Outrageous Cosplay, Sexy Skeletons and Dead Icons Make For Houston’s Wildest Art Party Yet: Inside the Orange Show’s Crazy Gala

What: Orange Show Gala, 37th Annual Edition

Where: Crowne Plaza NRG Hotel

PC Moment: Some 400 revelers attired in their Day of the Dead finery — think Frida Kahlos and skeletons aplenty — came together and valiantly partied on in one of the most creative renditions ever of the Orange Show Gala.

Themed Ofrendas y Flores and capably chaired by the fierce and fun foursome of Tracy and Glen Larner and Misty and Surena Matin, the evening was spook-tacular in every way. It featured a seated dinner whose finale was a unearthly chocolate concoction that bowed to Halloween, followed by high-voltage dancing to the Celebrity All Star Band enacting a tribute to Earth Wind and Fire.

The highlight at this clever costume party though was provided by the guests — who went all out with elaborate ensembles, Dia de los Muertos masks and face painting, to render themselves nearly incognito.

The cocktail hour and silent auction viewing — stocked with collectible works by Texas legends such as the late Bert Long Jr. as well as living notables including Susan Budge, Dandee Warhol, and David Lackey — was an occasion for a grand promenade of caped crusaders, winsome ghouls, and other imaginatively scary looks.

This is one evening, thank goodness, where an early dinner bell does not intrude upon the mingling — Orange Show always allows a generous nearly two hours of toasting and bidding before sitting down to tables approaching the nine o’clock hour.

The successful bottom line —more than $400,000 — funds some of Houston’s most memorable art traditions and institutions, including the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and its neighboring Smither Park; The Beer Can House; and the annual rite of spring, Art Car Parade. (Save the date: Saturday, April 13, 2019, for the 32nd edition of the world’s largest Art Car Parade.)

Ghosts, Goblins, and Ghouls: Orange Show founder and chairman emeritus of the board Marilyn Oshman; board prez Sue Payne with a group of bewigged Orangettes; dashing Don Mafrige Jr. caped, masked, and channeling Dracula and Zoro; gallerists including Laura Rathe, Franny Koelsch Jeffries, Dan Allison, Cressandra Thibodeaux, Heidi Vaughan, María Inés Sicardi, Sharon Lott Graham, Deborah Colton, Gus Kopriva, and soon-to-reopen Nancy Littlejohn; Menil director Rebecca Rabinow, preparing for her own big day with the imminent unveiling of the Menil Drawing Institute; Cartier Houston store director Kari Gonzales and husband John Dagley; a bevy of artists including Sharon Kopriva, designer of the collectible artwork that adorned the gala invitations;and auction chairs Star and Jack Massing, sporting dramatic air-brushed faces that made them among the most striking couples of this fabulous fall fête.