Now that Valentino has retired from the fashion house he founded, he's spending more and more time in New York. The city that never sleeps seems to be agreeing with the legendary designer, who is exhibiting a stamina that much younger party boys would envy. In the past ten days we're seen him at the New York City Ballet gala; at designer Adam Lippes' apartment for writer Bob Colacello's 61st birthday party; and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Insitute gala with Claudia Schiffer on his arm. Tonight, socialite-turned-actress Alison Sarofim will host a fete celebrating Valentino's 76th birthday party at her West Village townhouse.

Aside from the social scene, it may be the designer's new Jacques Grange-designed apartment that has made the Big Apple so alluring to Val. Unlike his more over-the-top residences in Capri, Rome, Gstaad and London (not to mention his Louis XIII-era chateau outside Paris) his Manhattan apartment is much more understated, according to Grange.  "He wanted it to be more modern and light. He wanted a change," Grange told me recently. One
impetus for the shift is Valentino's extensive collection of contemporary and modern art, for which he wanted a more neutral background. 

For the first salon, about 40 of the founders' friends and co-workers (who each donated $50 to Healthy Child, Healthy World) gathered at trendy West Village restaurant Bobo. They sipped tea and noshed on vegan brownies while guest speaker Anna Getty, the oil heiress turned eco-guru, shared her tips about going green, including using her shoe bags for schlepping produce from the grocery store and watering her herb garden with excess shower water.

The next Clovernook meeting will be sometime this summer, and plans are in the works for events that may even include members of the less-fair sex. Despite the society's country club-sounding name, according to Ilyinsky, there are "no membership requirements for joining other than a willingness to give back in a charitable capacity and an eagerness to meet other likeminded women." Email info@theclovernooksociety.com to join their e-mail list.

Above: Anna Getty, Laura Remington Platt.

Below: Vegan brownies and cupcakes at a Clovernook Society meeting. 

Kloe, left, and Justin

Until recently, ASmallWorld.net seemed to have the "exclusive" (a.k.a. invite-only) social networking category locked up. But in New York at least, a new contender is gaining traction.

The signature feature of APrivateClub.com, a social networking website aimed at elite New York City twentysomethings, is its feature allowing members to recommend favorite local haunts—restaurants, bars, spas, etc.—and rank them on a scale of 1 to 10. Most of the members are pals of the site's young founders, Kloe Korby and Justin Belmont. The idea is that the best answer to the inevitable "where to go tonight?" question comes from friends—and friends of friends.  "If you can see the profile of a person behind a recommendation, and see who they're friends with and what their interests are, you can quickly find a place that's right for you," says Belmont, a Manhattan native whose friendship with Korby dates to their years at the Trinity School. The club also holds member events, like a recent benefit for the New Museum held at the penthouse suite at the Hotel on Rivington, and, this past February a book party for Tom Dolby's preppy tome The Sixth Form.

Currently the club has only 600 members. Good luck getting in, however: not all members even have invite privileges.

If college basketball pools aren't your thing, it's not too late to follow a competition with far more flattering uniforms at socialiteslapdown.com. The site, a spinoff of the New York Observer website, has divided 64 of Manhattan's most prominent partygoing gals and guys about town into four brackets, Brains, Beauty, Birth and Brio. Those who care have been logging on to vote for their favorite socials since March 26. Today marks the "Final Four" round, in which Vogue contributing editor Lauren Davis is pitted against Peter Davis and writer Derek Blasberg is head-to-head with heiress Lydia Hearst (who beat out big sis Gillian Hearst-Shaw in the last round).

The final round will be held tomorrow, April 8. The best bracket predictor will win a Gevril watch, while the runner-up will receive a "Socialite Beauty Package" from the John Barrett Salon—presumably to counteract the effect of two weeks of brain-straining. 

Last weekend, socialite Mercedes Bass lived out a lifelong dream, appearing onstage as an extra in the famous café scene of La Boheme, which opened at the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday night. From her box, cheering her on, were friends Barbara Walters, Jayne Wrightsman and Henry Kissinger. And although Bass (attired in full period costume, complete with wig and bonnet) did not sing a note, a source assures us that she "stole the show."

Bass's more typical role at the Met is that of its benefactor: in 2006 she and her husband, Sid Bass, donated $25 million to the Met, the largest gift in the opera's history.

Bass photo by Steve Eichner

When Lamborghini invited me to check out their latest car at New York International Auto Show, I couldn't resist. Not being much of a car aficionado, I was more curious about the show itself. What goes on at these things?

First of all, the show—at the Javits Center—was massive. (I trekked around for nearly half an hour before finding the area with the top-tier wheels.) As you might also expect, most of the attendees are men. And yes, most of the manufacturers had hired models to show off their new cars. At the Toyota booth, the girls were all-American curvaceous blondes in pencil skirts. At Kia, it was sexy mom-types.

At Lamborghini I had espresso with the company's dashing CEO, Stephan Winkelmann. We kicked back in a sleek black structure they had built to resemble a mini-nightclub; to one side uniformed chefs sliced ham and proffered smoked salmon sandwiches. It wasn't easy to talk, however, as the Pontiac booth next door was hosting a very loud performance from the rock band Young Lords. The din had Stephan rolling his eyes—his public relations rep explained to me that they always seem to get assigned the loudest spots at trade shows. But Lamborghini got its turn in the limelight when, at 2:40 p.m., they unveiled the 2009 Gallardo LP560-4. Models clad in skin-tight, champagne colored dresses posed around the car (priced at $198,000) and greeted press. As the PR representative whispered to me, "We try to pick ones that look Italian."

Vostu co-founders Mario Schlosser and Daniel Kafie

Everyone who's anyone has a Facebook or Myspace page these days—and those aspiring to be a someone usually log in to a members-only online network as well, like A Small World or A Private Club. Now Latin American socials will be able to customize their own online social fix, with a new website called Vostu.

The site, which officially launched last week, was founded last May by Daniel Kafie, 25, a recent Harvard grad, with a pioneering network of of 50,000 members (primarily university students and twenty-somethings from Argentina and Mexico). Daniel, who hails from Honduras, is a particularly gregarious friend of mine from college. He's the kind of person who seems to know everybody—his circles ran the gamut from his Harvard Business School cohorts to seemingly every Latin American expat living in Boston.

Vostu members are encouraged to create private "spheres," or mini-networks for themselves and their friends, where they can share photos, inside jokes, and "besos" (or kisses, a sweeter version of the Facebook "poke"). Nightlife is a focus: Buenos Aires' hotspot Jet accepts bottle reservations through a Vostu network, and Argentine partiers can head to gossip page "Rumercito," to anonymously dissect scandals from the night before.

EMI Music Spain president Manolo Diaz and hotelier Ernesto Arguello were among those at Vostu's official launch party in Miami last weekend. The buzz was so hot, apparently, that at the eleventh hour uber-exclusive Mynt Lounge volunteered to host an after-party for Daniel and his pals.