looking at the sky or looking at the trees,  and everything, and in one hour, I clean my brain, totally clean. But I love NY because I love this energy  of the city. In fact, I love these contrasts. You can feel a lot of contrasts, different contrasts in New York. I like that. And you can be surprised  all the time, everywhere.

Ellen Christine: Every corner…

Roberto Alagna: Yes, every corner…I love that.

Ellen Christine: And your  French fans, your Spanish fans come to see you…everybody comes to see you in New York.

Roberto Alagna: Because the Met is very important.  Today For me it’s the first theatre in the world. And I love to come here why: not only because  you have this beautiful audience and this beautiful theatre  but at the same time you can refind here  your family, I mean my family musicians.  You know, singers. Because when you come here all the time here you have a lot of productions  at the same time,all the time. We are downstairs in the cantina, and we meet each other and speak to each other and it’s very nice  to meet after 2 or 3 years…to meet Horovtowsky, and his wife and the children, to meet Sandra, Simon, everybody and I like that, because you feel like a real family.

Ellen Christine: So you’re going to miss NY when you leave us for one whole year?

Roberto Alagna: All the time, all the time yeah, sure, sure. I miss NY all the time, because I  am in love with the city, and I have a lot of beautiful remembers (sic)here.  I spent a lot of time with my wife, with my family, and my daughter. I have a lot of beautiful remembers(sic).

Ellen Christine: Your daughter’s been here with you?

Roberto Alagna: Oh sure, many times. I remember with her when she was little, we stayed that time in Essex house, Central Park South and when she was little, to try to sleep her, I went downstairs you know, to make a tour with the horses,

Ellen and Roberto: (the carriages)

Roberto Alagna: and we made the turn,  and after that she went to sleep, I put her on my arm, and to bed.

Ellen Christine: Great idea! Are you going to Canada and Moscow this summer?

Roberto Alagna: Yes, this summer I will be in Canada, in Toronto, with a beautiful repetoire and  with a new soprano. I don’t know her, but I like also  surprises in my profession also and after that I will return to Moscow. I’ve sung many times there, it’s  a beautiful public.

Ellen Christine: And the rest of the time you’ll be in France?

Roberto Alagna: I’ll be in France, in Spain, in Vienna, in London, in Germany, everywhere.

Ellen Christine: So again I’ll ask you, de la part de Solange: why won’t you go to Belgium?

Roberto Alagna: No, I went to Bruxelles last year, and I sang a beautiful concert. I sang Romeo et  Juliette in concert, and it was beautiful, with a big success and everything.  The problem : I can’t go to Brux and say: okay, guys, I would like to sing.  They must call me. If they invite me, I come.

Ellen Christine: Your sister has to do that.

Roberto Alagna: No, no, you know because: we have a mentality with my sister.  We never ask somebody for a project, or something like this.  All the time we answer requests.

Ellen Christine: It seems to me that no matter what role you’re doing, you’re always right on the money. In the time, a l’epoque, politically.  Somehow you manage to choose roles that are so perfect for that time and and that time of year, and  the world. How do you choose your roles?

Photo by: AP Photo/Stephen Chernin

Roberto Alagna: I must be in love with the character and  with the musique. I must be in love. When I am in love, I just enjoy so much to stay on  stage to sing the music, everything comes naturally and because I love to sing, it’s my life. I sang all my life .

Ellen Christine: You love to die, too!

Roberto Alagna: Because, I love to die because I know when I die I know after that I will awake again. I don’t like to die forever,  but on stage, you know, because it’s very moving. I love that.

Ellen Christine: About the movie about Wagner?

Roberto Alagna: It’s a very strange movie, because in fact, I think those people,  I think the producer ,has no money.  And all the time he called me to do another scene, and another scene. And I don’t know what’s happened.  He asked me to do first,  it was just an apparition (sic), and  after that they made another scene, and now another one. In fact, I don’t know, I filmed maybe half an hour of the movie…I don’t know if they’ll do something with that, but…

Ellen Christine: We hope so, because it looked beautiful

Roberto Alagna: I hope not, because I don’t know if it will be a good movie.

Ellen Christine: We don’t care.  We don’t care as long as you’re in it. It can be a good movie, it can be a bad movie, but the piece that you were in was wonderful…it was evocative.

Roberto Alagna: You know, come to see me at the opera. It’s better !

Ellen Christine: I do, I do all the time You have all these fans, I call them le cadre francais… you know  les francaises: Maraise, and Martine…everybody comes to see you.

Roberto Alagna: You know they  are so kind. They come also during the tour. During the tour there are a lot of concerts (petits concerts).They are everynight there. It’s so moving to see that.

Ellen Christine: We’re your groupies!

Roberto Alagna: Yeah, yeah, but you know, it’s more than that today.  I think today we are real friends.   They know that….It’s nice.

Ellen Christine: They’ll be happy to know that because they love you and they love your music. Thank you,

Roberto Alagna: Thank you, Ellen.

Parlez-vous français? Find the interview with Roberto Alagna in French at the Ellen Christine Millinery blog

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Now, until the 19^th of February, the Queen Sofia  Spanish Institute of New York opens it’s doors to the public for a conceptual curated exhibit of the master’s works.

Conceived by Oscar de la Renta, and executed by Hamish Bowles, Vogue’s European Editor at large, the panoply of intrinsic Balenciaga pieces teach us his vocabulary by showcasing more than 70 items of clothing and accessories.

Photograph by: Mary Hillard. Curator Hamish Bowles and Chairman Oscar de la Renta lead Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain through the exhibition galleries.

Balenciaga Paris has opened it’s archives , and lent historically significant (and iconic) garments.  Masterpieces include Balenciaga’s Infanta gown, and walks us through costumes from the 1940’s,  produced at the height of Paris occupation in WWII , to the silk abstractions of the 1960’s.  For those in costume, art history, design, even architecture, the exhibit allows a span never seen before of Balenciaga’s inspiration, and interpretation.  For lovers of gorgeous silk gowns, this show is a must-see.  From flamenco polka dots, to embroidery reminciscent of the Spanish court of the 1600’s, Balenciaga’s en pointe design technique never faltered.  As an older member of fashion’s hierarchy, he never stopped, and worked well into his retirement in 1968.

Photograph by: Kenny Komer

Come and see the Trajes de luces, authentic bull-fighter’s costumes, and fashion’s twist on a thematic indulgence…the bolero jacket, which became a staple in the 1950’s, worn with cocktail dresses and poodle skirts alike.  Who didn’t take from this man of much vision? Bonnie Cashin, Cardin, Givenchy, Claude Montana…seen via a period video, celebrating several collections of the House of Balenciaga, the pieces evoke other times, and works.

The video itself is a delight, with mincing models and atmospheric lighting, quite obviously done in the salon, with the gilt chairs in evidence.  Space helmets alight atop the models heads…in a figure of speech, of course, because they’re all perfectly blocked felt hats.  Do you see Couregges in there, too?

In M. Balenciaga’s later years, modern art becomes his language, as the influence of Miro, Chagall, Braque, took hold.  A gentleman named Gustave Zumsteag invented a fabric just for Balenciaga at this point: silk gazar.  It allowed his architectural compositions to achieve a control not before seen with another fabric.

Come and see this exhibit, and enjoy Park Avenue, and it’s architecture.  Fashion at it’s finest hour…way before Fashion Week!