What makes The Pink Party, a benefit hosted by Palisadian Elyse Walker three weeks ago at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, different from the many fundraisers held every night in L.A.? The amount of money that was raised in one evening by a single individual who is NOT on Forbes list of 100 wealthiest Americans, or even a celebrity. While Walker, 39, could be a lady who lunches or just works on expanding her successful women’s retail operation–which now occupies four storefronts on Antioch– she chooses instead to try and make a difference. Her motivation? Walker’s mother, Barbara Feder, died of ovarian cancer at the age of 42. Last year 500 people attended her first Pink Party, including California’s First Lady Maria Shriver, an Elyse Walker client. Just under $500,000 was raised. Over 600 people attended this year’s event, which brought in over $700,000 for the Cedar-Sinai Women’s Cancer Research Institute. The silent auction alone garnered $125,000, and while some jewelry was thrown into the mix this year, the big draw were the handbags donated by Bottega Veneta, Yves St. Laurent, Celine, Etro, Robert Cavalli, Valentino, Gucci and Jimmy Choo. The opening bid on a green ostrich handbag donated by Dolce & Gabbana was $2,500. Retail value: $5,995. Also hot was a Prada crocodile bag, which retails for $8,775. The most expensive item in the silent auction was a 1955 Andy Warhol lithograph featuring a shoe made out of gold leaf. Donated by the Leslie Sacks Gallery, it was valued at $15,000. The bidding started at $10,000 and was won by Walker’s aunt Trudi. Palisadians who attended this year’s event include Sugar Ray Leonard and his wife Bernadette, Caroline and Chris O’Donnell, Kimberly and Dennis Quaid, Melissa Rivers, Frances Fisher, James Worthy, Liza Utter and Tom Pernice, Didi Carr-Reuben with her daughter Gable, Laura M. and Mark Geller, former Chamber of Commerce president Saad Mazbouti, owner of Denton’s Jewelers, with his wife Yvette. Also in attendance was last year’s Chamber president Sandy Eddy, who served on The Pink Party host committee, as well as Arnie Wishnick, executive director of the Chamber, with his wife Cathie. ‘It was nice to see so many Palisadians open their pocketbooks for this cause,’ Wishnick said. Elyse Walker is currently the single largest fundraiser for Cedars-Sinai WCRI. The funds raised at this year’s Pink Party will be used to screen women at high risk for breast, cervical and ovarian cancer. The money will also help pay for mammograms, pap smears and ultrasounds. ‘There is no test for ovarian cancer, ‘ said Walker. ‘It is a symptom-driven disease. Women need to know what to watch out for, which is why we are helping to fund community outreach programs as well.’ At the Viceroy fundraiser Walker also announced that some of the funds would be used to help get the first cervical cancer vaccine into doctors’ offices. In June the FDA approved Gardasil, developed to protect against four HPV’s (human papiliomavirus), which together cause 70 percent of cervical cancers and other genital diseases. The vaccine, which to date has been widely tested only on females between the ages of 9 and 26, consists of a series of three shots given over a six-month period. Studies have found it to be almost 100 percent effective in preventing cancer of the cervix, vulva and vagina as well as genital warts; research also indicates the vaccine provides coverage for up to five years. The expectation is that it will eventually be administered as routinely as other vaccinations such as those for measles and mumps. Since the vaccine has no effect on 30 percent of cervical cancers, young girls and women are advised to continue to get regular pap tests. The vaccine itself is made up of protein from the outer coat of the virus (HPV). One dose costs $120, or $360 for the series of three. It is currently recommended for girls, 11 to 12-years of age, before they become sexually active. This is because the vaccine has been found to be most effective in females who have not yet acquired any of the four types of HPV (some virulent, some not). No test for the virus is currently available. The Pink Party attracted mostly large donors, and a limited number of tickets were available for $500 apiece. Countrywide purchased a corporate sponsorship for $30,000 and In Style magazine, which covered the event, welcomed celebrities, including Nicole Richie and Marcia Cross, one of the stars of ABC’s ‘Desperate Housewives,’ in a poolside tent. The evening had a distinctive disco vibe with nonstop music by DJ AM, keeping the dance floor hopping throughout the evening. There was also entertainment’from the eye-catching go-go dancers on platforms over the pool wearing everything from Courreges boots to fishnet stockings to bikinis’to the continuous big-screen TV running videos of runway fashion shows. Guests were definitely dressed casually. Palisadian Frances Fisher wore jeans and a camisole with pink lace, which she said she sometimes ‘wears to bed.’ While ‘pink attire’ and ‘jeans required’ was the official dress code of the night, what does a fashionista’an arbiter of fashion with a client list of 6,000–wear to her own party? Elyse Walker said she planned her whole wardrobe around her footwear–brown studded platform shoes by Miu Miu, which she knew would “be very comfortable as I would be standing all night.’ Under her gray leather jacket (by Hanii Y) and her multiple strings of bronze beads (Erickson Beamon), Walker, who describes her fashion style as ‘classic’ with ‘an edge,’ wore a knee-length hot pink tunic (Tomas Maier) with a ruffled neckline. The dress was wrapped with a high-waisted brown python belt (Prada), and under it she wore a pair of Seven jeans frayed at the bottom and ‘perfectly ripped up by Sable, who works for me.’ Other fashion standouts included a shocking pink trench coat from T.J.Maxx, a pink vintage boiled wool top, a pale rose-colored cashmere sweater set and a magenta sari. Several of the men wore pink shirts, some made of silk. The real measure of success of any fundraiser in this town is how much of the money ends up going to the cause. Walker said she was pleased that expenses for The Pink Party ran less than 20 percent, down from almost 25 percent last year. Her goal in 2007? ‘We hope to raise at least a million dollars and get costs down even more.’ To make a donation to Cedars-Sinai’s WCRI contact Lori Feldman at.
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