Dallas’ Iconic Blonde Social Force Brings Style Galore and a Serious Kentucky Hat Game

Editor’s note: With three years of PaperCity BombGirls almost here (November marks that anniversary), we’re looking back at some of the women who’ve given Dallas its style and heart. 

Have I taken on the role of an investigative reporter? I knew it would be hard to find our next Bomb.com girl, so I poured myself a rosé and pondered candidates. I’ve met many Dallas icons and consider the Crystal Charity Ball my local version of Miss Porters. If you want a pedigree with brains, style, and wit, you head to the annual event and meet our finest.

Every town needs one, and we have our own iconic blonde: DeeDee Lee. Hers is the embodiment of coif perfection: never a hair out of place, and never appearing to have spent hours to capture the definition of soigné.

DeeDee and I met on the Rosewood Mansion patio to discuss her Bomb.com girl bonafides. She wore a Victoria Beckham take on a judicial robe — black, voluminous, and effortlessly authoritative. She paired it with her signature pearls (oysters must line up to produce perfect orbs for her swanlike neck), Chanel flap bag and kitten heels, Hermès scarf, and an assortment of Hermès bangles.

Since DeeDee’s a native Kentucky girl, she brought oodles of great pictures of her in fantastic hats and her signature pearls at the Derby. There were also shots from trips to Monte Carlo and holidays with her beautiful family.

Alas, I couldn’t help but break out the biggest grin when I saw the picture we feature here. It’s everything I fondly remember of an era of excess — and DeeDee looks straight out of the cast of an Aaron Spelling television show.

Approximate date of this photo.

Early ’90s.

The occasion.

It was a photo shoot with my friend, photographer Jolie Humphrey. I was hoping to get a photo for my husband Jim’s office. I had just had my long hair cut to shoulder length, so I figured it was time for a new photo.

What you were wearing.

I have absolutely no idea who the designer of this ball gown is. The dress is long gone, probably being used as a costume! I believe the shoes are Oscar de la Renta.

When I bought it, Jim and I were in NYC with our friends Kayla and Brian Roughton. They arranged for a limousine to pick us up and drive us around for the day. We were sipping Champagne, enjoying life, and toasting to our future. We ended up at an outlet mall, where the dress was purchased. I am sure our husbands instructed the driver to go there since we had done some serious shopping in the city the day before.

What price fashion.

I learned in my late twenties to spend as much money as I could afford on accessories. I started collecting Hermès scarves and designer purses, most of which I still have and enjoy wearing today.

Why is this a Bomb.com picture of you.

It reminds me of playing dress-up, which my mother tells me I loved to do at a very young age.