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7NEWS
a day ago
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Remember when Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's simple wedding gown changed bridal dress codes forever?
In 1996, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. got married outside a peeling white log cabin chapel on Cumberland Island, Georgia. With no paparazzi and no media present, it offered the pair a brief moment of normality before they re-emerged into the world as one of the most famous couples on the planet. Despite often being referred to as American royalty, Bessette-Kennedy didn't arrive to their big day in a frothy princess gown. Instead, she used the moment to set her own sartorial standard — by wearing a dress that upended traditional bridal trends and would continue to inspire for decades to come. Her simple white slip dress was made from silk and cut on the bias, with a scooping cowl neck as its only flourish. The look was finished with a silk tulle veil, crystal beaded Manolo Blahnik satin sandals and a pair of sheer elbow gloves. Her gown was designed by her friend, the fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez. To some, the decision was surprising. Bessette-Kennedy was a prominent publicist at Calvin Klein and an unofficial face of the brand on the New York circuit. And if Klein wasn't to design her gown, others wondered if it would be a rising star like John Galliano — a master of bias-cut slip dresses and then-creative director at Dior. 'For some reason she chose Narciso,' the author of 'CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion,' Sunita Kumar Nair said in a phone interview. 'I think the fact that she chose an unknown friend, as opposed to Calvin Klein, is just her all along: Championing her friends and wanting them to enjoy her new limelight.' Rodriguez was recruited to the task over drinks at The Odeon, a restaurant in the Tribeca neighborhood in New York City. It took him three months to design three versions of the wedding dress, which Bessette-Kennedy picked from. In an interview with the New York Times in 1996, Rodriguez called the final dress 'sensuous' — a direction he said he and Bessette-Kennedy were aligned on from the beginning. The dress, which Rodriguez ended up gifting, was reportedly worth around $40,000 at the time. 'I made that wedding dress with so much love for the person that I loved most in the whole world,' the designer told PBS in 2020. 'I never viewed it as a press event.' The understated, timeless column dress was fit for a small, laid-back wedding. But its simplicity soon sent reverberations through the wider bridal industry. 'There was a massive boom in this kind of very sleek silhouette,' said Nair. 'Everybody was like, 'I want to look like her.' Gone with the meringues.' Not long before, Janet Jackson had married fellow singer James DeBarge in a jacquard wedding gown with a full tiered skirt. Madonna's first wedding dress in 1985 featured several layers of gathered tulle, while in 1992 former First Lady Michelle Obama opted for a trailing floor-length duchess satin gown and dramatic sweetheart neckline. But it was the royal union of Princess Diana and then Prince Charles in 1981 that became the yardstick for wedding glamour. Diana's gown was defined by its many layers of opulence, from the bow-trimmed puffed sleeves to a 25-foot-long veil, which was hand-embellished with 10,000 micro pearls. Even in the '90s, many still looked to Diana's nuptials for fashion inspiration — including Mariah Carey, whose 1993 satin Vera Wang gown was modeled after the seminal dress — but Bessette-Kennedy wasn't one of them. 'It's interesting to think about Princess Diana, that was the wedding dress of the 20th century,' Rachel Tashjian, fashion critic at the Washington Post, told CNN. 'It was this woman coming out of this fairytale horse and carriage in an enormous, richly embellished dress that was all about indulging fantasy and fairytales of royal life.' By contrast, Bessette-Kennedy, whose marriage to JFK Jr. placed her firmly in America's political dynasty, made sure her gown had 'no embellishment, no ruffles, nothing,' she said. 'She's sort of saying, rather than embodying some past fantasy or fairytale fulfillment, 'I am going to do a clean slate, and look forward to the future,'' Tashjian added. 'It was the biggest indicator Carolyn gave of what was to come for the global public as the new Mrs. Kennedy,' agreed Nair. 'Apparently Princess Diana was very jealous of that wedding.' Ironically, Bessette-Kennedy's trend-rebuking dress became the blueprint for brides all over the world. Today, simple ivory slip dresses remain a popular style and are sold everywhere from Victoria Beckham and Max Mara to Reformation and Rixo. Alexandra Macon, a wedding editor at Vogue, said she 'very often' sees women reference the Narciso Rodriguez gown. 'When writing a wedding feature, it's not uncommon for a bride to tell me she emulated Carolyn's bridal look,' Macon wrote in an email to CNN. Even Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was besotted with the dress. Just a few months before she met Prince Harry in 2016 (and experienced the tumult of joining a pre-existing dynasty first-hand) Markle told online women's magazine Glamour her 'favorite celebrity wedding dress' was none other than Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's. 'Carolyn's was just done to absolute perfection,' said Nair. 'Thats why we're talking about it today, 25 years on.'
Vogue
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Brad, Please Go Home
It was a Friday night in New York City, and for once, we, the girls, had pulled it off: A six-person table at The Odeon, 8 p.m. sharp, reserved a week in advance like proper adults. We were going to order martinis and steak frites and talk about everything—jobs, exes, celebrity gossip, the usual liturgy. Two espresso martinis in, someone was deep into a story about a finance guy who wept after sex. We were howling when, suddenly, a voice chimed in. It was deeper than it should've been. 'I'd argue it's a good sign that he's in touch with his emotions.' We turned. It was Brad. Sara's boyfriend. Apparently, now a regular at our dinners. An hour earlier, Sara had texted: 'Hey! Brad's work dinner got canceled last-minute. Do you mind if he tags along?' The thing is, Brad didn't just tag along. Brad inserted himself. Into plans, into moods, into the background of my iPhone camera roll. He had shown up to brunches (plural), walks in the park, a movie night, and a 'quick drink' that turned into oysters and a monologue about his literary magazine. Two weeks earlier, he joined me and Sara for a pedicure. He became a fixture in what had once been women-only terrain. Our conversations, once unfiltered and electric, now had to be pre-chewed for male digestion. I remember muttering, more sharply than I meant to: Leave. Him. At. Home. I didn't hate Brad. In fact, I thought he was a great boyfriend to my friend. But the reality is that I never chose him. None of us did, any more than a tenant gets to choose their neighbors. The truth is, friend groups are tightly knit and curated ecosystems that can quickly go haywire if even one of their members is codependent on a significant other. Co-dependence can masquerade as closeness, slowly displacing everything that once belonged like a foreign weed introduced into a native garden. Unfortunately, I know all about the slow, almost imperceptible shift toward someone else's center of gravity from personal experience. You know the girls who start dressing like their boyfriend's dream version of a woman? Who adopt his music taste and his worldview like they're auditioning for a role? That was me. I once found myself riding down the side of a Brooklyn freeway in mini shorts and a bikini top, on the back of a motorcycle, thinking this must be love. (Now, I just thank God I still have skin left.)
Al Etihad
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Etihad
Bill Burr headlines jam-packed Abu Dhabi Comedy Season weekend line-up
11 July 2025 01:26 ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)The Abu Dhabi Comedy season is heating up with some of the hottest regional and international acts performing in town this weekend. Bill Burr LiveAll eyes will be on headliner Bill Burr, live at the Etihad Arena on Saturday, July 12. The world-renowned comedian and podcaster recently released his eighth stand-up special, "Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years". The American funny man is known for his "Monday Morning Podcast" and several "Saturday Night Live" hosting was the first comedian to perform at the 5,000-seat ancient Roman amphitheatre, The Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, Greece, and in 2022 he made history as the first comedian to perform at Fenway 2022 Netflix special, "Bill Burr: Live at Red Rocks", was shot at the legendary 2023, Burr's film, "Old Dads", which he directed, co-wrote and starred in, premiered as the most-watched film on Netflix in its first and second week of portrayed JFK in Jerry Seinfeld's Netflix film, "Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story".Burr made his Broadway debut starring alongside Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk in David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" running through is currently touring arenas and theatres around the world with his "Bill Burr Live" show. The Laughter FactoryThe world-class comedy crew at The Laughter Factory are on the road again this week, playing venues in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Catch them at Mezz, The Agenda, Dubai Media City (July 11); Studio One Hotel, Dubai (July 12); The Club, Abu Dhabi (July 17); Radisson Hotel DAMAC Hills, Dubai (July 18); and at Dukes, The Palm, Dubai (July 19).Headlining the show is Steven Briggs, a high-energy stand-up comedian and actor, known for his dynamic performances that blend hilarious storytelling, sound effects and character skits.A winner of the acclaimed Moth storytelling competition, comedy fans will also remember him from Netflix's "Unbelievable" and HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm".Joining him is rising comedy sensation Kelsey De Almeida, sure to leave you and your friends in stitches with his fresh material and irresistible stage returning to the stage is local crowd favourite Maher Barwany. Over his 12-year comedy career, he has performed at the Dubai Comedy Festival and venues including the Annex, Up and Below rooftop lounge, American University of Sharjah, The Warehouse lounge, Flashback Speakeasy, and Kickers Sports has also performed across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Oman with the "Funbassadors of Comedy". Exit 8 in Abu DhabiGet ready for sharp, observational humour from some of Saudi Arabia's top comics - Abdulaziz Al Hedian, Osama Bazid, Abdullah Al Rowis, Osama Alyahya, Azzam Alwabel, and Ahmad Attar. Catch these jolly jokers at the Broadway Brasserie & Bar at the Emirates Palace Mandarin on Friday, July 11.
New York Post
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
These 5 NYC restaurants have the hottest patrons, controversial new AI ranking claims — and some top spots got seriously snubbed
Hot or not? A divisive new dining ranking — more interested in who's sitting at the table than what's on the menu — is raising eyebrows in New York's image-conscious restaurant world. Created by Gen Z programmer Riley Walz, LooksMapping scores hotspots in the Big Apple — and Los Angeles and San Francisco, too — based on AI-driven evaluations of the profile photos of patrons leaving Google Reviews. Advertisement 5 Restaurants and bars have always been prime ways for single people to link up — Gen Z's just trying to make it easier. CandyRetriever – After scraping countless amounts of data, the algorithm spits out an average score that supposedly represents the physical appeal of each eatery's clientele. And the results are, in some cases, a complete slap in the face. Advertisement Take Balthazar, Keith McNally's iconic Soho brasserie, for example, long considered one of the top NYC spots to see and be seen — there, the clientele ranked a somewhat pitiful 5.4 out of 10. Adding insult to injury in many cases, the site also dishes a detailed explanation of its findings — like which way age, gender and general physical beauty lean. Further downtown, for example, it's supposedly mostly unattractive, middle-aged men and women dining at The Odeon, a Tribeca spot with a dreadful 3.1 rating that appears to no longer play host to the 'It' crowd of artists and celebrities it once did. 5 'The model is certainly biased. It's certainly flawed. But we judge places by the people who go there,' the website reads. 'This website just puts reductive numbers on the superficial calculations we make every day. A mirror held up to our collective vanity.' Looks Mapping Advertisement And way up town at ultra-exclusive East Harlem Italian restaurant, Rao's, the elite crowd was handed a woeful 3.4 — suggesting, perhaps, that even AI models get jealous over not being able to snag one of the legendary spot's highly-coveted tables. Of course, it's not all bad news — fine-dining stalwart Jean-Georges is where hot-leaning, middle-aged men and women go, according to the tool, earning the quintessential French spot a 7.1 and a light, rosy-hued marker on the map. But even that crowd can't beat local institutions like Katz's Delicatessen, which managed to snag an 8.1 rating — suggesting the customers are as beautiful as the city's best pastrami sandwiches. 5 Balthazar is a legendary spot in the NYC food scene, and despite its apparently unattractive reviewers, it still proves tough to snag a reservation. Bloomberg via Getty Images Advertisement The top ratings in town, however, were reserved for a handful of relatively obscure options — from a Midtown sushi spot to a Thai restaurant in the Financial District. The NYC restaurants with the hottest patrons, according to AI Ubani Midtown: 10/10 Shinn West: 10/10 KYU NYC: 10/10 Aroy Dee Thai Kitchen: 10/10 Top Thai 55 Carmine: 10/10 Walz first shared news of the site's launch back in March, and a steady wave of AI-haters, driven developers and delighted daters on the prowl quickly flooded the replies. 5 Rao's was among the LooksMapping's lowest-ranked of the iconic NYC restaurants. Google Maps Many have pronounced the AI model flawed — even suggesting that it has a racial bias. On this subject, Walz told the New York Times, '[the project] is making fun of AI,' and admitted that the attractiveness ranking system was 'a bit janky.' For now, Manhattan and the Bronx are the only boroughs included on LooksMapping, but Walz, a native New Yorker currently based in San Francisco, 'knew people would rightfully give [him] crap' and is planning to add the other three soon, he assured eager diners in a post on X. The release of the talked-about tool comes as younger diners are increasingly concerned with customer attractiveness. Advertisement With limited budgets and time on their hands, young and single New Yorkers want to go where they might score. 5 Admittedly, clientele can be considered a part of a restaurant's atmosphere, which, for many, is a key factor in deciding to make a reservation. bobex73 – On TikTok, a new trend has taken hold among women in their 20s that clearly demonstrates a demand for sites like LooksMapping. Advertisement Ahead of going out for the evening or as a deciding factor, these ladies are calling the restaurants and bars they're interested in going to and asking the staff whether the current crop of patrons is hot. 'As a hostess, I take my job of vibe checking very seriously and am always happy to keep the girls updated #womensupportingwomen,' wrote one understanding commenter.
Miami Herald
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
NYC restaurateur Keith McNally spills the beans in memoir
"You are not the kind of girl who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar. You are at a bar talking to a guy with a shaved head. The spot is either the Odeon or Lucky Strike. All might come clear if you could just slip into the bathroom and do a little more Bolivian Marching Powder. Then again, it might not." - heavily cribbed from "Bright Lights, Big City" by Jay McInerney. If you were in New York in the 1980s, it was hard not to know about Keith McNally's restaurants and night spots. The Odeon's neon sign shone out from the cover of that '80s time capsule "Bright Lights, Big City," fer Chrissake. Working as a drone at magazines like Spy, Andy Warhol's Interview and The New Yorker - where McInerney worked briefly as a fact checker and upon which he modeled the unnamed publication in his breakout novel - I was not habitually familiar with Bolivian Marching Powder nor the interior of McNally's restaurants, but they were an unmistakable part of the media-sodden landscape. A 2004 profile in The New York Times christened McNally "The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown," but not all of his hot spots were Downtown. He was really helping to invent a new kind of nightlife. As the Studio 54 days turned gradually to the Club Kids epoch of the late '80s, each of his restaurants became stylish scenes, sometimes turning hundreds of tables a night. Unfortunately, if you are a budding nightlife impresario or McNally wannabe, you will find little instruction in McNally's recent memoir, "I Regret Almost Everything" (Gallery Books, $29.99). For instance, McNally, 73, attributes the success of The Odeon in Tribeca - his first restaurant, with his brother Brian and his first wife, Lynn Wagenknecht - to "being in the right place at the right time." "Through no intention of our own, The Odeon quickly became the epicenter of the downtown art scene with Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel mixing with the likes of Anna Wintour, Lorne Michaels and the cast of 'Saturday Night Live,'" McNally writes, also name-dropping Harold Pinter, Joseph Heller and Edward Albee as customers at The Odeon, which opened in 1980. As Times critic Pete Wells has written, McNally's restaurants are not known for their inventive cuisine. McNally's original Pastis restaurant "took almost everything from the stodgiest, least trend-conscious sort of French cafes and brasseries," Wells said in 2019. Two years earlier, in a lukewarm review of Augustine, Wells noted, "By unanimous consent, atmosphere is Mr. McNally's great, unrivaled strength. ... He excels at building rooms that evoke vintage Paris - not exactly the real Paris, but the city the way you remember it a year after taking a vacation there." In his memoir, it's true, McNally never sings the praises of sourcing local produce or explains the precise crumb a baguette should have. He does stress the importance of a restaurant's having "the right feel": "At its best, the right feel can transport a customer like nothing else." He speaks of his meticulousness in designing a restaurant's interior, down to the inches of a two-top table and international trips to buy fixtures and furnishings. But "I Regret Almost Everything" is not about the day-to-day of the restaurant business. (By his count, McNally has opened 19 restaurants.) Rather, it is a lively, plainspoken narrative of his rise from working-class origins in Bethnal Green, London, through turbulent personal times. He opens his book with his suicide attempt in 2018, having swallowed dozens of sleeping pills he'd been stocking up. On the first page alone, he refers not only to his thwarted attempt - his young son, George, discovered him - but also his rocky marriage to his second wife, Alina, and the 2016 stroke that left him partially paralyzed and with speech difficulties. He travels back and forth in time from this moment, recounting his parents' unhappy marriage, his acting career as a teenager and young man, and an affair with the older playwright Alan Bennett. He went to New York at 24 with ideas of being a filmmaker, but ended up working his way up in restaurants from busboy at an ice cream parlor to general manager at a fashionable Greenwich Village restaurant. When he quit in a dispute, he, Wagenknecht and his brother decided to open their own restaurant, choosing Tribeca because it was the only area they could afford. The rest, as they say, is history. Throughout this journey through his life, McNally is good company, with a dry sense of humor and the instincts to rein in his ego - not shying from naming names (like an account of his Instagram feud with James Corden) but also not sparing himself. He's also a font of useful aphorisms about life: "I often think that the best thing about having sex with someone is being able to stretch your legs the full width of the mattress when the other person gets up." Though restaurant owners will not find a recipe for success in these pages (or any recipes at all), they will find a eventful, heartfelt tale. And Balthazar, one of McNally's most successful restaurants, opened in in SoHo in 1997, did share the following food and cocktail recipes below. Bon appétit ! Le Balthazar 1 ounce Belvedere Vodka 1 ounce Grand Marnier 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice 1/2 ounce simple syrup 2 ounces Champagne Taittinger Brut NV In a cocktail shaker, combine vodka, Grand Marnier, lime juice, simple syrup and ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Top with Champagne and garnish with a twist of orange peel. - Balthazar Restaurant Balthazar Salad For salad 1 head of Romaine lettuce 1/4 pound of mâche 1 head of frisee 1 head of radicchio 1 fennel bulb, very thinly sliced, preferably on a mandoline 1/4 pound of radishes, thinly sliced 1/2 pound asparagus 1/4 pound haricots verts 1 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 pound ricotta salata 1 Hass avocado, sliced into 6 wedges 1 raw beet, julienned Zest of 1 lemon 3 slices of brioche, toasted and pulsed in a food processor to a fine crumb For Lemon truffle vinaigrette 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup lemon juice 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup black truffle oil Tear lettuce leaves and mix with sliced fennel and radishes. Blanch the asparagus and haricot verts in boiling water until tender, about 6 minutes. Transfer to ice bath, then drain. Add asparagus and haricot verts to other greens. Separately, combine vinaigrette ingredients in a jar, shake and dress salad. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide the salad among 6 plates, topping each with a slice of ricotta salata, a wedge of avocado, some julienned beet and lemon zest. Finish with a pinch of bread crumbs, and serve. Serves 4-6. - Balthazar Restaurant Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
