Socialites and stars step out for Central Park’s ‘hat lunch’
On Wednesday, Manhattan’s top socialites and a slew of stars put on their fanciest fascinators for the Central Park Conservancy Women’s Committee’s Frederick Law Olmsted Awards Luncheon – known as the “hat lunch” – which took raised $4.3 million for the park.
New York favorite Mariska Hargitay, who plays Detective Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” attended for the first time this year, along with author Ali Wentworth.
“Central Park is what gave me freedom and space when I moved to New York and was overwhelmed by the concrete jungle, time and darkness,” Hargitay told Page Six. . “I came here and got peace and rejuvenated. It is a place of so many memories. It is a sanctuary.
Hargitay put on a beige hat with a bow and told us, “I borrowed it from a friend. I don’t have hats like this. I promise that next year I will come to represent.
Actress and comedian Wentworth tells us she and pal Hargitay often take walks in the park together.
“I walk six miles a day every day in Central Park. I couldn’t survive without him during COVID,” Wentworth told us.
She said of picking her flower fascinator: “I built my whole outfit around it…I tried on a lot of hats and [picked one]first of all, it stuck in my head, and I liked it.
Former mayor Michael Bloomberg was spotted mingling amid floral tables and shaking hands with attendees as they sipped Whispering Angel wine in towering beanies, feathered fascinators and wide-brimmed boaters.
Bloomberg has been a regular at the event for years – and is getting a lot of hype.
“The park is New York,” Bloomberg told us. “It’s one of the great things we have. This is what sets us apart from all the other places in the world. There is no better park. It’s open to everyone and everyone participates.
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Also doing the round. Yesim Philip and Jenny Price.
Lunch has been held for 41 years.
Central Park Conservancy CEO Elizabeth W. Smith told us, “From time to time we think we need to freshen up the idea, but it’s actually such a wonderful party and people are having such a great time. marvellous. It’s not broken. Everyone likes to dress up.