Repetto is stepping into the digital world this spring. Known for elegantly crafted and refined flats, the French label debuted a new pixilated print to add to its iconic BB collection. The vibrantly colored ballet flats ($265) will bring stylish comfort and a bold statement to your wardrobe. net-a-porter.com

Eleanor Lambert with John A. Tiffany

Entering The Sherry-Netherland hotel, to the right, behind a broad door decorated with interlocking double Ds, I descended into Doubles, a plush, subterranean club, to celebrate fashion historian John A. Tiffany's new book on his former boss and mentor, legendary publicist Eleanor Lambert.     

Traveling down the steep staircase with thick, colorful zigzag carpet and a striped ceiling to the tiny coat check is like falling into a tiny, tony time-machine vortex. Past a fluffy white-haired gent manning a long wooden desk, and thin bar area, the bilevel lunchroom opened up with majestic Indian murals. Chairs had multi-hued, striped upholstery and our long rectangular table was decorated with coral napkins. 

The lunch buffet on the behemoth lower level included a cornucopia of diver scallops, chilled salmon, and shrimp cocktail, as well as a mountainous table of classic desserts, including chocolate mousse and crème brûlée.     

Second-generation club owner Wendy Carduner, with altitudinous jet-black tresses and a bright smile, who grew up next door to Walter Winchell on the 33rd and 34th floors of The Sherry-Netherland, introduced herself warmly.      

On his way to a two-top, Dennis Basso stopped by the table to glad-hand.      

We were a crowd of ten, including author Doria de La Chapelle and designer Jeffrey Banks, the pair of whom recently co-penned Preppy: Cultivating Ivy Style, former CFDA president Stan Herman, and man of the hour Tiffany.

Tiffany began working for Lambert, the very first fashion and art publicist, in 1995 and has now put together a coffee-table book, Eleanor Lambert: Still Here, about his former boss. The book includes Lambert's press releases on staggeringly famous clients, such as Jackson Pollock and Cecil Beaton. 

As we tucked into artichoke stuffed with chicken salad, Banks regaled us with tales of Calvin Klein, his once-upon-a-time boss, being at loggerheads with Lambert, who had decreed that the Cody Awards (a predecessor to the CFDA Awards, which Lambert founded) should only have classical music. Klein bucked Lambert’s orders and added a throbbing African drumbeat soundtrack to the fashion show. Lambert went ballistic. Klein’s response? “But they’re classical African drums!”      

At the following year’s Cody Awards, Klein had models take the runway in low-cut terry-cloth robes and then open them, unveiling their bare breasts. Mrs. Lambert had apoplexy.       

Banks' other bare-breasted story was about being summoned to his friend Perry Ellis’ beach house to make ribs for the now late fashion editor Carrie Donovan. Banks was surprised to step out onto the back porch and catch an aging Mrs. Donovan digging in topless, with his famous barbecue sauce running down her bare bosom. Yikes!       

Not to be outdone, at the other end of the table, Herman claimed that designer Mollie Parnis outed fashion designers who pretended to be Republicans with their rich Upper East Side clients—as liberal Democrats.    

According to Tiffany, Lambert was famous for adding or subtracting a few names on the International Best-Dressed List after the committee had voted, and then pretending she had no idea what had happened.

“Mrs. Lambert put together Grace Kelly’s wedding,” Tiffany informed me. “And she founded the March of Dimes fashion shows at The Waldorf=Astoria. They were televised fundraisers for the March of Dimes with celebrities and socialites modeling. Sets were designed by Salvador Dali [one of Lambert’s clients], Grandma Moses, and Alexander Calder.”      

Tiffany also provided insight into the history of the Met Costume Institute Gala. “The Costume Institute was Mrs. Lambert's original idea,” he said. “And in 1948, after the war, they called the first gala the Midnight Gala. During the war people couldn’t stay out at night, so they had dinner and dancing at midnight.” To this day the Met Gala runs way late.

Depending on your self-control, a buffet lunch at Doubles can be as grand or petite as you like. On a fashionable diet, Tiffany stuck to three cookies for dessert while I piled my plate with a veritable mini-dessert-tasting menu. 

Raucous stories melted into late afternoon.

Guinness cupcake at Peels

If you're in the mood for something special this St. Patrick's Day, head to Peels for a spiked Irish treat. Known for its ever-changing selection of pies and housemade ice creams, the restaurant is offering three Guinness imbued desserts, including Guinness chocolate cupcakes ($3 each), homemade Guinness ice cream ($3 per scoop), and Guinness chocolate milkshakes (add a shot of Jameson or a scoop of ice cream or both). There will also be a special breadbasket with three kinds of Irish soda bread. Cheers! 325 Bowery, 646-602-7015

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This large Snakeskin tote ($79) is a perfect way to incorporate the animal print trend into your wardrobe.

 

Another option is Roy's Fair Isle tote ($89).

 

The graphic Voyeur tote ($89) is the perfect carry-all for the office or the weekend.

 

The Magazine tote ($89) is a great way to work color-blocking into your wardrobe.

 

For a demure animal print, try the large Leopard tote ($99).

 

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See the whole collection at rachelroy.com

Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor

Could there be any possible connection between the new fly-fishing flick Salmon Fishing in The Yemen (CBS Films) and Yves Saint Laurent’s exotic Opium eau? Yes, in fact, there could. Saint Laurent spent much time at his fabulous palace in Morocco and the film was shot in that North African country, albeit a rocky desert region resembling Yemen.

Dispatches had never actually smelled Opium until the Yves Saint Laurent-sponsored screening of the film at the Crosby Street Hotel on Thursday. Though Opium is a woman’s scent, it is deliciously sweet and masculine, not unlike the film’s story of a sheik from Yemen who decides he wants to dam up a river so that he and his people can fly-fish for salmon in Yemen—a quixotic task with a price tag ended by many, many zeros.

According to Simon Beaufoy, the author of the script, based on a beloved British book, “The Yemen” is how the country was known on old maps. It is now simply “Yemen.” Learn something new every day.       

Meanwhile, the charming and talented Emily Blunt had to learn Mandarin for the film, “which is a pretty big skill,” she told Dispatches at the Cinema Society screening. "I don’t know how to talk about anything else in Mandarin but salmon,” indicated Blunt. “But I do know how to do that.” Apparently, Blunt’s Mandarin teacher rattled off her lines with such speed that Blunt told her, “God, we’re just going to have to go at an idiot's pace."   

	>>See more photos from the screening and afterparty

To play the “fishery specialist” who’s tasked with transferring 10,000 Scottish salmon to the Yemen desert, Ewan McGregor had some research of his own to do. Of learning to cast a fly rod, McGregor commented, “It can be quite difficult.” The Scottish actor added that in his home country, where the film was partly shot, gamekeepers, hunters, and fishers are referred to as “gillies.” “Our fly-fisherman teacher up there was Billy—Billy the Gillie,” said McGregor.      

If you don’t completely buy the love story, which turns on a dime, you will fall in love with the Scottish countryside and Yemen (really the Moroccan outback), which was somewhat less hospitable than Scotland, to the salmon at least.   

The fly-fishing sheik invites McGregor and Blunt to stay at his monumental country estate, which, after a bit of research, turns out to be, at least for the stately exterior shots, Ardverikie Estate on Loch Laggan in Scotland, where one can actually rent a house or, if the timing is right, get married.       

“It’s a rather famous stately home up there next to a beautiful loch,” McGregor told Dispatches. If anyone plans a wedding there, please invite moi.         

Also spotted: Helena Christensen, Patricia Clarkson, who sat on a couch gabbing with Blunt for ages, Greta Gerwig, Carlos Leon, Debbie Harry, and Vanessa von Bismarck, preggers with her second child, as well as an equally pregnant Julia Restoin Roitfeld.  

And at the Grey Goose Cherry Noir-fueled cocktail afterparty, the Cinema Society not only passed out Opium, they also served—wait for it—smoked SALMON blini with caviar, as well as dates wrapped in bacon with blue cheese.
 

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THE INSPIRATION: STEVE MCQUEEN

Persol PO 0714 Special Edition Steve McQueen with tortoise shell frames ($360). Sunglass Hut, 157 Spring St.; sunglasshut.com

 

THE INSPIRATION: HUNTER S. THOMPSON

Mosley Tribes Merchant with matte el mirage tortoise frames ($210). Oliver Peoples, 941 Rush St.; oliverpeoples.com

 

THE INSPIRATION: MARCELLO MASTROIANNI

Mosley Tribes Lyndel with black frames ($180). Oliver Peoples, 941 Rush St.; oliverpeoples.com

 

THE INSPIRATION: MARLON BRANDO

Porsche Design P’8478 with titanium frames ($431). available at eyegoodies.com

 

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The finishing touch to a sharp spring look is, unquestionably, a sleek pair of sunglasses. For that, the best sartorial inspiration comes via the 1950s and '60s. And before there was Don Draper there was Brando, McQueen, Mastroianni, and Thompson. We're mad for all four of these men, and their shades.

Lobster roll and chips at Stone Rose Lounge

Chef Marc Murphy of Benchmarc Restaurants introduces a new lunch menu to the Stone Rose Lounge in Columbus Circle, including a selection of classic comfort food: roasted tomato soup, lobster rolls, and chicken chili nachos. Lunch will be served Saturday and Sunday from 1 PM to 5 PM, beginning this Saturday, March 10. Specialty spring cocktails like the grapefruit basil martini will also be debuted at the new lunch service. Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle, 4th Floor.

It may have been called the New York Wine Expo, but the grand tasting at the Jacob Javits Center was home to the world. Wines from the nearby Finger Lakes were represented alongside sips from Greece and Tuscany, as well as small bites like Dutch cheese and Belgian chocolate.

With the breadth of wines represented, the ability to identify a wine region that didn’t have a booth at the expo would be a serious testament to one’s geographical prowess. France had a number of tables, including Côtes de Rhône, Champagne, and French Wine for the Modern World, which included Renée-Hugues Gay Wines. The wines of Portugal booth showed the crowd that Portugal had more to offer than  just port wine, and the New Zealanders sampled their distinctive sauvignon blancs. 

Of the more surprising finds was the South African wines booth, where Jam Jar’s sweet Shiraz caused a stir among thirsty oenophiles. People also continuously flocked to the Argentinean booth for a taste of Zorzal Wines. From the infamous La Strada del Vino (SR 222) road in Tuscany’s Terre di Arezzo region, superb Chiantis and photographs of chateaus and cooking classes under the Tuscan sun drew crowds in. 

The United States was not forgotten. Finger Lakes had a large presence that showcased its award-winning Rieslings, as well as its almond and butter-laden Finger Lakes Harvest Wine Cake. Producers from all over California were on hand with samples of everything from Napa cabernet sauvignons to lesser-known finds, such as the Kenneth Volk Malvasia Bianca from Monterey.

Attracting nearly every female expo-goer was Happy Bitch Wines. In addition to sampling an easy-to-drink rosé, the two New York vintners (who use only local grapes) were also giving out thongs. And they weren’t the only female winemakers at the expo: Middle Sister brought its Sweet & Sassy moscato.

Spectators were also greeted with some unusual options, such as Tre Olive Adopt an Olive Tree, where you can buy your very own olive tree and reap the extra virgin olive oil rewards season after season. New England Stoppers offered some attractive ways to keep wine fresh, while Dutch cheese, Guylian Belgium Chocolate, and Wine Lover’s Chocolate kept everyone’s hunger at bay.

In all, the fifth annual expo was a huge success, with a significant increase in participants (approximately 4,000) over last year’s event. Drink up, New York.

Iconic New York literary magazine The Paris Review will have much to celebrate at its annual ball, the Spring Revel. The spring 2012 issue marks its 200th! At this year's Revel, comedian David Cross will announce the Terry Southern Prize for Humor and novelist Mona Simpson will announce the George Plimpton Prize for Fiction. The event will take place Tuesday, April 3 at Cipriani 42nd Street. Tickets start at $500 with tables available and considered a gift to The Paris Review.

In honor of International Women's Day, Lani Kai will toast female empowerment with delicious cocktails at Whisky & Women Unite on Thursday (6 PM to 8 PM). Two dollars from the sale of each drink ($8, each) will go straight to Bottomless Closet, an organization that works to help women find fulfilling careers. 525 Broome St., 917-224-1415; RSVP to debbie@thecollective-pr.com or jneugeboren@gmail.com