LADY’S FIRST: You can’t say she doesn’t accessorize. Lady Gaga will be given the Stylemaker Award at Monday night’s 13th annual Accessories Council Excellence Awards, known as the ACE Awards. Gaga, known to shock and awe with her daring headwear among other fashion choices, will be given the award by Marc Jacobs. Other honorees include Diane von Furstenberg, Tomas Maier of Bottega Veneta and Blake Mycoskie of Tom’s Shoes. The event will take place at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York.
DINING ON DIOR: It’s been a good couple of days for Saks Fifth Avenue’s top Dior customers. Celebrating the Dior boutique on the third floor, Saks’ Ron Frasch and Christian Dior Inc. president Pamela Baxter hosted a dinner on the floor for the top shoppers on Tuesday night. It was followed on Wednesday by a spring trunk show and tea event hosted by Lizzie Tisch and benefited Citymeals-on-Wheels. Trunk show top sellers included a strapless “Granville” print chiffon dress for $6,590; a belted, silk cotton jacket with leopard lapel, $3,550; its corresponding pencil skirt, $1,190, and a silk dress with jeweled bow shoulder detail, $5,690.
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CHARLES’ CHECK: Burberry’s newly minted global headquarters in London will get the royal seal of approval this week. Today, Prince Charles is set to make a visit to Horseferry House, the company’s 160,000-square-foot base near London’s River Thames, to officially open the sleek building. Angela Ahrendts, Burberry’s chief executive officer, and Christopher Bailey, the label’s creative director, will greet the prince, who will then view Burberry’s archives and meet members of the company’s 850 staff — who have been based at the building since January — during a tour of Burberry’s design studio and offices. And since Burberry has held one of the Prince of Wales’ royal warrants since 1990, it’s likely Charles will be well enough acquainted with the 153-year-old label to happily talk trench coats with Ahrendts and Bailey.
BAUBLES AND BUBBLY: Fine jewelry design was feted all over Manhattan on Tuesday night. Uptown, Annie Churchill, Kara Ross and Gilles Mendel came to congratulate Ward and Nico Landrigan, the father-son owners of Verdura, on the firm’s 70th anniversary. Meanwhile, it was a family affair for Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman at the Garrard salon in SoHo. Chapman’s mother, Caroline Wonfor, brother Edward (who is president of Marchesa), mother-in-law Miriam Weinstein and husband Harvey Weinstein were in attendance to celebrate her collaboration with Garrard creative director Stephen Webster on a capsule collection for the English jewelry firm. “They better be here if they want to stay family,” said Chapman, outfitted in a royal blue number from her collection, as well as her first fine jewelry designs. Nonrelatives of Chapman’s included Helena Christensen, Becki Newton, Mischa Barton and Tinsley Mortimer, who had a camera crew in tow filming her new reality show.
OPENING PAIR: The collaborations at Opening Ceremony continue apace: the latest is with shoe designer Robert Clergerie, who has taken his classic espadrille style (which he introduced in 1990) and created four exclusive designs for the retailer to debut in late February. The designs, featuring fabrics including indigo-dyed linen, classic polkadots on linen, and a special hand-painted floral print, will retail for $460 at the store.
MUMMY DEAREST: Tamara Mellon will take the stand in a Channel Islands courtroom next month as part of a 6 million pound, or $9.5 million, lawsuit against her mother, Ann Yeardye. Mellon is suing her mother for breach of contract in the sale of Jimmy Choo to Lion Capital in 2004. A source close to Mellon said Yeardye also planned to give evidence at the civil hearing, which is scheduled for mid-November at the Royal Court of Jersey, Channel Islands. Meanwhile, a similar lawsuit in Los Angeles that Mellon filed in January 2008 has been dropped due to jurisdiction issues. Mellon and Yeardye held stakes in Jimmy Choo through family trusts and, at the time of the sale to Lion Capital, money was paid to the family in cash and stock of the new owner. Mother and daughter reached an agreement partly verbally and partly in writing that Yeardye would receive her share in cash only, and Mellon would take her share solely in stock.
The lawsuit alleges Yeardye mistakenly received some of the stock that was supposed to go to Mellon, and refused to return it when the error was discovered. The 4 million pounds, or $6.3 million, in disputed stock was later liquidated after Jimmy Choo was sold once again in 2007, and is sitting in a frozen bank account. In 2004, Lion Capital acquired a majority stake in Jimmy Choo in a deal that valued the company at 101 million pounds, or $187 million, at the time of sale. In 2007, Lion Capital sold Jimmy Choo to TowerBrook Capital Partners LP in a deal valuing the London-based accessories company at 185 million pounds, or $364.5 million, at the time of sale.