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Monkey Business

Sorry for the delay, but PartyHopper has been sidelined by carpal tunnel syndrome—a blogger’s worst nightmare! Yesterday after work I endured an acupuncture appointment (despite claims to the contrary, it really does hurt) and then I hit Lorraine “Queen of Bling” Schwartz’s party at the Monkey Bar, which was, oh, about a million times more fun than having sharp needles plunged into my hands. All of the A-list divas—Beyonce, J. Lo, Liz Taylor—love Lorraine, and many of her celeb fans turned out the help her celebrate her new monkey-inspired jewelry collection.

I walked in right behind J. Lo and her entourage, then made a beeline for the VIP room, stopping briefly to chat with hipster designer and foodie Mark Ecko (who shared the highlights of his recent trip to the Aspen Food & Wine festival) en route to a cozy couch where I took a seat in between the fabulous Tina Knowles and R&B ingénue Cassie. Tina, who has more energy than anyone I know (except for maybe her daughter Beyonce) told me about her latest fashion line, Miss Tina, which will be launching on Aug. 15th. She already oversees both the House of Dereon and Dereon junior lines and she also found time to design bling-y monkey outfits especially for this party. I don’t know how she does it all but go, Miss Tina!

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Tina and James
Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage

Photos by Mark A. Neston
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Cassie and James

Later I bumped into my fellow blogger from In Style, Martha McCully, and we walked by the likes of Debra Messing and Pharrell on our way over to say hi to Seal and Heidi Klum. These two are one of my favorite couples—they seem to be more in love every time I see them! Heidi, who looked impossibly gorgeous as usual, showed me her gold-monkey necklace that was boldly accessorizing her chic black Michael Kors pantsuit, and I couldn’t help noticing a few of my favorite Project Runway vets, Laura and Uli, enjoying cocktail conversation nearby.

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Martha and James

On my way out, I swung by Ashanti’s table to catch up with her and her mom/manager—we all once spent some quality time together inside her closet for an In Style feature about celebrity closets. She told me all about her upcoming Resident Evil movie (costarring Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter) and also gave me the scoop on her latest single, which is due to drop in just a few weeks—it’s all about hot shoes, so I know that it’s going to be a big hit with all of my coworkers. Sounds like an In Style anthem to me!

-- James Patrick Herman

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Ashanti and James

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Monkey costumes designed by Tina Knowles

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Reading your post made me feel like I was actually at the party! Hope your wrist feels better so you can continue taking us out on the town with you.

Posted by: Tess | June 25, 2007

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