A Friend To Firefighters, This Houston Best Dressed Champagne Cowgirl Has Always Been Fearless — Elizabeth Stein Goes From Hitchhiking To Gala Glamour
The City's Most Stylish Difference Makers
BY Shelby Hodge //
Elizabeth & Alan Stein at the 40th anniversary American Heart Association Heart Ball. (Photo by Daniel Ortiz)
The Philanthropy in Fashion Houston Best Dressed honorees represent a cross section of backgrounds, interests and ages with two unifying characteristics. Each has an altruistic interest in contributing to the Bayou City and each has a defining style. The philanthropic femmes will be saluted this Wednesday, September 17 at a Post Oak Hotel luncheon benefiting March of Dimes.
In this new PaperCity series, we are profiling each of the 2025 Houston Best Dressed honorees leading up to the PaperCity Philanthropy in Fashion Houston Best Dressed Luncheon. Next up: Best Dressed first-timer Elizabeth Stein.
Red Hot Love
Case in point is the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association Charitable Foundation. After co-chairing the inaugural “Red Hot” gala in 2018 with her husband, Cyndy Garza Roberts and Thomas Roberts, Elizabeth and Alan Stein signed on for the popular fundraiser for the coming years, having helmed the gala through 2024 and with plans to lead the charge this fall. Last year’s gala raised $850,000 for equipment, training and support for Houston firefighters.
Firefighters are just one among the causes that this first-time Houston Best Dressed honoree celebrates. She is committed to VICTORY Houston and has chaired the Cattle Baron’s Ball; Houston Ballet, having co-chaired two Ballet Bravo balls, served on the Houston Ballet Board and chaired the Nutcracker Market; One Hundred Shares; Citizens for Animal Protection; Camp for All; Mission of Yahweh; and Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo for which she is a member of the Champagne Cowgirls.
The Houston Style Survey
Favorite designers: Carolina Herrera, ME+EM
Style icon: “Laura Elizabeth Eskew-Downs. She owned a beautiful boutique back in the day — Laura Elizabeth’s, outside of Alexandria, Louisiana — on family land filled with pecan trees and grazing cattle. She is still alive at 103. She is a dear friend of my mother, who is 93. They both have a great sense of style.”
Your go-to outfit: Black dress by Sea, New York and a pair of Chanel flats
Fragrance: Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, Tiffany & Co. Love Eau de Parfum
Books on your coffee table: The Book of Unusual Knowledge, The Alchemy of the Senses by Jean-Charles Boisset, and Assouline books on Paris, London and New York.
Travel destination that inspires: Morocco
Favorite hotel in the world: Park Hotel Vitznau, Switzerland
Bonus Question
Something most people do not know about you? “I enjoyed hitchhiking as a girl. It was the 1960s,” Elizabeth Stein notes. In Shreveport, Louisiana.
Tickets for the PaperCity Philanthropy in Fashion Houston Best Dressed Luncheon and Neiman Marcus Fashion Presentation benefiting March of Dimes are available here.
