Walk of Style Ceremony Postponed
One of the first local casualties of the pending U.S. war with Iraq is the Walk of Style award ceremony, originally scheduled for March 19 on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif.
The Rodeo Drive Committee, a group of Rodeo Drive merchants putting on the event that will honor fashion designers twice a year with plaques placed on the sidewalks, was unsure whether Giorgio Armani, the first award recipient, would be in town for the ceremony.
With the whiff of war hanging over the country, no one seems eager to be celebrating anything, with or without Armani.
“In light of the current situation, it didn’t feel appropriate at this time to hold the event,” said Craig Donahue, a spokesman for the Rodeo Drive Committee.
An Armani spokeswoman in New York, who wished to remain anonymous, said the famed fashion guru is currently scheduled to be traveling to Los Angeles during the week of March 17 to attend a party that Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, is hosting for movie director Martin Scorsese and Armani.
The designer also is planning to attend the Academy Awards on March 23, she said.
“Mr. Armani is set to travel [to Los Angeles] as of right now, but that could change,” she said. “He is watching the world situation.”
The Rodeo Drive Committee will reschedule the Walk of Style event for late spring, Donahue said.
The Walk of Style has been in the planning stages for the past 18 months. It was a longtime dream of Fred Hayman, the man behind the Giorgio boutique that became Fred Hayman Beverly Hills.
Los Angeles artist Robert Graham, the sculptor married to actress Anjelica Huston, was commissioned to create a 14-foot statue that will be placed in the median of the 200 block of Rodeo Drive.
The unveiling of Graham’s sculpture, “Torso,” was also to have taken place on March 19. Now it too will be postponed until the Armani event is held. —Deborah Belgum
