Security concerns have led the White House to put the kibosh on Lauren Bush’ssummer plans. We hear that the supermodel First Niece and Princetonundergrad had her heart set on spending June studying in London. She wasalso mulling over offers to walk a runway or two during the couture shows inParis in July. However, with war looming, the Secret Service has deemedEurope too dangerous. Bush’s rep insists that she still has hopes of hittingEurope. She also wants to take acting lessons in New York and spend time inthe Hamptons with her mom, Sharon… . Meanwhile, when the going getstough, you can count on Sting to get going. The rocker was set to fly fromNew York to Las Vegas on producer Keith Barish’s jet with Owen Wilson andgallery owner Tony Shafrazi to celebrate the first anniversary of thenightclub Light Bellagio and the opening of the Caramel lounge (both areco-owned by Barish’s son, Chris). But then Sting’s wife, Trudie Styler,apparently “flipped out” when the orange alert was issued, a source close tothe couple tells us, and insisted that her hubby hightail it back to London.… Another Brit who’s feeling the strain is Joan Collins. The Dynastydiva told guests at Tina Brown’s lunch last week for the Old Vic New Voicestheater program that she’s so scared to fly these days that she and herhubby, Percy Gibson, will be taking the train on their upcoming trip to LosAngeles. Brown then cracked that Collins and the rest of the guests in herEast 57th Street apartment weren’t going anywhere, “because I’ve locked youall in with duct tape.”
André Leon Talley had Anna Wintour and her daughter, Bee, laughing at theSean John show by carefully placing his fur coat on his lap. “I’m not takingany chances,” he cracked, referring to that infamous photo that the New YorkPost ran of him last season sitting in the front row with his fly open.Behind them, Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Amy Astley wondered aloud about thescent of funny cigarette smoke in the air. Hamish Bowles quipped, “I’ll giveyou three guesses as to what it could be.” Speaking of which, Damon Dash andfriends made quite an entrance to supermodel Gisele Bündchen and SoniaBraga’s VIP screening of City of God at the Bryant Park Hotel-Cheech & Chongwould have been proud of the cloud that rolled through the room when theypopped out of the elevator. When Dash and Co. were told the movie wassubtitled, they let out a collective groan. “Their eyes were like slits,”one observer says. Perhaps the best sighting among the fashion flockoccurred when drag performer Joey Arias was going through security at theFrench Consulate for a screening of illustrator Ruben Toledo’s animatedshort film, Fashionation. Guards had him strip down to just his jeans,socks, and sheer camisole top, but he kept setting off the metal detectoruntil a bystander shouted, “What about body piercings?” Joey informed theguards that he had nipple rings: “I’m wearing hoops tonight.” The guardsdecided they didn’t need to see that and quickly waved him in.
After Coach signed on to co-host this week’s benefit for Peace Games atQuincy Jones’s Los Angeles home, the company’s president, Reed Krakoff,invited Jones’s daughter, Kidada, to pick out anything she wanted from itscatalogue. Along with a bag, a coat, and a skirt, Kidada requested bottlesof leather cleansers and moisturizers. A few days later, Kidada called hersister, actress Rashida, who happened to be at the Coach showroom. Kidadaasked her to tell the staff that she had found the cleanser and moisturizermuch too oily. Turns out Kidada thought that Coach had started a beauty lineand had been applying the cleanser and moisturizer to her face as part ofher morning routine. As for the warning on each bottle stipulating that theyshould not be used on “suede, nubuc, or water buffalo calfskin,” Kidadathought that was just Coach being “fun and edgy.”
FOOD BITES: Culinary legend Gray Kunz, the former Lespinasse chef, ispartnering up with Jean-Georges Vongerichten on an Asian-themed boîte in thesame building as Soho House, the private British club coming to themeatpacking district. Unlike Soho House, the place will be open to thepublic. Fresh off the failure of Smith, Brian McNally is close to finalizinga deal to open a restaurant in a new hotel at 29th and Madison. DanielBoulud and Alain Ducasse already passed on the space.
WRITE ON: Über-New Yorker writer Lillian Ross has signed a deal with Doubleday to write a book about acting.
LOVE NOTES: After five months of dating, we’re told, Vanity Fair honchoGraydon Carter and doctor-socialite Samantha Boardman have called it quits.Meanwhile, Nina Griscom insists she’s single, but buzz has it that she’sseeing a waiter from La Goulue.
ON THE MOVE: Nobu Matsuhisa has bought a $1.2 million condo on West 67thStreet. Farther uptown, Tatum O’Neal has sold her $4.5 million pad in the ElDorado.
With Deborah Schoeneman