Kappa Tablescapes Celebrates 30 Years With A Two-Day Charity Event at Dallas Country Club

There’s something downright entrepreneurial about a sold-out event where people get dressed up and buy tickets to simply look at beautifully set tables that no one will eat at. The Dallas Alumnae Association of Kappa Kappa Gamma discovered the key to success in 1995 when Barbara Barton and Louise Griffeth created Kappa Tablescapes. Thirty years later, the Dallas Alumnae Association’s sole fundraising event has raised $4.2 million for more than 140 non-profit organizations.

This year’s beneficiaries include Clayton Dabney For Kids With Cancer, ScholarShot, Young Women’s Preparatory Network, Aspire, and West Dallas Community School.

The expansive two-day event took over Dallas Country Club (DCC) from October 14 through 15. In addition to the main events, Tablescapes By Candlelight and the Tablescapes Luncheon, Kappa Tablescapes also introduced a tea and preview party for the first time.

All three events include sips, bites, party dresses, and promenading around DCC to view the elaborately decorated tables by nearly 40 designers that included everyone from Courtney Petit Design and Garden Gate to Lucky Dog Barkery and The Ivy House. I particularly loved the sculptural florals by Bottega de Flores at Catalina Gonzalez Jorba‘s Dondolo table.

For Kappa Tablescape’s tricennial, event co-chairs Frances Cannon Mitchell, Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, and Katherine Helms Sundby brought in Carolina Herrera’s supremely charming Creative Director, Wes Gordon, as the luncheon’s featured speaker. Ann Barbier-Mueller served as honorary chair, with the Honorable Jeanne L. Phillips and Heather Elmore Furniss also being honored at this year’s luncheon.

After viewing the stunning tablescapes, well-dressed and well-coiffed guests took their seats at the luncheon tables, which were elegantly decorated with brightly-colored flowers reminiscent of Carolina Herrera’s signature floral prints.

After lunch, Highland Park Village’s Chief Marketing Officer Victoria Snee, who is also a Kappa Kappa Gamma alumna, led the fireside chat with Gordon. I always joke that a man in fashion needs to do exactly one thing in order to charm his audience of Dallas ladies — tell them they’re pretty! Gordon understood the assignment, telling the adoring crowd that the luncheon was “the most beautiful, colorful, fun one” he’d attended.

Gordon clearly loves the word pretty, too. Calling Carolina Herrera “a house about pretty,” Gordon said, “I like pretty,” “I do pretty,” “the world needs more pretty,” and “pretty is not a bad word.”

Referencing the uncertain state of the world, Gordon said, “The things we can control, we might as well make them beautiful.” On cue, models in pieces from Gordon’s latest collection (seen in Dallas for the first time!) entered the chat, effortlessly floating between tables for guests to see their intricate details up close.

Notable attendees included Lisa Troutt, Barbara Barton, Tavia Hunt, Gracie Hunt, Becky McCamey, Jill Goldberg, Shelby Goff, Debbie Oates, Holly Huffines, Pat Cooper, Betty Sanders, Laura Price, Margaux Merriman Blackwell, Mattie Merriman McGee, and Ellen Benson Merriman.

The house’s color code of pink and red permeated throughout the event and its cohesive branding, including the Carolina Herrera tablescape (my personal favorite) which was a collaboration with Mrs. Alice.

As the event concluded, Gordon invited everyone back to Carolina Herrera at Highland Park Village (which he called “the most beautiful place in the world!”), saying he’d sign their books and force them “to play dress up!”

Twist our arms, Wes. Twist our pretty little arms.