To Pimm’s or to fizz? That is the question dogging most of us on this, the middle Sunday of Wimbledon fortnight. When pre-Wimbles festivities kicked off at Ralph Lauren on Bond Street — essentially a garden party in a shop — in aid of the brilliant cancer charity Too Many Women, it was wall-to-wall stripy blazers and honeyed blondes in maxidresses, and not a drop of rain to stop play. Matt LeBlanc (fizz) seemed a little nervous in the china department. Gwyneth (Pimm’s) slid in via the back entrance with Vanity Fair’s Elizabeth Saltzman — who had to leave early for a parents’ evening — while Boris Becker (fizz) chatted in table linen, and champion glamazon Venus Williams (mineral water, obv) prowled around menswear. “I’ve always been a huge fan of Ralph Lauren,” said Boris, looking more like his mayoral namesake every day. But we had other conversational priorities. “Do a lot of girls you meet say they had enormous crushes on you when they were teenagers?” we asked. “I’ve had one or two come up to me,” said Boris modestly, going a little pink.
Wossy probably regretted tweeting that he’d be spending his pre-Wimbledon Thursday evening with “BFF” Russell Brand. Here they are hightailing it out of the Sony Ericsson bash at the Kensington Roof Gardens (top picture) after being mobbed by ardent admirers and angry hordes.
Advertisement
The suppliers of tequila to Studio East, Bistrotheque’s pop-up restaurant at the new Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, were scratching their heads after the inaugural dinner.
The supply of devil’s juice they thought would last the restaurant’s entire three-week run appeared to have run low on the first night.
The culprits?
Advertisement
Erin O’Connor, Tracey Emin and Mary Portas were all suspected, but lacking sufficient evidence of thievery, no charges were pressed.
And the trail ran cold with the discovery of empty Patrón Silver bottles on the platform of Stratford’s new high-speed rail link.
Advertisement
Saturday afternoon, and time for an informal spot-the-celeb competition at the Primrose Hill summer fête. Category: least effective incognito. Best in show: two local boys trying to make better — David and Ed Miliband.
The brothers, born and bred in the area, turned up three hours apart, but there was unanimous agreement that their disguises — smart navy suits, in a sea of flip-flops and ice cream — demonstrated abysmal understanding of the principle “hide in plain sight”. Even Suzy Menkes, appearing fleetingly
on her balcony, could not challenge their dominance of the event. There were two cups of home-made elderflower cordial waiting for the boys at the winners’ table — but we think they might have been punting for a bigger prize.
Advertisement
Such a frisson among regulars at Mayfair club Whisky Mist the other night when word got around that the man they call P Diddy was in the house, along with friends Kelly Rowland, Drake and controversial pop rapper MIA.
Excitement turned to amusement at the news that Diddy had left instructions on the door of the VIP room to bring in the pretty girls.
So keen was Diddy to control his visual diet that members of his entourage were apparently dispatched around the club to hand-pick a selection of the club’s top totty for his amusement.
Diddy was later spotted standing on a table, with his hands on the ceiling, having what one observer described as “the time of his life”.
Advertisement
For The Elephant Parade. Final auctions take place on Wednesday and July 3. Go to givinglots.co.uk
