It’s All About the Diamonds
Allison Weiss Brady is back with another fun-filled adventure. This time, Allison takes us to an exclusive cocktail party for De Beers held at the stunning home of Lydia and Rudy Touzet. The affair was glamorous and the guests were fabulous — quintessential social Miami and Allison captures it as only she can.
Lydia and Rudy Touzet hosted an intimate dinner party for 65 of Miami’s top socials to celebrate the opening of the De Beers store at Bal Harbour Shops.
The Touzet estate is beautiful, centered in the middle of a private island and surrounded by a placid lake. Glamorous De Beers jewels worthy of the Oscar Awards were displayed in glass cases placed along the water’s edge. The setting was, oh, so enchanting.
Equally as enchanting were the jewels worn by the party guests. Let’s start with the ultimate hostess, Lydia Prio-Touzet. Always impeccably dressed, she wore a silver Angel Sanchez dress and more than 70 carats and $2 million worth of De Beers jewelry. The million dollar graduated cushion-cut Riviere diamond necklace was set with 74 stones with a total carat weight of 45.28ct. Her stunning diamond earrings were valued at $790,000.00, with the biggest radiant-cut stones at 7.01ct and 6.79ct respectively. Around her wrist was the Rainfall bracelet priced at $50k, set with 536 stones with a total carat weight of 11.80ct. I loved it!
Yolando Berkowitz was decked out in a brushed metallic satin dress from Dolce & Gabbana, which she pre-ordered from the store’s look book long before it hit the shelves. At first I thought she was wearing a sapphire necklace – but no – I was about to be introduced to a stunning stone I had never seen in the form presented: a black coral and diamond necklace choker from Bernard Passman. She mentioned that it was a present she received in St. Thomas. I guess I need to travel to the Islands more.
Kim Wood looked fabulous in an Etro dress, Louboutin shoes (of course! she said), Chloe bag, and Kwait earrings and bracelet as “push gifts” for having babies three and four. She also wore a very rare Edwardian pink and white diamond family heirloom cocktail ring.
Nicole Lozano’s dress was Dolce & Gabanna, Jimmy Choo shoes, Cartier bag and a platinum necklace with earrings that had 12 perfectly matched pear shaped diamonds. Fab!
Dana Shear, in a J. Mendel dress, diamond starburst heirloom necklace, and Harry Winston earrings, joked that we should swap earrings sometime. Anytime, Dana, anytime.
Beth Tasca had on a red Fendi dress and colored sapphire and diamond earrings. She was chatting with Mari Alarcon-Grimalt, who was wearing a Cartier diamond necklace with a pink sapphire drop and pink satin dress. Beth mentioned that she’ll be hosting a Saks Dadeland Chanel event at her new condo. Can’t wait to shop there!
I ran into my friend Eric Villafane, who is the store director at De Beers Bal Harbour. He insisted I try on some of the jewels in the glass boxes. I was wearing estate Cartier earrings from Jackie Abraham Jewelers and decided to match them with a two-piece diamond collar. The top part was a little tight for my neck, but I suffered in style as they took a photo of me with my husband Chip, Eric and Edgar Lozano.
Chip and I left just before dessert. That night I dreamt of starbursts, cushion cuts, and carats. For the De Beers party, it really was all about the diamonds, dah’ling.
Until next time, I bid you adieu.
Allison
Allison Weiss Brady handles marketing for celebrities and non-profits. She is active in many organizations in South Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania including Big Brothers Big Sister, The Community Coalition, Voices Against Brain Cancer, Gene Spotlight, The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Foundation, and one of her family’s foundations Say Yes to Education, which recently partnered with Quincy Jones. Weiss Brady and her husband Chip Brady are members of Art Basel’s Junior Host Committee and Weiss Brady is a member of the Vizcaya Preservation Luncheon Founding Committee. She on the Board of Advisors at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice and she’s the only female on the university’s Football Board. Weiss Brady was also the sole recipient of the University of Pennsylvania’s 2008 Young Alumni of the Year Award, and serves on the Overseers board for the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
