Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

Ringing in 2010, Two by Two

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Twenty-four of our closest friends joined me and MrB for my traditional New Year’s Eve/belated birthday celebration on Thursday night. We had dinner at Balthazar, which has also become a tradition.

I already gave you a glimpse of the Zang Toi gown I wore. Here’s the whole look.

Raising the first glass of Champagne with Stacy.

My gorgeous friend Stacy — who, as you can see above, looked amazing in her strapless tuxedo dress and over-the-knee boots — has started a blog of her own. Click here to read her post about the party and don’t forget to add taffetadarlings to your Google Reader.

Zang was there to see his gown in action. You can tell from the menfolk that the dress code was not black tie. I just felt like wearing an evening gown. As I always say: Wear What You Want! Another tip I often give women who try on an exceptional dress (or shoe or necklace or whatever) and then say, “But where would I wear it?”: Throw your own party.

Zang, WendyB and MrB

Gorgeous out-of-town blogger Princess Poochie was able to join us, thanks to her thoughtful husband who surprised her with a trip to New York after conspiring with me on NYE plans. I loved her Sonia Rykiel dress — accessorized with her Wendy Brandes swear rings — and I loved it even more when I noticed that another guest, Janet, was Poochie’s sartorial twin.

Matching collars and cuffs.

After this, I realized there were “twins” everywhere. It reminded me of my close personal friend Lorraine Bracco‘s lines in Goodfellas:

And almost all of them were named Peter or Paul. It was unbelievable. There must have been two dozen Peters and Pauls at the wedding. Plus, they were all married to girls named Marie. And they named all their daughters Marie. By the time I finished meeting everybody, I thought I was drunk.

Well, Lorraine’s character’s experience was a little extreme, but I did have two Tinas in attendance. Here’s a picture Tina Anderson took of Tina Tang taking a picture.

Two Tinas were involved in the creation of this photo.

Meanwhile, Bryan, Tina Tang‘s husband, had a twins moment with MrB, thanks to some flashy party favors.

Forget the Blues Brothers...here are the Greens Brothers.

Tina Anderson and I were sitting in the exact same seats we were in last year but forgot to take a picture of ourselves striking last year’s pose for the full twins effect. We did manage to pose with pretty balloons.

Balloon girls.

I also had two Steves and two Elizabeths in attendance. Here’s one of the Elizabeths … gorgeous Prozac Nation author Elizabeth Wurtzel. I’ve loaned Elizabeth my Gloriana necklace in the past and as I took this photo of her cleavage, I deeply regretted not loaning her the Gloriana again for the evening. It would have looked good there!

Elizabeth and her twins.

While Gloriana the necklace wasn’t there, my amethyst and tsavorite Marie Antoinette ring was. I wore it along with my Boleyn necklace. The ring recently returned from a long stay with the costume department of Sex and the City 2. Wouldn’t it be great if it made it into the movie? Here is Marie Antoinette modeled by Alyssa, who was also wearing an onyx ring she got from me a few years ago and a fabulous gray manicure.

The Marie Antoinette colors go well with gray.

Speaking of Alyssa, there was only one of her, but…

Alyssa

… Melissa is pretty close, right?

Melissa and me. Check out Melissa's WendyB earrings.

The Pestas are siblings but not twins. I’ve known Jesse since my days at the Wall Street Journal, back in the early ’90s. Abby works at Marie Claire and was the editor of the essay I wrote for the magazine in 2008.

Abby and Jesse Pesta

Abby and I were amazed to realize that we’d had similar professional drama in the recent past. Twins! We’re going to set a long-overdue date for French fries at Odeon so we can have a more in-depth discussion.

Other guests not yet mentioned were Jim, Karen, Andrea, Jen, Amanda and Adam. After midnight, some of us took to the dance floor, including Kevin — not guest Kevin, but Balthazar maitre d’ Kevin who helps us have a great event every year.

Balthazar Kevin gets down.

On the way out, Stacy and I gathered up two bunches of balloons and managed to stuff nearly all of them in the trunk of the car — all but two.

Two sad balloons.

One of those didn’t make it home, but the other survived to join me in a final full-length pose outside.

I had to get one more shot of the gown.

Back inside, we took a picture of the gold Louis Vuitton shoes that are my go-to party shoes. Gigi the dog decided to get in on the action.

Louis Vuitton shoes, Minx pedicure, Gigi.

She must have known I needed one final pairing for this post. Or maybe a post-midnight Gigi photo is now a tradition. Anyway, here we are on January 1, 2006.

Happy New Year, from me and Gigi!

I hope you all had a great New Year’s Eve. Best wishes for 2010!

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Comments

  1. Wendy, how dare you only post one picture of those amazing gold shoes! I love those to pieces. Balthazar on NYE sounds like my kind of party. That place is one of my top 10 things I miss from living in NY. Looks like you and your friends ha a blast. Have a great 2010!

  3. You had Elizabeth Wurtzel at your party?!@?@ OMG, I want her to come to one of my parties! I imagine she is a fascinating guest. Looks like the evening was FANTASTIC WB. So jealous 🙂

  4. Yay! That shoe picture turned out great — Gigi is so glam. I also love that you managed to capture Kevin dancing, he was really good. Again, you looked absolutely stunning in that Zang gown. You definitely need to throw more parties so you can “wear what you want!”

  6. I am LOVING your dress, missy. It is stunning. Although, after the holiday season I’ve had there is NO WAY I’d entertain something that fitted. 🙂 I’m happy you can pull it off though.

    Elizabeth Wurtzel actually looks sort of like Christina Ricci who played her in the movie, in that pic. 🙂

    Happy 2010 miss B.

  8. Had a great time WendyB. As always you were fabulous. I have adopted the whole wear what you want philosophy and I have never regreted it. Happy 2010!

  9. Looks like a lot of fun was had!

    I am a fan of grey manicures! I always seem to to using Opi’s Metro Chic as my “go to” nail colour. I consider your friend with the grey manicure stylish as heck because of this (and her gorgeous rings). 🙂

    Love your dress Wendy! Simply gorgeous!

  12. What a fabulous event! You made me feel as though I was right there with you…in fact I’m feeling a little hungover now.

    Happy New Year!

  14. I rang in the New Year with my actual twin! Beat that! 😉 I kid, I kid. This is an awesome post and a GORGEOUS gown!

  15. Thank you all so so much for your kind compliments…I’m the luckiest designer to have GORGEOUS Wendy always in my gowns !!! Hugs, Zang

  16. Best party ever!

    If I’d been there, there would have been three Elizabeths in attendance! Maybe next year. 😉

  19. Oh WB….you look absolutely beautiful!!! Your dress reminds me of dresses that I have worn and loved so much that when I got home, even though I was tired and by all accounts ready for comfy clothes, I just didn’t want to take the dress off. Really pretty.

    So…too bad that all the Peters and Pauls were with Maries and not Marys. also reminds me of a Peter Paul cake that my grandmother makes. sorry…I think it’s getting late.

  23. You know what? I’m glad I didn’t go out for NYE…because I would have seen this and thought that whatever b.s. party I went to was nowhere near the magnitude of what was in this post.

    Ugh.

    Happy New Year!!

  26. Love Ur dress with gold LV sandals. Perfect, WendyB!

    And the gray nail polish is fantastic. Brand? I neeeeeed the same one. 😉

    Happy New Year!

    X♥X♥

  28. I love the name Balthasar, so much.

    I also love how you are the most fabulous dressed in your Zang Toi. I think you have given me that advice before, and I\’m ashamed to admit that I haven\’t taken it – YET. Happy new year to you xxx

  33. Hi there-wow, it sounds like such an awesome and wonderful New Year, your pictures are fabulous and you look stunning in your gown too! Wishing you a Happy New Year too my dear!!

  34. Exquisite dress and clearly a memorable evening! Only off note for me is your friend’s choice of what appear to be long leather gloves worn indoors, but then I’m very traditional.

  36. I wish I could afford your jewelry, I love the black skull and the one pictured here..Have you ever thought about doing a lower priced line of those skulls instead of using real diamonds maybe fake ones…I don’t have a boyfriend yet so
    I know I won’t be able to get my hands on the real ones.

    Think about it! I say the skulls would sell out in a hot second if they were 300$.

  37. Luxirare, I have a post coming up on this topic soon so keep an eye out for that. But, in short, I would love to do a lower-priced line. However, that is actually an expensive proposition because inexpensive things need to be done overseas using inexpensive labor and materials. That requires quantity because factories don’t run for fewer than 100 pieces a style. I personally don’t have the money to finance that, nor would I have any way to manage that massive amount of inventory…because how do I know I’m going to sell 100 pieces just on my own? I could be stuck with it for a long time. I do hope to get an H&M/Urban Outfitters type place to finance a lower-priced line but doing it myself is not possible.

  40. Hi, thanks so much for ur comment : )Luv ur blog and wow, ur pics are lovely! What a amazing NYE! Have a stunning day xx

  42. Oh I do hope your ring makes it into the movie…I will be looking out for it.

    Looks like you had an amazing NYE (you look fabulous!) love the dress and love your nail polish!

  44. You look freakin’ gorgeous, Wendy! I love, love, LOVE that dress – it is killer on you. Nice to see the faux-ny tail out, too. 😉

    Gosh, your rings are just to die for. I will be watching for them in the next SATC movie!

  46. You look so stunning! I love that gown- it’s a great, rich color! I loved Zang when I saw him on The Real Housewives of NYC! Looks like you had a fabulous night! xo, Mel