On Board

Allen Mask, chief of staff to the CEO and Vice President of product marketing and collaborations at Sonos, is a new member of the board of directors for the Santa Barbara Symphony as it marks its 66th season.

“With an unparalleled education program reaching more than 10,000 students each season, the board plays a key role in realizing these initiatives come to fruition,” says Mask.

“I look forward to working with this amazing group of community leaders in championing this cause.”

Before joining Sonos, Mask led global product marketing at Airbnb.

Hot Item

The late Princess Diana still has the wow factor!

Her Virgin Atlantic sweatshirt, which I wrote about in this illustrious organ last week, sold for a hefty $53,532 at a Boston auction house, ten times the estimated amount.

The top, which Diana used to exercise in regularly at her Chelsea, London, gym, was a gift from Virgin Atlantic tycoon Sir Richard Branson.

Proceeds go to a Malawi charity.

Hold Your Hat

For the 11th consecutive year, I will have the onerous task of judging the torrent of tony tête toppers at the Belmond El Encanto-sponsored match at the Santa Barbara Polo Club on Sunday.

It is to be hoped the mélange of magnificent millinery will be up to past standards as I award prizes for the most colorful, largest, and most creative.

Closing Time

On a personal note, I mark the passing of New York’s Four Seasons restaurant in New York after 60 years of business.

The celebrity hotspot, formerly in the Seagram building on Park Avenue, until moving to its new location last year, was undoubtedly the home of the “power lunch” given all the celebrities and corporate honchos who used to nosh there, particularly in the Pool Room.

I would frequently see my neighbor, Andy Warhol, former colleague Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Henry Kissinger, Jackie O, and fashion designers Valentino and Calvin Klein there, but after a $40 million move to East 49th Street off Fifth Avenue, it lost its lunchtime luster.

The end of an era…

Sightings: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his former supermodel wife Jerry Hall touring Lotusland… Crooner Paul Anka checking out the crowd at Lucky’s… Film score composer Alan Silvestri noshing at Olio e Limone