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Colin Cowie's Greatest Hits

By Oprah Winfrey
Oprah and Colin Cowie at the Legends Ball
Here's what's great about working with Colin—he can take any idea you have and turn it into something fabulous. For the party I gave in honor of Sidney Poitier, I said to Colin, "I want Sidney to know how much I love him. I think it's a shame people get the most roses after they're gone." So Colin called the party "To Sidney with Love"—a takeoff on his movie To Sir, with Love—and the entire room was like a burgundy velvet and silver silk valentine to Sidney. And from there, ideas flowed—each table was named after a Sidney movie.

The Legends weekend took a year's collaborative energy. I wanted a limousine to bring each Legend to the house, but Colin's idea of having them come two to a car created a great spirit of camaraderie. And the best idea yet was putting together a CD of all the most popular songs from each musical Legend to play in the cars as they rode.

But as with every party, I pay attention to every detail I can think of, and then I release it to a Higher Power so that it all becomes more than we could have imagined. I always remain pure to the intention, so when people cancel at the last minute and the whole seating plan goes down like dominoes, or people who didn't respect the meaning of RSVP show up unannounced…it's all okay. Every party has its own rhythm. You've got to create an environment for that rhythm to rise.

See Colin hit the right notes at some of his best bashes.

 


 

Credit: Photo by George Burns