NYC Club Reception Brings Together Worlds of Fashion, Finance

Posted on Jan. 29, 2008

Fashion designer Alexander Julian ’69 told the New York Carolina Club he remembered a time when UNC basketball was a spiritual experience.

“‘I was in London when I got a call from Dean Smith asking me to design the team’s new uniforms,’ ” Gavin Maxwell ’05 recounted Julian telling the club at an October cocktail reception in his honor.

“‘It was like having God call and ask for new halos.'”

To celebrate Julian’s career and a new store opening on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, host Richard Jenrette ’51 and close to 175 guests enjoyed wine donated by the Biltmore Estate at the George F. Baker House on the corner of Park Avenue and East 93rd Street – Jenrette’s home.

Jenrette, who has been described by The New York Times as “the last gentleman on Wall Street,” has owned and restored a dozen historic houses over the past 40 years and into his retirement through his preservation trust, Classical American Homes.

“This was the first time he’s hosted the event at his own residence,” Maxwell said.

Julian attended the reception at the Baker House with his wife, Meagan, and son, William Alexander Julian, a freshman at UNC. He was given a copy of Jenrette’s book, Adventures with Old Houses, as a parting gift, and, in return, Jenrette was appropriately handed a Carolina blue tie decorated with rams and designed by Southern Proper, a collection of men’s and women’s apparel started by Reagan Hardy ’04. Julian carries the line in his Chapel Hill boutique.

“One is a pillar of the finance industry, one is a pillar of the fashion industry,” Maxwell said about the host and the guest of honor. “New York is a center of the two, so it was a neat pairing in that regard.”

---