Party Pictures 9/23/05 - Dior and The Cinema Society present “Proof”; The Pratham Curtain Raiser party and Pratham Gala Event 2005; Central Park Conservancy's “Wild About Cashmere – A Fabulous Frenzy For All Things Cashmere,”

Dior and The Cinema Society present “Proof”

Ines Rivero

Gigi Mortimer

Gwyneth Paltrow

Debbie Bancroft

Jennifer Creel

Dior and The Cinema Society hosted a screening and party for “Proof” at 165 Charles St, the great new Richard Meier building downtown. It was Fashion Week, the week of parties, in a town of parties and this one might have been the quintessential even to the jaded. Only 150 invitations went out for this highly anticipated Miramax and Hart Sharp Entertainment film. The film’s star, Gwyneth Paltrow, who is already being talked about as a front-runner for an Oscar nomination for her role, was attending.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Lauren Bacall

Based on the acclaimed Broadway play, the film stars Paltrow as a young woman haunted by the past of her mathematical genius father (Anthony Hopkins), whom she has spent much of her life caring for. The arrival of a former student of her father's (Jake Gyllenhaal), forces her to confront the most perplexing problem of all ... how much of her father's genius — or madness — did she inherit?

Richard Meier’s Charles Street Gallery was turned into a super-deluxe screening room and an apartment in Meier’s 165 Charles St. was the setting for the after-party. Guests were welcomed by Dior President Marla Sabo and Cinema Society Founder Andrew Saffir, and included such luminaries as David Bowie and Iman, Lindsay Lohan, Jay Z and Beyonce, Lauren Bacall, Helena Christensen, Entourage’s Jeremy Piven, Maggie Rizer, The Sopranos’ Edie Falco and Michael Imperioli, May Anderson, Amy Sacco, Sophie Dahl, Ines Rivero, Jemma Kidd, Damon Dash and Rachel Roy, Tory and Chris Burch, Serena Boardman, Marjorie Gubelmann Raein, Jennifer Creel, Gigi Mortimer, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Olivia Chantecaille, Jill Kargman, Marisa Noel Brown, Anh Duong, Zani Gugelmann, Ghislaine Maxwell, Rena Sindi, Todd Meister and Elizabeth Lindemann, Rufus Albemarle, Debbie Bancroft, Daniel Benedict, Bettina Zilkha, Vanessa Getty, Amanda Brooks, Hamish Bowles, Hope Atherton, Sky Nellor, Sante D’Orazio, Tara Subkoff, Whitney and James Fairchild, Fernanda Niven, Rachel Peters, Fabian Basabe, Margherita Missoni, Rory Guinness, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Carol Alt, Gayle King, Irina Pantaeva, Queer Eye’s Carson Kressley, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, along with the film’s Oscar-nominated director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) and Hart Sharp Entertainment’s Jeffrey Sharp, John Hart, Brett Williams and Luke Parker Bowles.

Fernanda Niven and Rachel Peters

Gayle King

The evening benefited Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation and the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and was truly a night many New Yorkers will not soon forget

Olivia Chantecaille and Daniel Benedict

Andrew Saffir and Helena Christensen

Edie Falco

David Bowie and Iman

Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Izak Senbahar, Rena Sindi, and Paul Kanavos

L. to r.: Hamish Bowles; Proof Director John Madden, Dior President Marla Sabo, and Proof producer Jeffrey Sharp; Jeremy Piven.

James and Whitney Fairchild

Lindsay Lohan

May Andersen

Rufus Albemarle and Ghislaine Maxwell

Maggie Rizer

Vanessa Getty

Sophie Dahl

Amy Sacco

L. to r.: Anh Duong; Roger Waters; Reza and Marjorie Raein.

Todd Meister and Tory Burch

Thom Filicia and Carson Kressley

Rachel Roy and Damon Dash

L. to r.: Bettina Zilkha; Marla Sabo, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Andrew Saffir; Beyonce.

Madeline Hult and Serena Boardman

The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli

Lauren Bacall and Andrew Saffir

Photographs by Billy Farrell/PMc

The Pratham Curtain Raiser party and Pratham Gala Event 2005

Waheeda Rahman, Dr. Madhav Chavan, Meera Gandhi, and Vikram Gandhi

Seema Singh, Daman Chatwal, and Meera Gandhi

Meera Gandhi hosted the Pratham Curtain Raiser party at her townhouse in Manhattan two Fridays ago for major donors and supporters of Pratham which educates 2 million slum dwelling children each day in 30 cities of India. The gala took place the following evening at the Broadway Ballroom, Marriot Marquis.

Sara Mohan wearing A Satya Paul design

Asked why she took this cause on, Ghandi said," "This has stood the test of time, it was founded a decade ago in 1994 by UNICEF and Dr. Chavan and aims to have every child in India in school and learning by 2010."

Present in person was film actress Waheeda Rehman who is Pratham 's good will ambassador. Also, present was founder Dr. Madhav Chavan who flew in especially for the event at the Gandhi home.

Four Pratham USA heavy hitters who were present were Prof. Subash Midha, Mrs. Sheila Hooda, Dr. Chitra Raghavan, and Mr Sameer Mittal.

Mrs. Ghandi is another example of how the world resides in New York, and how New York affects the world. Among the other 150 guests were Linda Gras from Mayor Bloomberg's office, Tara and Victor Menezes from Citibank, Kathy and Jon Savitz, Gutam Patwa, Jaswant Lalwani, Gauta, Patwa, Rohit and Akanksha Aggarwal, Daman Chatwal, Sanjay Kapoor from Satya Paul, Sharmila Khanna, Vinod Khosla, and Misha Grewal- Soni. Mrs. Ghandi spoke compellingly about the need to support Pratham as it educates 2 million children and uses 94% of its money directly for the children that are being educated. Pratham is a key cause because it produces results. $600 educates 500 children for an entire year!!! This is possible because the organization uses 90% of its funds in the resources for the children. The rest work as volunteers.

Dr. Madhav Chavan spoke later and the evening was a glittering, dazzling success — loud laughter echoed though the Gandhi residence which was the last private home of Eleanor Roosevelt, and all for a really great cause that Mrs. Roosevelt would have championed.

Waheeda Rahman

Jay Mohan and Sanjay Kapoor

Rajat Gupta

Himmat Rana from Nepal and friends

Meera Gandhi with Harry and Chosan Gyu

Pratham board members who flew in from Washington D.C.

Anne Marie Cummings (center) and friends

Daman Chatwal and Akanksha Aggarwal

Sharmilla Khanna, Sanjay Kapoor, Akansha Aggarwal, Mrs. Daman Chatwal, and Rohit Aggarwal

Ramesh Acharya and Tara Menezes

Victor Menezes, Meera Gandhi, and Vikram Gandhi

Satya Paul's 2005 Collection which were previewed at the gala

Photographs by Mohammed Jaffer/snapsindia

Central Park Conservancy's “Wild About Cashmere – A Fabulous Frenzy For All Things Cashmere”

L. to r.: Sylvester and Gillian Miniter; Susan Shin and Christine Cachot-Williams; Ally Sheedy.

Last Tuesday night, the Central Park Conservancy and Fred Wilson, Chairman and CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue, along with Event Chairs Fabiola Beracasa, Coralie Charriol Paul, and Susan Shin hosted a “Wild About Cashmere – A Fabulous Frenzy For All Things Cashmere,” in anticipation of the 10th Annual Central Park Conservancy Halloween Ball.

It was cashmere and cocktails at Saks which is sponsoring the Halloween Ball. 5000 guests at $100 a ticket, filled every floor of the chic department store, sipping wine, partaking of the Italian treats and perusing the cashmere offerings from such designers as Ermengildo Zegna, Judith Leiber, Donna Karan Cashmere Mist and TSA.

Meanwhile, up on the 10th floor VIP Halloween Ball committee members, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marissa Tomei, Ally Sheedy, Michelle Branch, Diane Von Furstenberg, Robert Verdi, Colin Cowie, the cast of Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, along with Lisa Anastos, Christine Cachot Williams, Fabiola Beracasa, Melissa Berkelhammer rubbed elbows with the celebrity elite in a chic setting set by celebrity DJ Sky Nellor.