Victoire de Castellane and my daughter...

File this under, kind of interesting.

Ten years ago my daughter was a model with the Ford modeling agency. Because we refused to take her out of school she worked sporadically, but always booked very interesting jobs.

This was because she was considered to have an exotic, European look. She had black, thick eyebrows and pin-straight blond hair almost down to her waist. She liked modeling, but I think she mostly liked having time with me, without her four siblings.

One of the most interesting jobs she did was a jewelry fashion show for the Dior jewelry designer, Victoire de Castellane. It was to raise money for the Boys Club of New York and was held at The Rainbow Room in NYC.

The crowd was a mix of fashion insiders, high society, and New York movers and shakers. The event kicked off the New York social season.

My daughter and nineteen other little girls/models were dressed in adorable white eyelet nightgowns and then bedecked in jewels. The premise of the show was that a couple was going out for the evening and that their little girls were having a slumber party and while they were gone they went into the mother's jewelry box and tried on the jewels.

It started with them kissing the little girls goodbye and as soon as the door closed with a chorus of sweet little goodbyes from the girls... the girls rush with a mass of giggles to a beautiful jewelry box spotlit. ( really most of the girls already had them on.) Then the girls walked among the tables speaking to the guests and giggling with one another. To me, it was a mix of a production of a Midsummers Night Dream and Annie. It was beautifully done.

Before the show there were meetings to determine which girls wore what. Victoire de Castellane met with each girl and personally decided what she would wear. In our meeting I was impressed with how much time she took to decide what would be right for my daughter. She asked her many questions and was quite friendly.

Even then, I don't think I understood that the jewels the girls would be wearing were real jewels...REAL JEWELS!

As in, there were body guards for the girls the entire show.

WOW.

I knew that the girls were wearing important, one of a kind, original pieces and that they were worth a lot of money... I just didn't realize HOW much money.

I also didn't realize HOW one of a kind the jewelry was until a few months after the show and I began to see the "one of a kind" necklace my daughter wore turn up in Vogue... and on Hilary Swank! I often wonder who ended up with that beautiful, emerald and diamond necklace worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But I, and now you know who wore it first!