Spring 2013 Fashion Highlights: Custo Barcelona

Here's a look at highlights of the runway show put on by Custo Barcelona...

All for the Best

The musical-theater wünderkind who just a couple of years out of college had three blockbusters on Broadway simultaneously was honored in grand style last night by the New York City Opera.

In 1976, at the age of 28, Stephen Schwartz had Pippin, The Magic Show and Godspell all playing on the Great White Way. It was an auspicious start to a career that would later include work for Disney (Pocohantas, Enchanted, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and the long-running Broadway show Wicked.

Headliner at last evening's musical tribute was Kristin Chenoweth, the woman who sprang to superstardom through her delicious turn as Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked. Among others offering musical homage included Raúl Esparza and Victor Garber--who in the early 1970s played Jesus in Godspell both on stage and on screen).

Also wowing the audience was Ann Hampton Callaway, who sang the show-stopper "Meadowlark," and Lauren Flanigan and Todd Wilander stars of the brand-new Schwartz opera Séance on a Wet Afternoon, which had its Lincoln Center premiere at New York City Opera earlier this week.

Schwartz, who at 63 could easily pass for ten years younger, seems to have kept age at bay through a life teeming with thoughtful, glee-filled production numbers. As he sat down to the piano and sang to close out the night, Schwartz proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he and his musicals will--to borrow from one of his most successful shows of all--long remain "pop-u-lar."

Bravo for the Beard Awards!

David Chang, Daniel Boulud, Dan Barber and Jean-Georges Vongerichten were among the big winners at last night's James Beard Awards, held at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. The glittering evening, known to avid restaurant-goers as the Oscars of the food world, drew the industry's best an brightest for an evening of peer recognition and, of course, good eating.

Show hosts Cat Cora, Emeril Lagasse and actor Stanley Tucci did an admirable job of keeping the proceedings moving, but much like the Academy Awards, the Beard show is infamous for running long and dry. Still, enduring the speeches is always a small price to pay for the post-awards reception and after-parties. In keeping with the theme of this year's show, Women in Food, the reception featured the culinary creations of some of the nation's leading women chefs, including Lidia Bastianich, Anita Lo, Michelle Bernstein, Carrie Nahabedian and Jennifer Petrusky.

Once they moved on from Lincoln Center, guests, nominees and winners had their pick of after-parties, with the more ambitious foodies packing in several stops. New York Insider briefly checked out Bar Boulud (conveniently located across the street from Lincoln Center) before heading to Nobu 57, where Drew Nieporent was hosting a Champagne and sushi celebration. We then decamped to the Modern, where the booze was flowing, though there was not a nibble to be had. Other revelers headed downtown to Mario Batali's Otto or to Terroir, in the East Village.

All in all, it was a night of great fun and redkindled friendships—as is always the case when the hospitality world pulls out all of its stops.

For more photos, click here.