Italian Designer Swoops Into River Oaks With Her Two Daughters To Let Houston’s Most Stylish Women Play Dress-Up

No matter our age, aren’t all women little girls at heart. Who doesn’t still love playing dress-up? Just ask the smart clutch who gathered in an elegant River Oaks home recently to romp through Italian designer Luisa Beccaria’s fall/winter 2026 collection.

To introduce the collection to their besties, sisters-in-law Alice Adair and Katie Adair Barnhart and stylist Monica Palandjoglou hosted an intimate dinner party in the plush gardens of Barnhart’s home, a prelude to the following day’s trunk show of the designer’s frothy, feminine looks.

Alas, with airline travel a roll of the dice with the TSA delays, the designer and her two daughters  — Lucilla Bonaccorsi and Luna Bonaccorsi — arrived at the Barnhart home too late for dinner, but just in time for dessert (fashionably late?) and the guests’ playful modeling of the latest looks.

“Unfortunately due to our travel, we couldn’t see much of Houston as a city,” Beccaria tells PaperCity. “We did love the home and neighborhood of our wonderful host. It was incredibly elegant and chic. The women were all warm, stylish, beautiful and curious about our pieces.

“We had the perfect evening weather and tasteful table arrangements for the dinner portion. Our collection matched the decor, setting, and fabulous style of our hosts and their invitees which made for the perfect ambiance.”

Considering the family connections, it was no surprise that Adair Kitchen was tapped to prepare the Italian-inspired dinner consisting of leafy green salad, pan-roasted chicken breast accompanied by angel hair pasta laced with lemon butter sauce and parmesan cheese. With cannolis for dessert. (Alice Adair is married to Nick Adair, who is a co-owner/founder of Adair Kitchen along with his sister Katie Adair Barnhart.)

For a weeknight, this merry throng partied surprisingly late into the evening, schmoozing, shopping the collection, even dancing as they modeled the Luisa Beccaria fashions.

“Houston welcomed us in the most magical way,” Lucilla Bonaccorsi, who heads the design team for ready-to-wear, tells PaperCity.

“The gorgeous private home of Katie Barnhart with a luminous garden perfectly reflected the spirit of Luisa Beccaria. We connected with so many incredible women who fell in love with our creations and naturally became part of our world. We are truly happy to discover such a warm new market, and we look forward to growing these beautiful connections.”

All in the family, Luna Bonaccorsi designed and launched the e-commerce site and continues to manage marketing and online development of the brand.

PC Seen: Fay Walker, Jennifer Ducote, Melissa Barrett, Olivia Persia, Lane Bowden, Caroline Finkelstein, Martine Weitz, Karol Barnhart, Laura Sakowitz Sweeney, Brittany Sakowitz, Suz Negley, Kate Dorn, Whitney Gordon, Mariann Dunwoody, Katie Arnoldy, Lane Bowden, Leslie Masterson, and Savannah Engel.