Design Paradise — The Cinematic Kips Bay President’s Dinner Dallas

Sometimes I’m invited to an event that feels downright cinematic — as if Wong Kar-wai or Baz Luhrmann (who, BTW, once produced the Met Gala) conspired with the party planner to create an evening meant to be viewed on a massive screen. The recent Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas President’s Dinner, produced by Todd Fiscus and Todd Events, was all that and more, staged in a glamorous tented scene on the grounds of the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.

As I dressed for the evening, I queued up Sade’s “Paradise” on my closet playlist. (Hopefully, you all have soundtracks in your wardrobe arsenal to put you in the #mood.) I had recently been on a group text with a crew I knew was pulling out heavy-hitter slinky numbers for the night — Kara Goss, Piper Wyatt, Zoe Bonnette, and Janet Gridley. Pre-launch cocktails were planned for designer Doniphan Moore’s studio, co-hosted by Tanner Moussa. As we sipped, in breezed designer Michelle Nussbaumer, wearing a flowing frock that seemed inspired by Sade’s mellifluous tune.

In case you need a primer, the original Kips Bay Decorator Show House was launched in NYC’s Upper East Side in 1973 by dedicated supporters of Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. Over the decades, the annual fundraiser has become a must-see for designers and design enthusiasts. Given that Dallas has plenty of both, the charity launched a show house in Dallas for the first time in 2020, with a portion of proceeds earmarked for local charities: Dwell with Dignity and The Crystal Charity Ball. The President’s Dinner originated in New York City to celebrate that city’s show house and was introduced to Dallas in 2022.

Given that this year’s show house was located across the street from the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, the evening began with cocktails and a preview of the dazzling show house rooms. Afterwards, the group was shuttled via golf carts to the Mansion’s tented lawn.

The space was buzzing when we arrived. The first swan I encountered was a ravishing blonde in Oscar de la Renta — Cornelia Guest. After a rapid-fire catch-up on topics that included Hollywood, animal rescues, and, of course, the show house, I went in search of a cocktail at the bar perfectly positioned with DJ RomiQ in the center, spinning tunes. Other notable looks included Laura Lee Clark Falconer in a short white dress fringed with white plumage. Lloyd Princeton was channeling his best Palm Royale self in a white dinner jacket and Lance Scott was in evening shorts as was I.

For the dinner, rounds and banquettes were positioned for lounge-like seating. I found myself somewhat in the center of the hive, along with Christy Berry, Pat McEvoy, and a designer from this year’s Kips Bay, Trish Sheats. Dinner was a delish variety of courses created by Carbone Dallas. It truly felt like a more polite era sans cell phones and social media, as if Lee Radziwill might appear at any moment in opera-length gloves and a Balmain gown.

The design industry’s elite raised more than $400,000 that night to fund essential after-school programs to more than 11,000 young people at 10 locations throughout the Bronx. Of course, all were excited to see the dinner’s co-chairs — Claire Emanuelson (in a va-va-voom leopard Oscar de la Renta cocktail dress), Jan Showers, and Shelby Wagner — on stage with exciting show house updates, as well as Nazira Handal, Kips Bay director of special events and corporate sponsorships and the heart of the show house; Dan Quintero, executive director of Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club; this year’s honoree, Chad Dorsey; and Vipin Nambiar, the owner of this year’s show house and wife Andrea. 

Other design royalty that evening included dinner vice chairs Tucker Enthoven, Kelli Ford, Jean Liu and Javier Burkle; as well as Ann and David Sutherland, Mark Sikes, Bryan and Mike Yates, Charlotte Carr, Tiffany and Darren Woodson, Meredith and Hunter Ellis, Peter Touma, Pam Marshall, Beth Holman, Chappell Loudermilk, Zeke Jordan, Jennifer Klos, Chesie Breen, Noel Pittman, Eddie Maestri, Courtnay Tartt Elias, John Amato, CeCe Barfield Thompson,  Kim Scodro, Lloyd Princeton, Sam Reitmayer Sano, Joslyn Taylor, and two from a Texas Design Week Dallas panel I was moderating the next day, Darren Henault and Jonathan Savage.