Mary Ellen Coyne

Mary Ellen Coyne, CEO of J.McLaughlin clothing, is busy these days with 170 stores.

But the fashion powerhouse took time for lunch with dozens of admirers at Club Colette. “I’ll be on the 4:07 JetBlue flight back to New York,” Coyne told the crowd. She was introduced by Quest magazine owner Chris Meigher, who started by telling the overwhelmingly female crowd that it was “a pleasure looking around this room … easy on the eyes.” But one woman barked, “Do you need glasses?”

Meghan Klopp, Mary Ellen Coyne, and Amanda Cummings.
(Photos by CAPEHART)

Grace Meigher, Pauline Pitt, and Annette Tapert Allen.

Meigher recalled that the original J.McLaughlin was in Manhattan on Third Avenue and 76th Street, next to Jim McMullen’s legendary restaurant. As that was sinking in, Meigher proclaimed, “In her previous life, Mary Ellen was a Quest cover girl.”

Among those clapping were Sharon Bush, Wendy Brigham Cox, Callie Baker Holt, Vicky Hunt, Mimi McMakin, Gil Walsh, Lucy Musso, Pauline Baker Pitt, former Mayor of Palm Beach Lesly Smith, whose daughter Dani Moore is the current mayor.

Callie Baker Holt, Elizabeth Meigher, and Lauriston Segerson

Annette Tapert Allen, author of several books about the likes of Slim Keith and Swifty Lazar, looked around the room and said, “You know what’s coming? ‘The Real Housewives of Palm Beach.’” Her tablemates laughed, but started thinking.