Benefit season is in full swing and last night proved to be one of uptown’s more chic affairs. The Associates Committee of The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center hosted their annual fall party with honorary chair designer**Monique Lhuillier,** and that meant elegant trains on some of society’s most stylish swans, including Shoshanna Gruss, Alexandra Lind Rose, and Eleanor Ylvisaker. Traipsing up the stairs to the Four Seasons Restaurant were Veronica Swanson Beard, Charlotte Ronson in a festive Valentino frock, and several of this year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists, including Wes Gordon with Paul Arnhold, and Brett Heyman of Edie Parker, who wore a shimmering dress from Prada punctuated with one of her signature bags.
As guests like Carolina de Neufville, Travis Acquavella, Shabnam Henry, and Jessica Sailer Van Lith glided to the Pool Room for dinner, the evening’s program commenced with a moving speech from chair Eleanor Ylvisaker. “Cancer is something that does not discriminate,” said Ylvisaker, who passionately spoke to the crowd about the need for additional funding to launch the hospital’s first clinical trial of a treatment for pediatric and young adult patients. After brief remarks from Dr. Paul Meyers, everybody tucked into their meals, while Jamie Niven hosted a live auction. Chatter around the room focused on the impending holidays and Black Friday shopping. “I’m more of a pre-sale person,” said Heyman. While Lhuillier, dressed in an ethereal and floaty white confection of her own design, had more grand items on her list. “I’m into contemporary art,” said the designer who recently snapped up a pied-à-terre in the city with husband Tom Bugbee, “and things I can put in my apartment.”
