New York's First Lady Of Philanthropy Jean Shafiroff

Welcomes Us to Her Palatial Home to Tell of Her Passion for Fashion and Good Causes

- Rodolfo Vera Calderon

In the city that never sleeps, keeping one eye forever open to see who’s wearing what, Jean Shafiroff stands out as one of New York’s best-dressed women. Whether turning heads in Oscar de la Renta or Carolina Herrera as she sashays down Fifth Avenue or up the red carpet, the woman named one of the ‘100 Most Powerful New Yorkers’ by Gotham Magazine is also one of Manhattan’s most photographed people. Her glittering parties in her Park Avenue pad, attended by designers, politicos and other notables, are legendary and the dynamic society figure regularly features in New York Post gossip column Page Six and on the covers of the Big Apple’s lifestyle mags. But, as flattering as all that is, what makes Jean proudest is the slew of heartfelt honours she has been awarded by grateful charities.

A leading figure in philanthropy, Jean is a fearsomely effective fundraiser and a commanding presence on New York’s buzzing charity scene. She organises up to eight fundraisers a year in New York and the swish Hamptons, championing women’s issues, children and animals, among others. She attends a further 100 or so galas. It’s a non-stop whirlwind of planning, doing and giving. Jean has Hollywood connections too: in 2011 she held a reception for The King’s Speech Oscar winner Colin Firth when he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, while in 2014 she also hosted a star-studded postscreening party for Pierce Brosnan drama, A Long Way Down.

PARK LIFE