Exclusive Aspen Red Mountain Mansion Party Draws Texas Power Players

When the opportunity arose to ditch the Chanel and Prada and revert to Aspen’s original laid-back fashion mode, the summer crowd, which of course includes a riot of Texans, shed the designer threads in favor of costumes for the “Chic Hoe-Down,” held at the Red Mountain estate of philanthropist Glenn Bucksbaum. The occasion was a celebration of the return to leisure travel, hosted by Exclusive Resorts.

Joining Bucksbaum in hosting the posh crowd were Houston’s Rachel Regan, senior veep of global acquistions for Exclusive Resorts and immediate past president of the Junior League of Houston; Christina Getty, the youngest granddaughter of the late John Paul Getty; Shari Liu Fellows, co-founder of The Grayson Agency; and Brittanie Rockhill, Aspen based broker with Douglas Elliman.

The congenial Bucksbaum, a commercial real estate mogul with San Francisco roots, has been referred to as “Aspen royalty” by admirers, who have seen his good works and enjoyed his legendary hospitality. He is president of The Baum Foundation through which he has worked closely with The Nature Conservancy and The Ocean Conservancy and other conservation groups.

On this evening, he welcomed more than 120 guests sporting enough western hats, boots, denims and suedes to put a rodeo crowd to shame. In high spirits, they toasted the return to travel with fine vintages from Fairchild Wine, tapped their toes to the tunes of The MileMarkers and moseyed over to the Talisker’s Rare Scotch Tasting Bar for samples of refined single malts.

Providing appetizers for the crowd was Aspen’s Martin Oswald, owner of Pyramid Bistro.

The well-heeled Aspen clutch was just the audience for the members-only luxury vacation club which maintains multi-million dollar residences and luxury villas around the world. Interesting note: The majority owner is Steve Case, co-founder of AOL.com.

PC Seen: Mary Kay Cosmetics owner Nancy Rogers, Caribou Club owner Richard Edwards and Shari Applebaum, Houston’s Jana and Scotty Arnoldy, incoming president of the Chief Executives Organization; Dallas society headliners Sunie Solomon, Paige Lane, and Leisa Street; Sarah Calodney of Dallas’ Lauhan Maupin Gallery; Megan Williamson of Dallas; Switch2Pure founder Estela Cockrell and  David Cockrell of Houston; and Houstonians Valerie and Tracy Dieterich, Susan and Dick Hansen, Nancy Mathe, Kristen Cannon, Jennifer Warren, and Beth Zdeblick.