Team Brunette @ Midtown Loft

Click here to see all the photos!

© Tony Powell

I went over to the new Midtown Loft for a fundraiser hosted by Taryn Fielder and Makeda Saggau-Sackey, members of Team Brunette – one half of the Blondes vs. Brunettes organization that has, since 2005, raised nearly $150,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association National Capital Area Chapter.

© Tony Powell

This unique charity has brought some of Washington, D.C.’s most prominent young women leaders together to raise awareness about the disease – sometimes occurring in individuals as young as 30 – and funds for the Chapter so that it may continue to provide services and programs – at no or low cost – to area residents.

© Tony Powell

Other notable Team Brunette members: Kate Michael and Angie Goff. Located on the south side of Dupont Circle, the Midtown Loft is a bright new addition to the local lounge landscape.

© Tony Powell

Nowhere near as trendy as Fly or Spot lounges directly across the street, Midtown seems to relish in it’s homier, more user-friendly environment.

© Tony Powell

With pool tables in the back and plasma screens on the walls tuned to sports – I felt more at home than as though I was out.

© Tony Powell

The 3-story walk up reminded me of tenement houses in New York City, but once upstairs, the open layout and comfortable environment made me soon forget the generous climb. I’m always amazed at how many paths are crossing at all times.

© Tony Powell

I found out, only tonight, that my friend Wendy Gordon, who was there with Charles Adler, is the President of Hisaoka Communications, an organization that was once headed by Joan Hisaoka, the recently deceased sister of Robert Hisaoka, whose October 24th “Make a Difference” Gala, I get to cover for Washington Life Magazine.

© Tony Powell

According to the Blondes vs Brunettes website, “Sports is not exactly their thing. Sure, their hand-eye coordination is superb – when it comes to painting their toenails. But when it comes to fundraising, these women never fumble.”

© Tony Powell

To donate on Makeda’s page, visit: http://alz.kintera.org/bvbdc/makeda

To donate on Taryn’s page, visit: http://alz.kintera.org/bvbdc/taryn_it_up

To make a general donation to Team Brunette click here!

 

All of the money raised will support Team Brunette’s fundraising efforts before going head-to-head against Team Blonde on Saturday, November 14!

The Fran Plan!

Tea time with Sheila Johnson and Fran Drescher photos can be viewed and purchased at www.washingtonlife.com!

Fran with Angelina Jolie, who lost her mother to ovarian cancer photo courtesy of http://www.cancerschmancer.org

The wide sphere of people I get to meet and the various causes I get to learn about are two of the greatest advantages of working for Washington Life Magazine. I was given the assignment to photograph a tea time party hosted by Washington Mystics owner and philanthropist, Sheila Johnson, in the owner’s box at the Verizon Center, before the start of the Mystics/Minnesota Lynx game on Sunday. I also knew that comedienne Fran Drescher would be there, but what I didn’t expect to hear was the TV star and guest of honor, Drescher, talk so openly and honestly about the brave battle she waged and won, nine years ago, against uterine cancer.

So dedicated is she to the cause of early cancer detection (especially the 1st stage) she founded The Cancer Schmancer Movement in 2007.

Jennifer Lopez with Fran at the 2008 Democratic National Convention photo courtesy of http://www.cancerschmancer.org

Utilizing her celebrity status and famous friends, she’s not only raised huge sums for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, she was also instrumental in having The Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act signed into law in 2007.

Fran with various politicians courtesy of http://www.cancerschmancer.org

In an excerpt from Drescher’s “Fran Plan,” she writes,

“Too many women are being told that they have cancer today, when they should have been told yesterday.

I am a uterine cancer survivor, but was misdiagnosed and mistreated for a peri-menopause condition I didn’t have. It took me two years and eight doctors before finally being told that I had a gynecologic cancer. I swear I got in the stirrups more times than Will Rogers!

As the result of this experience, I wrote the NY times bestseller Cancer Schmancer with the hopes that in telling my story I would prevent what happened to me to happen to others. But when I went on my book tour, I realized that what happened to me had happened to millions of women like me. And so it was then I realized the book was not the end but rather the beginning of a life mission to improve women’s healthcare in America. Toward this end, I have started The Cancer Schmancer Movement.

Our mission is to ensure that ALL women’s cancers are diagnosed in STAGE 1, when it is most curable. Early detection equals survival. It’s as simple as that. Through education, legislation, and social reform, we will not stop until the very landscape of America’s women’s healthcare consciousness has been replanted.”

Tony with Fran August 30, 2009 photo by Eric Kemp

To join the Cancer Schmancer Movement so that you can help revolutionize women’s health history and ensure that all women are diagnosed with cancer in Stage 1 click here!

Wintour’s World!

Photos from the after-party are available at www.washingtonlife.com.

Click here to see the movie trailer!

Last night’s E Street Cinema screening of the new behind-the-scenes documentary about Vogue magazine, “The September Issue,” and the after-party at the W Hotel were the places to be for anyone in DC with an interest in fashion. I’m grateful to my friend Jayne Sandman for squeezing me in at the last minute (I’d only heard about the screening and after party a few days before). There was just enough time to catch up with Gwen Holliday, Johnny Wright, Ashley Taylor, Lindsay Craig, Carol Joynt, and Hilary Rosen before the movie started and I was lucky enough to snag an open seat next to Tracy Bernstein. Centering around Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and the production of the highly anticipated and coveted September issue of American Vogue, the film offers a – fly on the wall – glimpse into the world of high fashion: its editors, photographers, models, and designers. While Wintour comes across as an icy perfectionist, an unlikely heroine emerges from the film in the form of Creative Director Grace Coddington, below left, who started working at Vogue the same day as Wintour 20 years ago.

Hailed as the greatest fashion stylist alive, Coddington’s prodigious gifts are apparent up on the screen. “September Issue” director Cutler has said, “Every billboard, fashion magazine spread, every advertisement we see today has been influenced by Grace Coddington.” Her 1st book - Grace: Thirty Years of Fashion at Vogue – should be on every model/designer/photographer’s short list – even though Amazon is selling the hardcover for $400. The dramatic action of the film comes from the tension between the two powerhouses. Throughout the film, Wintour and Coddington are at odds over editorial content and we watch as the two women tacitly battle for control over what stays and what goes in the magazine.

As the September issue gets closer to being finalized, more of Coddington’s editorials get axed. The climax of the film, so to speak, is watching the fallout from a near disastrous cover photo spread of the actress Sienna Miller by Mario Testino, which then gets trumped by the reinstatement of Coddington’s once canned photo spreads. The film is worth seeing just to watch the photographers – Patrick Demarchelier, David Sims, and Testino – work their magic. After the screening most of the audience made their way over to the W Hotel to join a hundred, or so, others for a party hosted by GILT Groupe founders Alexandra Wilkis Wilson and Alexis Maybank.

The fashion conscious crowd included Sharon Dougherty, Anais deViel Castel, Carolina Furukrona, Amy Baier, Jamie Dorros, Darcy Jones, Nat Fogg, Susanna Quinn, Sassy “Sassanova” Jacobs, Katie Rost, Ellen Chube, Pamela Sorensen, Ebs Burnough, Elizabeth Thorp, Mona Sutphen, Tina D’Souza and David Sutphen, Will Thomas and Andrew Noyes, Mary Barth, Joelle Myers, Dondi Dahlgard, Alicia deForest, Holidae Hayes, Omar Popal, Paul Wharton, Lindsay Czarniak, Matt Landsberg, Shelly Galli, Amanda Polk, and Nicki Kalokerinos. Author on the verge of stardom, Walker Lamond, was there promoting his October release: “Rules for My Unborn Son.” A nice departing gift was created by an on-site photographer – a photo keepsake superimposed with the Vogue logo so that each person went home with his or her face on the “cover” of Vogue magazine. A really nice touch!