BURBERRY BOUTIQUE REOPENS WITH A FETE
The trusty trench coat first launched 100 years ago by haberdasher Thomas Burberry had some competition last week as savvy VIP shoppers alighted for a first look at this recently revamped Post Street boutique.
It was hosted by some of EssEff’s most stylish swans and swains ( Sloan and Roger Barnett, Kate Harbin and Adam Clammer, Vanessa and Billy Getty, Kathryn and Bo Lasater, Jacqueline and David Sacks, Alexis and Trevor Traina), and a portion of the party’s sales benefited the Fine Arts Museums.
Cocktails and canapes were passed by the Taste Catering crew as DJ Zen Freeman serenaded these swells, who eagerly explored the up-do of Burberry’s four-story San Francisco flagship to more closely mirror the brand’s Regent Street flagship.
The interior evokes classic London town house, but one that is tricked out with a new beauty bar and digital decor — a floor-to-ceiling LED digital screen flashing the latest runway looks.
The spring 2015 version of Burberry’s iconic Heritage trench is now reimagined with colorful botanical prints. But guests also went gaga for the leather Milverton bag (trimmed in tapestry) as well as the poncho from Burberry’s Prorsum line (inspired by equestrian blankets), which can be monogrammed with the wearer’s initials.
In fact, sultry Sonya Molodetskaya (just back from Paris Fashion Week) arrived wrapped in hers, along with a T-shirt she designed that was emblazoned: “Blankets Are the New Ponchos.”
“As soon as I saw this, I bought it,” she enthused. “But that was months ago. Now that it’s fall, I can finally wear my Burberry poncho.” Back to the past: It was a sweet return last week for retailer Chuck Williams, who celebrated his 99th birthday Oct. 2 back at the original Sonoma store that launched his home emporium kingdom.
The historic space, repurchased by the company, now features a design center, garden, historic kitchenware displays and a cooking school — a far cry from his modest beginning in 1956 just off the historic Sonoma Town Square.
Among revelers: chef Cecilia Chiang, who was joined by chefs Thomas Keller, Michael Chiarello and Tyler Florence; Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Al- ber; interior designer Sue Fisher King; James West; Mary Lester and Girl & the Fig restaurateur Sondra Bernstein.
But what gift does one give to celebrate the birthday of a man who, presumably, already has a kitchen drawer filled with gour- met gadgetry?
Well, Sonoma Mayor Tom Rouse delivered a proclamation declaring Oct. 2 Chuck Williams Day. Chef Jean-Yves Charon, founder of Galaxy Desserts, baked up a 5-foot-tall croquembouche. And Bernstein served up a menu of his favorite foods, including carrot soup and tomato salad dotted with watermelon and feta cheese.
The year that Williams first opened his store was also the dawn of the first computer hard disk. So in a fun nod to the past — and future — the birthday boy also delighted in a personalized hashtag: #chuckwilliamsday. Catherine Bigelow is The San Francisco Chronicle’s society correspondent. E-mail: missbigelow@sfgate.com