Festive Events on Wing With an Italian Accent

Time to do a fast forward on the Filofax. The Italians are coming. Draw huge exclamation points on Aug. 28--when Roberto Gerometta (who, in the past, has dreamed up fare for Elizabeth Taylor, Prince Charles and Francois Mitterand) will come to Le Meridien for Gourmet Fantastique--and Sept. 22, when Nicola Bulgari (jeweler to the very rich and famous) will host a reception at the Four Seasons hotel.

Gerometta, corporate chef for the Carnation Co., is also captain of the 1988 Culinary Team that will compete in October at the International Culinary Art Exhibition in Frankfurt, West Germany. He will join seven teammates at Le Meridien to cook up a storm for supporters of the Orange County Chapter of the American Cancer Society.

Bulgari is one of the three brothers who manage the House of Bulgari at No. 10 via Condotti in Rome (a stone’s throw from the Spanish Steps.) His appearance will kick off a four-day sale of Bulgari jewelry with 10% of sale proceeds going to the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Moonstruck: Members of the Royal Spanish National Ballet dove for their cameras when they learned that the man who had come backstage to meet them at the Performing Arts Center on Tuesday night was Buzz Aldrin, second man on the moon. Click. Flash. Click. Sometimes it takes folks from far-off countries to remind us that the man who moves humbly in our midst is a hero. But the tables were turned when the ballet troupe buzzed over to Birraporetti’s for their post-opening-night bash. The paparazzi were out and then some. No wonder. The troupe’s faces are some of the handsomest (and their feet some of the lightest) this county has seen. Among guests was Jose Antonio, the company’s artistic director, and Jane Hermann, presentations director for the Metropolitan Opera, who flew from New York for the occasion. Spotted in the opening night crowd at Segerstrom Hall: Renee and Henry Segerstrom, chairman of the Center board.

Coffey break: “This is my social debut,” said Athalie Clarke, arriving at socialite Helen Coffey’s dinner party last Friday in Big Canyon Country Club. Clarke, mother of Joan Irvine Smith, was only half-kidding. She has been recovering from pneumonia and hasn’t been on the circuit in months. But Clarke couldn’t say no to an invitation to honor old friend Jane Ward’s daughter, Marilyn Brant Stuart. Stuart, a Bel-Air resident, was in Newport Beach to drum up support for the Southern California Population Crisis Committee, a nonprofit corporation that works to curb rapid population growth through education. “The world is growing at a rate of 85 million people per year,” Stuart said. “If we don’t pay attention, we won’t survive much longer.” After dining on roast beef, guests enjoyed--what else?--Pears Helene and Coffey. (Make that coffee.) Also on the scene: Dr. Howard House, ontologist to President Reagan and a longtime chum of Clarke’s, and Claire and Nathan Rosenberg.

Dressing for the Grand Old Party: If John Malloy ever decides to pen a chapter on “Convention Dressing” for his blockbuster “How to Dress for Success,” he’d better first have a chat with Kathryn Thompson of South Laguna. The first-time Republican convention delegate has a reputation for always sporting the last word in fashion. And the wardrobe she asked Laguna Beach designer D.N. Evans to whip up for her trip to New Orleans is no exception.

For the governor’s brunch she will attend on Aug. 14 at Antoine’s (like most of Thompson’s select invitations, this one came by phone from Washington) the Dallas-born developer, a porcelain-skinned brunette, will choose from two sets of polished cotton coordinates: a group done up in reversible black and white polka dots and a group that mixes red-and-white dots with red-and-white stripes. The same day, Thompson will attend a Presidential Trust (donors of a minimum $10,000 annually to the GOP) cocktail gala at New Orleans’ posh Gallier Hall and a bash tossed by New Orleans Saints’ owner Tom Benson at the New Orleans Hilton. She’ll select from the same group when she does breakfast at Brennan’s the next morning. Ditto for the First Ladies Luncheon that day and those muggy nights on the convention floor.

But when it comes to gala-going or rubbing elbows at chic dinners such as the one she will attend at Versailles restaurant, Thompson will select from two deliciously impractical creations: one, an ice-pink, bead-studded tunic with matching, drop-waist skirt; the other, a flirty black Thai-silk bubble dress.

Jewelry? Thompson’s jaw-dropping emeralds and diamonds will sit this swirl out. “I’m bringing my ivory elephant pendant,” she said.

As for being a delegate, Thompson said, “It has been fun so far. For example, it has been fun to be called by USA Today and CBS. CBS told me they are compiling a file on people they want to interview. So, I have to anticipate that there might be some television.”

We’ll be watching.