Gloss-ip: People, Places & Parties On Our Radar This Week - The Gloss Magazine

Gloss-ip: People, Places & Parties On Our Radar This Week

This week’s round-up of people, places and parties, part of our new online social diary …

The data is very strong; those who enjoy socialising in middle age are less likely to develop dementia later. That’s one of the tips in Dr Sanjay Gupta’s new book 12 Weeks To A Sharper You (Headline). That means no more slumping on the sofa, (even if the new season of Succession is landing) we’ve been out and about! 

One of the most elegant events this month marked the official launch of the new look Circle Club, the chic private members club at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.  Also on the agenda was an evening of ballet with the opening performance of Swan Lake by the prestigious Estonian National Ballet (who rarely leave their base of the Estonia Theatre, Tallin). 

Designer Sonya Lennon, actress Charlene McKenna, as well as presenters Marty Whelan, Baz Ashmawy, and Sean Rock, were among the guests who enjoyed a private pre-show reception where Kir Royales flowed, and a selection of canapés were served in the Circle Club lounge. This stylish Art Deco-inspired space is on the mezzanine floor of the Daniel Libeskind-designed theatre. Stephen Faloon, general manager of Bord Gáis Energy Theatre welcomed guests as did Linnar Looris, creative director of The Estonian National Ballet. Click into the gallery below for social pictures …

We were mesmerised by Tchaikovsky’s haunting score for Swan Lake as by principal ballerina Ketlin Oja who played Odette; her toned biceps and “armography” have inspired some renewed enthusiasm for gym visits. Top tip: joining fees are waived at the boutique Power gyms in Dublin, Galway and Cork until January 31.

Talking of ballet, Miu Miu’s satin ballerinas, as worn by Bella Hadid with lilac socks on a 17-hour flight, are on waiting lists everywhere …

Picture via @bellahadid Instagram.

Have you endorsed “damp” rather than dry January? While more of us are “sober curious” and nommeliers are officially a new job title (experts in non-alcoholic options), if our experience is anything to go by, Tuesday is the new Thursday on the social circuit, for both civilians and celebrities. 

Spotted in discreet Dublin diners: Dave Grohl, Rod Stewart and Roy Keane, who have all frequented Roly’s Bistro, Dublin 4 which is soon to launch its new Angie’s Wine & Cocktail bar. Line of Duty actor Adrian Dunbar was seen in Richard Corrigan’s Park Café, Ballsbridge, though Dunbar didn’t serenade fellow diners with an Elvis song. He recently performed an impromptu rendition of That’s All Right at the QT jazz bar Covent Garden, London. Who knew Superintendent Ted Hastings could sing?

Definitive proof that January isn’t always as slow as people believe … Red dots have been proliferating in the capital’s art galleries and not just at Schiaparelli’s Haute Couture Show in Paris, where Doja Cat was covered in 30,000 red crystals (which looked like painful pimples) as part of creative director Daniel Roseberry’s controversial collection inspired by Dante’s Inferno. 

Two recent exhibition opening nights impressed in terms of congeniality and the number of paintings sold.  At the launch of Bridget Flannery’s “Terra Incognita” exhibition at Solomon Fine Art, Balfe Street, Dublin 2, on January 12, were writer and lawyer John O’Donnell (who opened the show) and his wife Michelene, former Arts Council chair Olive Braiden, Judge Kathryn Hutton and husband David McGrath, poet and author Mary O’Donnell, writer and journalist John P O’Sullivan with his wife artist Diana Kingston as well as artist Carol Hodder, known for her elemental landscape paintings.  

On Thursday, January 26, Hang Tough Gallery, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2, was buzzing for the launch of Ceadogán’s ambitious “Island” project. This is a collaboration with twelve artists to create a one-off rug or colourful wall hanging. 

Gallery owner Michael “Rubio” Hennigan greeted invited guests alongside Ceadogán’s creative duo Colm Kenny and Martina Navrátilova. Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins read from her latest work, to a hushed crowd which included film hair stylist Lorraine Glynn who had arrived via Netflix Studios in London after finishing work on Elle Fanning’s wigs for the forthcoming season of The Great. 

Glynn was joined by art curator Jonathan Carroll, cultural concierge Sarah Owens and musician Si Schroeder. Director of Hugh Lane Gallery, Barbara Dawson, Dublin’s Culture Night co-ordinator Muireann O’Sullivan and podcasting queen Louise McSharry were also in attendance as was make-up artist Patrick Blue and visual artist Alan Phelan (whose solo exhibition will open in Dublin’s Molesworth gallery on February 9). Many of the exhibiting artists were in attendance including Dorothy Cross, Maser, Domino Whisker, Hannah Ní Mhaonaigh, Alice Fitzgerald, Sean Atmos, Gilbert Menassa and Colm Mac Athlaoich.

Following the exhibition, the artworks will be auctioned off on Sunday, February 5, with 50 per cent of the profits going to the Peter McVerry Trust, in aid of the homeless. The remainder of the proceeds will fund a regenerative wildlife project – “For the Birds” – at the picturesque site of Ceadogán’s workshop overlooking Bannow Bay, Co Wexford. 

Finally, one wonders what Grace Jones’ rider will be when she headlines Beyond the Pale music and arts festival at Glendalough Estate, Co Wicklow later this year (June 16-18). No doubt Philip Treacy will be providing some new hats for Jones, who will be performing hits such as La Vie en Rose, Slave to Rhythm and Pull Up To The Bumper, a few weeks after her 75th birthday.

At a previous performance in 2017, her dressing room rider was leaked on Twitter. It was far from the excessive demands of say, Jennifer Lopez or Maria Carey, but did have some revealing points. Nestled in between demands for bottles of St Emilion, Tabasco sauce, sashimi and sushi platters, Cristal champagne, four bunches of flowers (lilies or orchids) she requested “two dozen fin de claire or Colchester oysters on ice (unopened)”. There was an extra instruction, too. “Grace does her own shucking”. Accordingly, her rider also asked for one oyster knife.

Let’s hope Jones can be educated in the superiority of native Irish oysters: from Flaggy Shore, Clare, to LouëtFeisser oysters from Carlingford, or Kelly’s oysters, Galway, on this her only performance in Ireland. Perhaps her team can investigate The Oyster Menu at The Shelbourne’s No 24 Bar. Worthy of the hot-headed diva is its “Oyster Diablo” with a chive and chilli dressing and freshly grated horseradish.

Talking of divas and their demands, there was much excitement in GLOSS HQ when tickets were released for Madonna’s forthcoming Celebration tour.  One staffer is heading to Antwerp to see “Her Madgesty”. If the Celebration tour is anything like the MDNA tour a decade ago, it will include a 200-person entourage including 30 bodyguards, an acupuncturist, a yoga instructor, an on-site dry cleaner and several personal chefs to prepare a strictly vegan menu. Most interesting are her alleged hotel demands. Madonna likes to take her home on the road and “requires all furniture be removed from the rooms and replaced with her own pieces that she has shipped in.” Could you be bothered?

Penny McCormick

Main featured image: Backstage at this week’s Venetian-inspired Armani Privé SS23 presentation via @GiorgioArmani on Instagram.

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