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The Noel Shoe Museum Gala
New York City’s First and Only Shoe Museum
A soulful event
NY - “A very soulful event and I’m delighted to be
here!” said Fern Mallis, the former Executive
Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, as
she opened the gala proceeding Thursday night for the The
Noel Shoe Museum, their second annual gala at a Private
Club in New York City. Quoting Kenneth Cole , she
said, “‘The average woman falls in love seven times a year -
only six are with shoes’. There is not one woman I know and
several men that does not have a shoe fetish. And as
Marilyn Monroe said, ‘give a girl the right shoes and
she can conquer the world’. Tonight we celebrate Vanessa
Noel for spearheading this extraordinary museum, which
will be a great addition to New York City. New York is
already the greatest fashion city in the country, and while
we boast some of the world's most renowned museums and
galleries, there's one facet of human creativity that has
remained largely unexplored until now, the world of
footwear. Vanessa has shown us that shoes are not just
accessories, but vessels of creativity, history, and
personal expression.”
Mayor Eric Adams
donated a pair of his shoes which were brought to the stage
by his brother, Bernard Adams, who shared “they
[Mayor Adams’ shoes] aren’t sexy, but I can tell you one
thing; these shoes have a lot of mileage because the man
works hard. He really loves this city, and this museum. We
were at the Gracie Mansion and I said, listen, take your,
take your shoes off so I can bring them over [laugh]. If you
know anything about the mayor, you know, he's up early and
he goes to bed real late. They say he's a nightlife mayor.
That's true. But he's out working all the time. So I don't
wanna make this to be a campaign speech, but I can say that
my brother is a hard worker. He really loves the city. And
so this museum, I'm sure he is gonna be a part of it.”
Chris "Handles" Franklin,
former player and now coach of the Harlem Globetrotters, and
current player Brawley "Cheese" Chisholm presented
limited edition Reebok basketball sneakers. Mark Breland,
former American amateur boxer and olympic gold medalist,
donated a pair of his boxing shoes. On display were metallic
gold Versace shoes from Danny Wegman (of the new
Wegmans Grocery store in Astor Place), Hunt Slonem’s
paint covered sneakers, Fern Mallis’ lime green Manolo
Blahnik heels, H.R.H. Prince Dimitri of
Yugoslavia’s custom Vans, and many more.
Two incredible "living shoes", created by Italian artist
Johannes Stoetter, performed for the first time in the
United States. Dressed in only body paint, they assumed the
forms of stiletto heels. Earlier Wednesday morning, just off
a plane from Vienna, they performed on Good Day New York,
live from Vanessa Noel’s storefront on 64th Street and
Lexington Avenue.
Gala guests included
Sharon and Bernard Adams,
Teri Agins, Frederick Anderson, Keiko Ono Aoki,
Michael Atmore, Jeffrey Banks,
Tina Beriro,
Cesare Bieller,
CeCe and Lee Black, Sharon Bush, Liz and Gerry Byrne,
Cassandra Cass, Lady Liliana Cavendish,
David Patrick Columbia,
Ruthie Davis,
Mike Dean,
Lauren Ezerzky, Pamela Fiori,
Celso Gonzalez, Anthony Haden Guest,
Nikki Haskell, Leila and Henry Heller,
Omar Hernandez,
Arthur Houghton,
Dorothea de la Houssaye,
Paris Hovnanian, Elizabeth Kabler,
Roy Kean,
Karen Klopp, Margo Langenberg,
Alfred Lasher,
Franck Laverdin,
Maribel Lieberman, Denise de Luca, Pamela Morgan, Miranda
Morrison, Roland Nivelais, Topper Quinn, Nicole Salmasi,
Jean Shafiroff, Hunt Slonem,
Tracy Snyder, Caroline St George,
Benny Tabatabai,
Joyce Varvatos,
Robert Verdi,
Christopher Walling
and Shoe Museum Board Members Billie Bailkin, Susan
Gutfreund, Hon. Carolyn Maloney, Joe Pacetti, Jackie Tucker,
H.R.H. Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia.
Shoes carved into pumpkins were the centerpieces on every
table. Guests played rounds of bingo for major prizes before
following a fiddler down the street to OHLALA Supper Club,
where an after party got everyone dancing.
The evening raised money and awareness for the construction of New
York City’s first and only museum dedicated to shoes. More
information at
www.NoelShoeMuseum.org
Under his leadership, Hagedorn received many awards
for his innovative
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