I was having lunch with Judy Price who just returned with her husband Peter from a trip to India, to Calcutta, which they loved. The Prices have been to India more than a dozen times but never to Calcutta. Judy was surprised, and pleasantly, to see a center that reminded her more of the middle of London than the so-called “Black Hole of Calcutta.”
Judy, if you didn’t know, created Avenue magazine about forty years ago. I was her Editor-in-Chief from 97 to 2000. It was at Avenue where I met Jeff Hirsch, who co-founded the NYSD with me. Judy sold the magazine the following year. Many thought it was a sign of retirement, but no grass grows under that lady’s feet.
A naturally industrious and enterprising woman, and dogged in her approach to achieving a task, she started a new project, the National Jewelry Institute with the ultimate goal of founding a jewelry museum. That ultimate goal remains just that right now but the Nat. Jewelry Institute is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a black tie gala dinner on May 7th at the Morgan Library. JP Morgan himself was one of the world’s greatest collectors of jewels.
Typically, the tables are sold out to some of the world’s leading fashion, jewelry and luxury brands such Armani, Assael, Boucheron, Bulgari, Chanel, Chopard, Dior, Forevermark, Georg Jensen, Givenchy, Hermes, ING Bank, Nespresso, Ralph Lauren, Richemont, Ruinart, Tiffany, Turnbull and Asser, Valentino, Vartanian & Sons, and Louis Vuitton. I told you: enterprising, industrious.
![]() | ![]() | | A piece once worn by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis at National Jewelry Institute's Notorious & Notable: 20th Century Women of Style exhibtion at the Museum of the City of New York in 2011. | ![]() |
The evening, she told me, will celebrate the support of all these great brand leaders who have during the past decade supported the National Jewelry Institute’s fifteen exhibitions in major world capitals, as well as the four books produced about jewelry and style. The Honorary Chair of the evening will be HRH Princess Marie Chantal of Greece who will attend with her husband HRH Prince Pavlos.
The Institute’s next major exhibition, Destination NY: Traveling in Style will open on April 15, 2015 at the then newly renovated Cultural Services of the French Embassy (in the old Stanford White designed Payne Whitney mansion) on Fifth Avenue between 79th and 78th.
What makes the show unusual is that the exhibit focuses on famous people such as Marlene Dietrich, JP Morgan, Lord Mountbatten, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Walt Disney, Elizabeth Arden, and Humphrey Bogart. It will include photos of the people and objects they owned and travelled with, such as: lighters, flasks, money clips, pocket watches, travelling games, bookmarks, cufflinks, minaudieres, and jeweled sunglasses. Also on exhibit will be travelling outfits belonging to people such as the Duchess of Windsor and Babe Paley. International interior designer Juan Montoya will design the exhibition. |
