Home Sweet Home.(on Claire Bernard)

Byline: EDITOR: ALEXANDRA KOTUR

William Norwich trails Claire Bernard in a momentary respite from efforts both altruistic and academic around the globe.

Not all days are created equal. Some are way more auspicious. So when the young philanthropist Claire Bernard woke up and the sun was pouring in like honey at her Chelsea penthouse--a suite of white rooms punctuated with Biedermeier furniture and L'Olivier roses--she took it as a good omen. Tonight she was spearheading the American Museum of Natural History's Winter Dance (Talking Fashion, page 122), one of the most popular parties for the under-35 set. (So popular, Claire had been asked to ring the New York Stock Exchange's Closing Bell the Friday before.) Because Roberto Cavalli sponsored the event, one thing she didn't have to worry about was what to wear--Claire and cochairs Fabiola Beracasa, Amanda Hearst, Tinsley Mortimer, and Arden Wohl would all be in the designer.

"This is where the magic doesn't happen." Claire laughed, taking her to-do list from her desk. "At least not today."

By all accounts, she should be writing every minute of every day, she said. Last spring, Claire completed classes at Columbia University's School of the Arts Writing Division, but for her to actually receive her MFA, there is the pressing matter of a thesis--a work of about 180 pages of fiction, poetry, or, as she has chosen, nonfiction. She is writing about her travels to and volunteer work in places such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, India, and, closer to home, New Orleans. It is her memoir about "searching for hope," she explained, by interviewing international relief and rescue organizations. This includes the International Rescue Committee (IRC)'s health committee, which Claire visited with family friend Susan Patricof last July in the Congo. At noon today, she was off to the IRC Children's Unit's tenth annual fund-raising luncheon at the Metropolitan Club. Very twenty-first-century Mrs. Astor, Claire wore a subversive, ladylike, below-the-knee Vivienne Westwood black jersey dress and black Louboutin pumps.

Next stop: the Natural History museum. Heading upstairs to the executive offices to go over some last details for the party (more than 700 guests were expected), Claire bumped into her father, the financier Lewis W. Bernard, who, as it happens, is the chairman of the museum's board of trustees.

"Everyone here is very excited about the gala tonight," Mr. Bernard told his daughter.