The last time New York's fashion set got together for a day of polo, the main event was people-watching. Hoping to shift the crowds' attention from extravagant hats to the playing field, Nacho Figueras and the Bridgehampton Polo Club decided to relax the dress codes for this summer's season out east. "The idea was to make polo more about polo and not so much about what was happening in the tents," the Ralph Lauren poster boy told Style.com at Saturday's match.
But despite Figueras' best efforts, the weather gods had a different agenda. "The field is a little bit wet from the rain last night, so we are actually going to test it now to see if we can play a serious game or not," the polo star said before the match. The crowd got their answer when the game ended after only one period. Instead, the likes of Veronica Webb, Michelle Harper, and Alina Cho sipped Champagne in the VIP tent with co-hosts Peter Brant and Ferrari North America CEO Marco Mattiacci and admired the Ferraris on display. "Do you think if I show them the giant Ferrari logo tattooed on my back, they will let me take it for a spin?" asked Jenny Shimizu as she checked out the new FF four-seater (the brand's first snow-ready car). "I actually used to be a mechanic. I really love cars."
As the polo party started to unwind, guests began buzzing about the next event on the agenda, ACRIA's annual Cocktails at Sunset dinner benefitting AIDS research. Held at Ross Bleckner's house in Sagaponack, which once belonged to Truman Capote, the evening kicked off with a silent auction that included work by Julian Schnabel, a hand-cut Waterford crystal bowl, and Francisco Costa's favorite piece, a Barbara Kruger lithograph on wood. "Isn't it gorgeous?" he asked. The multicourse dinner featured a different Veuve Clicquot reserve for each dish and a "magical forest" dessert treasure hunt. At the end of a dark pathway, the likes of Steven Klein, Bruce Weber, and Paul Sevigny found macarons, brownies, and cookies tucked away under a tree lit up by tea lights.
With a full schedule of art, shopping, and film events in the Hamptons this weekend, the fashion set made its way out east despite the wet weather forecast. The crowds stayed mostly dry at the 15th annual Super Saturday charity event, which raised over $3.6 million for ovarian cancer research. But just as the likes of Cindy Sherman, Lou Reed, and Rufus Wainwright began arriving at the Watermill Center for its summer benefit, The Big Bang, it started to pour.
"The rain is a little unfortunate, right?" said Klaus Biesenbach as he made his way up a long entryway lit with tiki torches and marked by a large-scale recreation of Paul Thek's work Big Bang Painting. The MoMA curator's favorite installation of the evening—an exhibition of the work of the late artist Mike Kelley—was on view inside, but there were plenty of additional distractions on the the six-acre site. Kembra Pfahler and a crew of other almost-naked women dipped in various shades of paint performed in front of Paul McCarthy's 60-foot Butt-plug sculpture, and Janice Lancaster Larsen rolled in the mud in what was originally a white wedding gown.
"I hear if you're looking for something to do, you're welcome to join her in there," someone remarked as Harry Brant, Michelle Harper, and Bob Colacello huddled around the performance artist. Other guests opted to brave the storm, traipsing through the surrounding forest barefoot to take in the site-specific works of over 70 artists. Highlights of the live auction, which was conducted over dinner, included a rare Willem de Kooning drawing and a hand-painted mask from Robert Wilson's production of The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic. Talk about going out with a bang; the party raised over $1.5 million for the arts center.
Funnymen Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis hit the press line at The Campaign premiere last night like the two politicians they play. The "candidates" stayed side by side, fielding questions with the same gusto as Barack Obama or Mitt Romney might. "They've clearly learned some tricks," director Jay Roach told Style.com, "like how to make a bad thing sound good and a good thing sound bad—that's politics." Who would win the filmmaker's vote in real life? "Wouldn't you be nervous if those two ran for office?" he responded.
If their on-screen campaign is any indication of their would-be real-world tactics, then our answer is "yes," even if Ferrell did clear one thing on up on the red carpet: "For the record, I didn't actually hit a real baby," he said, alluding to a scene in which he appears to accidentally punch an infant when he and Galifianakis vie to kiss it in front of the press corps. As Jon Hamm passed by, he joked, "I was up for the part [of that baby], actually, but I didn't make the cut.” As for Ferrell's baby-kissing tips, he offered: "Keep a packet of wet wipes on you at all times."
The baby moment was just one of several difficult scenes to shoot. "Those pugs that Zach has in the film were really vicious creatures," said Roach, "they were eating Zach's ankles." And they weren't the only extras with teeth. When prepping for Galifianakis' scene in the Louisiana bayou, the crew had to check that it was alligator-free. "We had nets and divers looking for the alligators, but then the locals saw us doing it and said, 'You know the alligators are asleep this time of year, right?' We were just trying to make sure Zach didn't get eaten."