Former Interview editor Bob Colacello celebrated a new auction of “art, photos and memorabilia from the Warhol years” (which were discovered under a bed in his guest room) with 30 friends at the Waverly Inn on Monday.
Items in the Paddle8 auction include a 1974 Robert Mapplethorpe Christmas card, a 1985 Keith Haring party invitation and pictures of John Travolta, Caroline Kennedy, Valentino and Colacello giving a baby a hit from a joint.
“Proof that pot makes people amoral. I do not partake anymore,” Colacello insisted to a crowd including mega-collectors Agnes Gund and Sydie Lansing, Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Nate Berkus and Alexander Gilkes.
Colacello recalled that when he’d take any society grande dame to lunch, Warhol would ask if he’d “popped the question,” meaning, ask the woman if she wanted to commission a portrait.
These days, because of Forbes’ lists, “Now, everyone walks around with a number on their back. Before, it was just like, ‘Oh, Lily Auchincloss has a great apartment!’ ”