In its third year, Urban Chic, the fashionable benefit for AID Atlanta, finally hit its stride on and off the runway.
Not to mention a record $100,000 raised for the charity. In past years, keeping your cool in overheated nightclubs had been a challenge for the glittering moneyed crowd. Thursday night's event was held in the larger, lavishly air-conditioned Egyptian Ballroom at the Fox Theatre in Midtown.
Eyeing a nearly naked, leggy blond model graciously submitting to body paint applications from attendees, co-chairman Ken Goldwasser told Buzz: "This year, the only body heat in here is being generated by the models. And it doesn't appear that anyone minds that!"
Still, the always-outrageous co-chairman Richie Arpino dressed for the occasion, sporting a red tartan kilt and black combat boots.
Said Arpino: "Now I know why women wear dresses. They're very comfortable. Especially when you go commando."
Considerably more refined was host committee member Darlene Trigg, who turned up in Armani Black Label with sexy candy apple red Valentino shoes.
Discussing her distress at a recent spike in HIV infection among African-American women, Trigg told us: "I'm delighted with the diversity here tonight and that more people are embracing this cause."
Providing the evening's emotional center was former Clinton administration AIDS adviser Denise Stokes, who's been living with HIV for 25 years. A spoken-word artist, Stokes silenced the crowd as she rapped about being raped as a teenager and her substance abuse struggles after being diagnosed.
A fashion show, creatively conceived by catwalk expert Randi Layne, wowed the crowd with the latest threads from Atlanta boutiques.
Opening the evening was rising Atlanta singer-songwriter Ben Deignan, whose noisy quartet rocked arrivals at the VIP party. Deignan's set took us back to the days when we piled into Eddie's Attic to watch a young John Mayer trying out his latest compositions. Only the musically scrappier Deignan and mates might well wipe the floor with Mayer's band in a bar fight.
Deignan wasn't fazed that most of the crowd was ignoring his set. The singer told us: "It's like being that cool band that has a cameo in a cocktail party scene on an episode of 'Sex and the City.' We're just excited to be here."
Ready for football?
Preparing for tonight's Atlanta Falcons pre-season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars? You may want to visit the team's online store or its retail locations at Perimeter or Lenox Square malls. Among the products that tempted Buzz on Friday: the all-wood Falcons cheese board, the team's official hammock, a black-and-red bed comforter ("the perfect addition to your Atlanta Falcons sheet set!" as the Web site tells us) and a snack helmet with a detachable top perfect for chips. But the biggest bargains we found? Dog tags from former Falcons Warrick Dunn and DeAngelo Hall were going for just 93 cents a set. Current Falcon Keith Brooking's will run you $5.56, however. Perhaps not unexpectedly, there was no sign of Michael Vick dog tags to be found anywhere on the site. For info: Falcons365.com.
We have a winner!
Move over, Brangelina and People magazine.
When it comes to "exclusive" baby photos, you're old news.
Proving that parents are as relentless as the paparazzi, ajc.com's request for "exclusive" shots of the Atlanta area's most photogenic babies drew hundreds of submissions this week. Our staff then had the impossible task of picking 10 standouts and one overall winner of our prize: a check for $14, exactly a million times less than People paid for pictures of the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline.
Our winner: Madelynn Kiel, daughter of David and Angela Kiel of Athens. Madelynn, 14 months, is pictured at about 6 months in her winning photo, submitted by her proud aunt Stephanie Westlund, also of Athens.
Of her niece's unusual pose, Westlund said the little girl has always laid down with her hands tucked behind her head that way. She said friends have made the same shot the screen saver on their computer.
"It seems like every picture I have right now is of her," said Westlund, a traffic manager for Benson's Bakery in Athens.
Now ajc.com visitors have one, too. Thanks to all the parents, grandparents, friends and relatives who shared their photos.
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