Catherine D. Anspon. Photography Daniel Ortiz. | Photos by Daniel Ortiz
- Posted:
- March 18, 2011
- Event Date:
- November 05, 2010
It’s Raining Men — Hallelujah!
In a town where high society, designer dressing and big philanthropy are ruled by the ladies, how often do the gents get a chance to shine? We know of only one occasion: that rockin’ festival of fashion and fund-raising known as Una Notte in Italia — a consummate blast that places men front and center on a long, long catwalk as wives and other adoring femmes and fans wildly applaud. This seated dinner yields six figures for Family Services of Greater Houston and its myriad of community-based good works each year.
Once again, honorary chairmen and fashion-show producers Debbie and Rudy Festari tapped our town’s top signori to parade the catwalk at InterContinental Houston, while setting records for attendance (600 revelers) and dollars for the cause (a chart-topping $300,000). PaperCity magazine and Cadillac were among the big-hearted sponsors, while jeweler Franco Valobra took a turn as auctioneer, adroitly hammering down luxe lots including a trip to Italy that sold twice, going to John Blaisdell and Stephanie and Bill Perkins. Easy-on-the-eyes chair ladies Joyce Echols and Millette Sherman were ecstatic.
Who Strutted Their Stuff
Strolling — and owning — the runway: physicians Devinder Bhatia and Gabriel Mena; Pershant Mehta (the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Arts of India Gallery is named in his and wife Nidhika’s honor); chair husband Haag Sherman; Stephen McNair; Texans pigskin slinger Matt Schaub and teammate Owen Daniels; dynamic Dynamos players Brian Ching and Michael Chabala; and, in from Paris, Lucas Somoza with his date, MTV’s Olivia Palermo, Tim Connolly, and Jorge Alvarez. More beautiful people: Stephanie and Bill Perkins, Courtney Hopson, Andrew Echols, Neal Hamil, Audi honcho and Fashion Houston’s Jared Lang, Gina Bhatia, Susan and Mike Plank, Elizabeth and Gary Petersen, Melissa and Michael Mithoff, Joella and Steve Mach, Leigh Williams, Dee Dee Guggenheim, Sarah Simon, Diane Lokey Farb, Leslie Bennett, and, stopping by from Germany, Natalie Lefevre.