Penthouse Dinner Creates Serious Fashion Waves in Dallas

Hosting a dinner party on a Monday night barely two weeks in to the New Year is, for mere mortals, considered risky business. (Much like the rest of you, I tend to opt for pajamas and Netflix that early in the week.)

Nevertheless, a frigid winter Monday night was no match for those magical minds at Dallas Contemporary and Forty Five Ten.

More than 60 of the city’s brightest art patrons packed in the downtown retailer, first for a cocktail and a spin through the latest women’s collections and then up to the penthouse for dinner at Mirador.

While catching up with friends post-holiday was absolutely the first priority, this dinner had a larger purpose. Formal plans were to be announced for Dallas Contemporary’s new annual gala, this year titled SS19 — as in Spring/Summer 2019, fashion-speak for collections that make their debut during the spring. (Save the date: Friday, April 5, at Dallas Contemporary.)

Chairs Kristen Cole (she of Forty Five Ten fame) and collector Kaleta Blaffer Johnson made the party rounds. This is a formidable duo, I might add, as Cole is well tapped into the worlds of fashion and design — Forty Five Ten opens its anticipated Hudson Yards flagship store in March — and Blaffer Johnson is one of society’s top PYTs.

These ladies have mighty magnetic orbits sure to pull in a formidable mix of gala guests, from low-profile philanthropists to outlandish stylish types, artists, and (fingers crossed) a swell of interesting out-of-towners.

Midway through the appetizer course, Cole took the microphone and made several whopping announcements, revealing the gala’s honorary chairs: Mario Sorrenti, whose exhibition of images featuring Kate Moss from his new tome, Kate (Phaidon, $100), opens that night; Dennis Freedman, founding creative director of W magazine and the creative director of Barneys New York; and Self Service editor in chief, Ezra Petronio, whose magazine’s retrospective also opens at the Contemporary that evening.

But there was more: Rebel artist Juergen Teller will also attend and photographer Yelena Yemchuk plans an interactive photography experience. If that kind of star-power isn’t enough to get the stylish set to sign a $15,000 check for a table, we don’t know what is.