What: 60th Anniversary of Pakistan’s Independence, celebrated with a reception and fashion show featuring Pakistani modern, Western “fusion,” and bridalwear.

Where: Pakistani Embassy, International Court, NW.

When: Saturday, August 25, 7 PM to 10 PM.

Who: Hosted by the Embassy of Pakistan and the National Geographic Society. The show began with introductions from Pakistani Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani, National Geographic’s Terry Adamson, and Erwin Gomez Salon and Spa’s Sab Shad, who had done the hair and makeup for all 31 models. DJ Amer provided music for the runway—everything from upbeat Bhangra dance music to Justin Timberlake. Fashion designers included Hajra Hayat, Maria B, Uboo Nayna Couture, Tazeen Hasan, Monica Haute-Couture, Zari Boutique.

Attire: The reception preceding the fashion show exhibited a mix of Western cocktail dresses with Pakistani salwarkamiz (pantsuits) and saris in bright embroidered colors. A few guests stood out in faded jeans and button-down shirts, but on the whole it was a suit, tie, or Pakistani-attire night. Mingling among the crowd were embassy officials, designers, members of the Pakistani-American community, and National Geographic employees.

Food: Typical Pakistani fare—the type you might expect at a picnic buffet. Miniature samosas (peas and spiced potatoes stuffed in a buttery turnover crust), miniature shrimp kebabs rubbed with a spicy vindaloo seasoning, chicken kebabs with green bell peppers and onions, tiny egg-salad sandwiches cut into triangles and topped with thinly sliced carrots and onions, and for dessert gulab jamun—small round porus cakes soaked in a sugary-sweet syrup with saffron and served warm. Toward the end of the reception, there was plenty of food but no plates and the wine glasses gave way to plastic cups, but that didn’t seem to bother the guests who were happy taking second or third helpings on their napkins.

Drink: Orange and grape juice, Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite.

Scene: The attire said “formal and fashionable,” but the mood was casual. Pakistani families chatted about whom they had seen lately while sipping on Welch’s grape juice; conversations circulated about the rain shower that had begun just as guests arrived. During the fashion show, the second floor was packed, with many guests standing at the outskirts of the seated audience. Children sat on the laps of parents or grandparents and did their fair share of crying during the two intermissions. As models walked down the runway, audience members cheered at their favorites—most likely someone they knew. The evening ended with an East-meets-West dance performance that made everyone clap along to the music. At the end of the night, guests were handed National Geographic goody bags containing a map of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and copies of National Geographic, National Geographic Kids, National Geographic Traveler, and National Geographic Adventure magazines.

Ratings (out of 5):

Boldface names: 2
Swankiness: 3
Food and drink: 3
Exclusivity: 3
Total score: 14 out of 20

Look below for a photo slideshow of the event. 

To the very end, the relationship between the Washington Post newspaper and Bonneville International radio was mired in misunderstanding and dysfunction.

Which helps explain why the Post’s golden opportunity to expand its brand and its reporting to radio has failed.

Responding to today’s Post story that said WTWP “would go off the air next month,” Bonneville senior vice president Joel Oxley sent a note to his staff noting “a couple of problems” in the article. For one, Bonneville’s three stations “are not going off the air.”

Oxley wrote: “There’s more speculation than fact out there right now. We will be broadcasting talk, news, and play-by-play sports round the clock on the stations.

“The Post had a number of things wrong,” Oxley continued. “Like the frequencies of our radio stations. Stay tuned. Facts to come as details become official.”

News leaked yesterday that WTWP would go off the air next month. The Washingtonian had reported in its August issue that the station’s demise was imminent. Bonneville and the Post are midway through a three-year deal, in which the radio company paid the newspaper to lend its name to the radio station and provide content in the form of its reporters going on air to talk about the news.

How did the paper blow its chance to become a radio power in the Washington region?

Photograph by Matthew Worden

Sommer Mathis last year became the first paid editor of DCist.com, one of the area’s leading blogs, which covers life in and around Washington. A native of Arizona, Mathis moved to DC’s Shaw neighborhood after a variety of jobs in Los Angeles. As a member of the unpaid DCist writing staff, she covered arts events before starting full-time at the blog, which is owned by Gothamist, a New York–based blogging company.

Annie Lee and Garrett Bauman would pitch their Ted Lapidus vintage sunglasses to customers by reminding them that celebrity socialite Nicole Richie sports the same shades. So they saw the incredible irony when Richie and fiance Joel Madden of Good Charlotte, stopped by their Georgetown vintage shop, Annie Creamcheese, last week. The purchase of the day? A $275 pair of brown-tinted Ted Lapidus sunglasses.

Madden, who had visited the high-end vintage shop on M Street twice before, decided to bring with his newly pregnant fiancée while in town for a concert at the Clarendon Ballroom. In addition to the sunglasses, Richie also took home a $199 off-white, Courreges scarf.

The couple were “very down-to-earth,” said Lee who pitched the store’s accessories to Richie. Richie, Bauman explained, “wasn’t in the mood to look at dresses because her body is changing,” but she was drawn to the accessories. Madden meanwhile bought a “grandpa-like cardigan sweater,” along with a small fedora hat and a few t-shirts, but nothing brand name.

After 20 minutes in the store, a photograph with shoppers and a promise by Richie to visit Lee and Bauman’s new store location in Las Vegas, the couple made their way out the door.

This isn’t the first time a fashionista or a celebrity has stopped by the store. Recently, Camila Al-Fayed, sister to one-time Princess Di beau Dodi Al-Fayed, spent $5,000 at the store and MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson stopped in to pick up some duds for a '70s-themed party he was attending. Fashion designers Tory Burch and Nannette Lepore are also customers. 

 
 

When Washington Post editors asked reporter Jo Becker to look into how Vice President Dick Cheney exercised his secret power, much of it beyond public view, they figured she’d be a Postie for the long run. They paired her with investigative reporter Bart Gellman. The two produced a series that unveiled Cheney’s behind-the-scenes role as perhaps the most influential vice president in history.

But between reporting the series over the past year and seeing it published in June, Becker jumped to the New York Times, where she joined her husband, Serge Kovaleski, who made the switch last year. Becker finished the story and left the Post at the end of May. It took the Post a month to publish the story.

Becker’s byline appeared on the front page of both the Post and the Times on June 25, making her perhaps the first reporter to accomplish such a feat.

But what happens if the Post’s Cheney series wins a Pulitzer? Talk about an awkward moment. Will the Post fly her in for the blessed moment? Will she explain why talented reporters keep going off to other papers?

As Washington Post Radio often says: “There’s always more to the story.”

What it won’t say is why the Post’s attempt to expand its brand to the airwaves seems to be failing. Word around the Post newsroom is that listener ratings are so low that the newspaper will close down its radio operation this fall at the end of the Washington Nationals baseball season.

Post Watch could not confirm the rumors.

“No hard decisions have been made yet,” says Jim Farley, head of news and programming for Washington Post Radio and sibling station WTOP. Both are owned by Bonneville International, which is calling for a new format. “The two parties are talking and looking to making changes to boost ratings momentum and therefore revenues.”

Translation: Post Radio is hemorrhaging money; Bonneville has to stop the bleeding or kill the experiment with the Post.

Which would be a shame. WTWP, at 1500 AM and 107.7 FM, often entertains and informs. It falls somewhere between news bites on WTOP and long-form radio journalism on NPR.

Sports editor Emilio Garcia-Ruiz is fun to listen to in the early morning. Political analyst Dana Milbank has a gift for wry insights, interrupted by the occasional wailing from one of his toddlers. Gossip Roxanne Roberts surveys the social scene with wit and sarcasm. Howie Kurtz is reliably sharp on media and politics. The weekly segment on entertaining and home design by Jura Koncius and Annie Groer is good enough to be syndicated.

But the fact is that the only thing that brought throngs of ears to 1500 AM was Tony Kornheiser’s morning gab fest about sports, music, or whatever he fancied. Tony left last month for vacation and then Monday Night Football, and Post Radio ratings tanked.

Bonneville hoped that Post reporters could provide scintillating radio commentary, which is why the radio company decided to pay the Post to provide content. But most Post reporters couldn’t perform. They might be good reporters, but many lack the gift of gab. In other words, they can be boring.

The few who can tell good radio stories are all over NPR and MSNBC, so Post Radio doesn’t seem special.

Chalk up the failure to bad management. Post editors declined to train reporters and were miserly in paying them.

Bonneville has been forced to cut staff. Talent is moving on. Sam Litzinger, a radio pro who hosted the Post’s midday program, left for CBS radio.

Bonneville wants to quit trying to turn reporters into radio commentators and fill Post Radio with syndicated shows, like ones hosted by Glenn Beck or Neal Boortz. The Post is resisting.

Bonneville and the Post have less than two years left on their three-year contract. They would have to agree to kill the radio station.

It’s more likely the station will wither away, with Post reporters giving way to professional talkers. If there’s “more to the story,” we might have to find it elsewhere.