Sarah Palin -- that lover of regular guys and hater of "elites" (hell, she even bashed Poppy and Bar Bush as "blue bloods") -- is having a regular gal's down-home weekend in Kentucky:
Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin will attend a fundraiser Sunday for the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington.
Palin and her husband, Todd Palin, will be guests of socialite and museum supporter Marylou Whitney and her husband, John Hendrickson, at the annual Brunch and Bibelots party.
The $150-a-seat event is held the day after the Kentucky Derby each year....
The Palins have attended equestrian events with Whitney and Hendrickson in the past, notably the Belmont Stakes. According to a 2010 Capitol Confidential report, Hendrickson knows Sarah Palin from when he lived in Alaska in the 1990s....
Whitney, who has homes in Lexington and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., has been a prominent supporter of The Headley-Whitney Museum, which her family helped found....
Here's some information about the museum:
George Headley had the money and talent to create his own little world of art. He did it with jewelry and curios he designed for the rich and famous, and with the gem he left Lexington, the Headley-Whitney Museum.But surely he wore work boots with the fur coat -- right? Otherwise salt-of-the-earth Sarah would never attend this soiree -- right?
The designer, collector and socialite died in 1985....
George Headley studied art in New York and Paris before going to work for Paul Flato, the first celebrity jeweler in Beverly Hills. Headley then set up his own boutique in the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, designing jewelry for movie stars.
In 1949, Headley moved back to the family farm on Old Frankfort Pike. He lived at La Belle, a house designed by the noted local architect Warfield Gratz and built in 1936. Headley married Barbara Whitney, a sister of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney.
Headley continued designing jewelry and bibelots, small curios made of gems and precious metals with intricate craftsmanship. Dozens of bibelots became the core of Headley's personal collection, and in 1968 he built a "jewel room" and library of art books beside his house.
He then opened his collection as the Headley-Whitney, adding a museum building in 1978....
In addition to being an artist and designer, Headley was quite a character, famous for his personal style, gregarious personality and lavish parties....
"His robe was a fur coat," [museum board chair Linda Roach] recalled....
