And the Oscar goes to...

Last night, while many people questioned Seth MacFarlane's bold sense of humor, there was no questioning Hollywood's taste in fashion. With the exception of the "star" of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills series Brandi Granville, (why oh why was she even there?) most of the celebs who hit the red carpet looked absolutely fantastic. Take a look at our picks for the 2013 Oscar's best dressed:

Mary's Pick: Charlize Theron. She was an absolute vision in that peplum Dior haute couture gown. We love that she rocks the pixie cut, a bold haircut which most people are terrified of. Let's also take a minute to reflect on her dance duet with Channing Tatum. What a hideous pair..

Katie's Pick: Amy Adams. The supporting actress nominee ("The Master") looked amazing in this Oscar de la Renta princess ball gown. In previous years, she has always gone for a more sleek look, but we love how this year she channeled her inner Giselle from Enchanted. 

Ashley's Pick: Jennifer Lawrence. We are so obsessed with her that she really could be wearing a paper bag and we would still be talking about how much we want to be her. Fortunately, instead of a paper bag she showed up in a stunning Dior gown that caused her fall on the way up to the stage. When asked what happened, JLaw replied, "What do you mean what happened? Look at this dress!"


Who do YOU think was best dressed? You can vote here are E! Online's "Pose Off."

Ghastly & Glam at the Grammys

The 55th Grammy Awards were last night and we could talk all day about how fabulous Carrie Underwood's Blown Away performance was, how Adam Levine and Alicia Keys need to record an entire album together and how irrelevant LL Cool J has become. But, as usual, we are going to focus on fashion. For the Golden Globes we seemed to agree that no one horribly missed the mark, so here's to you, Hollywood. Cheers. But there were so many catastrophes going on in the world of music last night, that we simply had to throw in a "Worst Dressed" category this time:

Katie's Worst Dressed Pick: J Lo. There is absolutely no aspect of this look that is flattering. J Lo is a gorgeous woman, but her Grammy looks in recent history have frankly lacked some class. What is the thing on top of her head? Also, this look is such a rip-off of Angelina Jolie's leg pop at last year's Oscars, so we can't even give her pity points for creativity.

Ashley's Worst Dressed Pick: I hate to do it, because I think Adele's music is a gift to all single ladies worldwide, but WHAT is this? Is it my grandmother's table cloth? She does get some points simply for being British and for not ever apologizing for her vivacious curves, even if she should make a public apology for the dress.

Worst Dressed Runners Up: Katy Perry (too tight, too green), Frank Ocean (who are you exactly?) and Florence Welch (clearly going for the reptilian look).

Katie's Best Dressed Pick: Natasha Bedingfield. Although she wasn't up for any awards, nor was she presenting, this look deserves a big shout out. Natasha wore Emerson by Jackie Fraser-Swans, and accessories by our girl Marina B.

Ashley's Best Dressed Pick: While we won't comment on her dating preferences, nor will you hear us really praise her music, Rihanna looked good. She went for a romantic red Azzedine Alaia dress that gown showed off her toned figure and bronzed skin (and ombre hair...had to say it).

Best Dressed Runners Up: Carrie Underwood (great detail in the dress), T Swift (just lose the bangs), and Allison Williams ("Hi JLo at the Grammy's"-Girls).

Bark! In The Park

Last night we had an event called Bark! In The Park, a premiere children's ballet and family benefit for New York Theatre Ballet. We are all breathing a large sigh of relief over here at MK because we rarely do children's events and weren't sure about how many messes and meltdowns to expect. However, after many hours of brainstorming we came up with some children's activities that were each successful in their own way. We included a make your own "pupcake" station, where kids could decorate their own bite sized cupcake. We found this great face painter, Maria Rocco, who made these amazing animal creations on some of the kids. Juan Villanueva made a large mural painting of Central Park where the kids could take different colored chalk and "make their mark on Central Park." There was this one little boy who's mother just could not get him to leave the mural. He spent the rest of the time walking around the party with chalk all over his blazer and gripping a blue and orange chalk in each hand. So adorable. We also brought in large white picnic tables where the children could decorate animal masks. There was a great candy bar, which we are still reaping the benefits of (bags upon bags of leftover candy sitting in our office.)  Our personal favorite, however, was "Nick the Balloonatic,"balloon artist extraordinare. All in all, we think the event was a huge success and hope it put NYTB on the map.

Children's party

Martha Stewart and the adorable NYTB dancers

Muffie Potter Aston and her twin girls

Martha Stewart and granddaughter 

Parties & Paper

Right now at MK we are in the midst of planning a family benefit and have had so much fun coming up with cute event ideas for kids. After many brainstorming sessions we realized that most of our ideas go back to the use of paper. We are printing out paper masks for the kids to decorate and are using fun colored straws for a cookies and milk station.

shoptomkat.com

Pretty Paper Parties by Vana Chupp

shoptomkat.com

paperandpigtailsparty.com

The photo props and the hanging paper flowers are little touches that can go a long way and can easily be made at home.There are a bunch of great websites and blogs that are dedicated to the love of paper and parties, and on some you can even get free printouts or buy custom designs. We love Paper and Pigtails, the tomkat studio, and Le Papier Studio.

A Bark! Sneak Peak

Karen LeFrak and Michael Scales

Yesterday we fell in love with (in our opinion) the most talented and fabulous choreographer in all of show-biz, Chase Brock. We had the pleasure of meeting him at Sarah Frank's Central Park West home, where we got a sneak peak into New York Theatre Ballet's Bark! In The Park. The ballet, with music and story by Karen LeFrak, will be premiered at our February 5th family benefit at El Museo Del Barrio. We had heard Chase's name thrown around our little world of events trillions of times in the past few months of planning, and we had even seen some of his work at the open studio. But we had no idea the kind of fabulosity we were dealing with. Chase, who choreographed broadway's hit, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, was so well spoken as he explained how he developed the identities of each character in Bark! Karen was also beaming as she told the story of two children searching for their lost dog in Central Park. NYTB's Michael Scales shined on the piano. See more in New York Social Diary. 

Chase Brock

Sarah Frank, Michael Scales and Karen LeFrak

Chase Brock, Sarah Frank, Karen LeFrak

Pooh came to watch too! 

MK Who Wore it Best

Black and white and red all over was the fashion theme of the 70th annual Golden Globes Awards. Kate Hudson, Sofia Vergara and Katharine McPhee all looked stunning in black gowns, but we think the real winners donned more fiery tones. Take a look at who we think wore it best:

Ashley's Pick: Jessica Alba. We still aren't really sure what she is so famous for- we guess its for being so good looking. But we love her anyway, especially with the ombré hair. 
 

Katie's Pick: Jennifer Gardner. This couple stole the show. Jen was absolutely beaming when her husband won for Best Director and Best Picture for "Argo." The Gardner-Affleck family should win a Golden Globe simply for being the most adorable hollywood family.

Mary's Pick: Jennifer Lawrence. She definitely seem's to be the hollywood "it" girl these days and although the bust on this dress wasn't the most flattering on screen, we picked her anyway because she is so talented and we loved her "I beat Meryl" acceptance speech.


And we obviously love the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler duo no matter what they wear...

The Best of 2012

Before diving headfirst into our 2013 year of events, we think it’s important to reflect on all of the fabulous- and even not so fabulous- goings on at MK. 2012 was the year the world was supposed to end, and if it had, we like to think MK would have gone out in style.

It was a year of once in a lifetime experiences and a year of firsts. 2012 was the year we listened to Roberta Flack belt out"Killing Me Softly" live in Lincoln Center. We saw Henry Kissinger speak about the Middle East. It was the year in which we pulled off an event one week after a major hurricane and one day after a nor’easter. In 2012, a "day at the office" could mean working on an LA rooftop with a panoramic view of the city. Katie and Ashley learned that one of the biggest advantages to west coast living is having In-N-Out Burger anytime you want. 2012 was the year of colored denim and Alex and Ani bracelets. At MK, Frozen yogurt breaks became more common than coffee breaks. And in 2012 we discovered that there are few things better than an evening cocktail and conversation on the Roger Sherman Inn porch.

So it’s that “out with the old in with the new” time of year again. And while we could do without the hurricanes, power outages and certainly the colored denim, we love what 2012 brought to each of our lives.

Ultimate Tourist Pic of 2012

Best Event Trend of 2012, DJ Chef

Best Event Entertainment of  2012, Magician Kevin Nicolas

Best Celeb Sighting Event of 2012, Time 100

Happy 2013 from MK Event Studio!