2015 Fashion Stars For A Cause Get Ready To Shine Bight

2015 Fashion Stars For A Cause with event founder Yvonne Crum
photo c/o Danny Campbell

Fashion Starts For A Cause is the annual gala benefitting the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas. Last Thursday at Belk, event founder and Gala Chair Yvonne Crum announced that Toni Munoz Hunt will serve as Honorary Chair for 2015 and she revealed the new crop of women who will lead the charge in 2015 to raise funds and awareness of this worthy cause. They include: Jennifer Fleming, Jamie Fowler, Leah Frazier, Rebecca Hallam, Caroline Harrison, Dr. Naila Malik, Charmaine Marshall, Dawn Mellon, Jessi Moreau, Dawn Neufeld, Melissa Rountree, and Cathy Williamson. The gala will take place March 20 at Dallas Country Club.

One of the tasks of this group is to sell raffle tickets to raise funds. This year's prize is super tasty and fun! The prize is a "Royal Raffle Dinner Party with Chef Darren McGrady". McGrady was the private chef to Princess Diana and her boys for many years and is quite the personality. The winner will receive:

• A four course dinner based on dishes served at Buckingham Palace including food and wine pairing 
• Butler service to prepare your table, greet and serve your guests 
• Autographed copy of "Eating Royally" Top Selling Cookbook for each guest 
• Chef McGrady will join your table, greet and serve your guests 
• Consulting with the Royal Chef on Menu Food purchase, shopping, preparation 
• Tables set up and tear down 
• $5,000 gift card from Belk  

Tickets are $50 each or three for $100 and can be purchased by any Fashion Star or online at http://www.sccenter.org/royaldinner2015.html. The next day, Crum and Hunt appeared on KTXD's The Broadcast with newly announced Fashion Star, Dawn Neufeld, to share how this event started and why this is such an important cause. Click to view the segment:

Dallas Market Center celebrates the 10th Anniversary of FashionCenterDallas

Shirin Askari of Askari

Founded in 1957, Dallas Market Center (DMC) is the world’s most complete wholesale marketplace. Within its marketplace of more than five million square feet, retailers from around the globe source products ranging from home furnishings, gifts, decorative accessories and lighting to textiles, fashion accessories and men's, western, women's and children's apparel.

Every year more than 75,000 buyers visit DMC and place orders with their exhibitors. They represent small specialty stores and major retailers. DMC supports them by showcasing the most complete and highest quality exhibitors from start-ups to legendary names.

I recently teamed up with DMC to celebrate the 10th anniversary of FashionCenterDallas, which is Dallas Market Center’s complete apparel marketplace of more than 575 showrooms and yearly 1,000 temporary booths, merchandised in easy-to-shop neighborhoods.

I helped curate the list of local fashion bloggers and social influencers which included Cathy Williamson for The Middle Page, Heather Anderson for Style by Fluent, Leah Frazier for DFW Style Daily, Samantha Stewart for Style of Sam, and Hilary Kennedy among others.

At the showroom of Brad Hughes we got a preview of what Catharine Maladrino, Finley, and Layfayette 148 are offering for Fall. Next up, the D2 Drysdale Showroom where we viewed the latest trends in denim from Free People and Miss Me. At Indigo, we ran into one of my favorite local designers, Shirin Askari showing her new collection for Askari.

My favorite stop was The Ritz Group mainly because owner Brad Ritz was so charming and passionate about the lines he showed us. His showroom was amazing and we saw a wide variety of beautiful lines including Alice & Trixie, Trace Reese, and Alexander McQueen. Our afternoon ended with a champagne toast and a runway show showcasing the hottest in Fall trends from DMC. Sitting next to Women's Wear Daily writer, Holly Haber, confirmed this was an afternoon well spent in my continuing fashion education.

Fabulous Frocks and Free Bling: The Fashionistas Fall Runway Series 2012

Featured designer, Geoffrey Henning (photo: Thomas Garza)

THE FASHIONISTAS presented their Fall Runway Series featuring designer Geoffrey Henning on November 8 at 129 Leslie. The Fashionistas Runway Series provides a platform for emerging designers to develop and present their unique perspectives in art and fashion.  Henning's designs are the embodiment of style, proportion, and empowerment; bringing together classic femininity with bold design. Chaired by Don Gaiser and presided over by Fashionista founder, Heidi Dillon, this stylish soiree hosted a bevvy of beauties who all turned out in their Fall finery dressed to impress!

The Elisa Project gets a heaping dose of ESTEEM

Rudy Gatlin worked the crowd, while Miss Texas USA Ali Nugent was the epitome of style and grace
Photos courtesy of Joseph Brewster Photography and Design

The 3d annual ESTEEM Fashion Show held at at Saks Fifth Avenue this past Saturday was a celebration of positive body image and self-esteem. Local Dallas celebrities joined girls and women, boys and men, of all ages and sizes, to embrace healthy, balanced lifestyles and self-acceptance to raise funds for The Elisa Project. By helping to increase awareness about eating disorders and the importance of positive body image, ESTEEM encourages people to love themselves while striving to be healthy.

GCB Author Kim Gatlin Gets Bitchy

Kim Gatlin, author of Good Christian Bitches, held a swanky soiree at Winston's Supperclub last night where she signed copies of her book and posed for photos with rapt fans.  In case you've been living under a rock, let me remind you that Darren Star of Sex In The City fame optioned the book in 2010 and turned it into a show for ABC called GCB which aired earlier this year.

All fans could chatter about last night was the recent demise of the ABC show and lament its passing after only one season. Did you know that there is an online petition to save the show and it currently has over 60,000 virtual signatures!? So who knows... maybe ABC will change its mind! Fingers crossed.  Word has it that another network is so impressed with these numbers that they are currently casting for a reality-based rip-off of the show.  What network, you might be wondering??  One that a lot of Housewives watch... Uh huh.

Bri Crum, Kim Gatlin and Alison Volk

Gatlin told me her next book is called Good Christian Bastards, and will be a male version of her first book.  No word as to when we can expect to read it because she's currently shopping around for a publisher. She's already at work on her third tome called Little Bitches which will be a prequel to GCB and take us back to the beginning, when the ladies were in high school. Ironically, GCB star, Kristen Chenoweth was performing at the Winspear Opera House last night, so Kim hightailed it out of Winston's to catch her performance and posted on Facebook today, "If you have to walk 1,000 miles to see her show, it will be worth it. She is an ENTERTAINER in every sense of the word and was amazing!! She has a hilarious bit about how disappointed she is with ABC's decision to cancel GCB!!! She's such an amazing talent and an amazing person! Go see her if she's anywhere close to you!!! You'll be glad you did!!"

Alexandra and Cathy Williamson, Kim Gatlin and Cynthia Smoot

A little bit about Kim: Kim was born and raised in the Park Cities area of Dallas, Texas where she still lives with her two children Austin (21) and Lauren (15). After her divorce from country music legend Rudy Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers in 2006, Kim’s divorce counselor advised her to write “Good Christian Bitches” as an outlet for the traumatized divorcee. The journals were used as the basis for the story in which was eventually turned into a book in October of 2008. As her greatest heartbreaks were caused by a very few women in the neighborhood who were always championing themselves as “good Christian women,” Kim jokingly referred to them one day as "Good Christian Bitches" and a new label was born in addition to a book title.

Photos courtesy of Shana Anderson.  Thanks to Katydid Collections for providing me with this fabulous maxi dress! I will be wearing it all Summer!

DIFFA 2012 Was Smoking Haute

On Saturday, March 31, 2012, more than a thousand socialites, drag queens, fashionistas and charitable do-gooders gathered at the Hilton Anatole for Smoking Haute: DIFFA Collection 2012 - a silent auction including smoking jackets, live auction, dinner, an amazing runway show, theater, after party, spectacle and excitement in a way that only DIFFA can deliver. All benefiting North Texas HIV/AIDS charities.

In 1966 Yves Saint Laurent introduced Le Smoking, a tailored fitted tuxedo jacket for women. A revolutionary idea that brought traditional male tailoring to the feminine form.  DIFFA took this as their inspiration for this year's theme and decided to reinvent this fashion classic in 2012, asking top name designers from around the county interpreting the Smoking Jacket with one-of-a kind couture designs for both men and women.  

(top left) Rene Rouleau and Shona Gilbert (top right) Buster and Cathy Williamson
(bottom left) Hillary and Eric Gilbert  (bottom right) Victoria Snee, Amy Vanderoef and Abi Ferrin

I came of age in the 1980's when HIV/AIDS first hit the mainstream as the "gay disease" that resulted in a painful and certain death.  In the next ten years, we discovered that you could also get the disease from sharing needles and that Mothers could pass it to their unborn children in the womb. The scientific community moved swiftly to discover drugs that would cure, prevent or at least treat the disease. 20+ years later, while no cure exists, we have been successful in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. But with these medical advances comes complacency for a new generation no longer faced with the fear my generation had about this disease.

Clint Bradley, DIFFA Chairman says, "HIV/ADIS is now a top-5 killer within mainstream communities worldwide, the US and especially Dallas. I am greatly alarmed with the bullet-proof misconceptions our youth possess towards the AIDS pandemic today.  DIFFA/Dallas has increased our focus on providing funding for preventative education."  With Federal funding diminishing, fundraising events like DIFFA are critical. 

(top left) LeeAnne Locken and Danielle Vollmar  (top right) Cynthia with Matt Nordgren
(bottom left) Heidi and Bill Dillon  (bottom right) Justin Bundick and Jose Reyes

Co-Chairs, Matt Wilkerson and Darin Kunz kicked off the event, welcoming attendees and introducing the 2012 Style Council.  Every team needs cheerleaders, and each year DIFFA selects a new group of Ambassadors, which include some of our town's most stylish trendsetters and movers-and-shakers.  But, these individuals aren't just pretty faces rah-rah'ing for the event - they are selected for their valued commitment to raising awareness of the fundraiser and money for North Texas AIDS service organizations who provide direct care to those living with HIV and AIDS.

This year's 2012 Style Council included:  Gillian Breidenbach, Anne Stodgehill, Raymund C. King, Bret McKinney, Hillary Gilbert, Jeri Johnson, Tara Harper, Abi Ferrin, Ken Foret, Chuck Steelman, Laura Ginsburg, Amy Vanderoef, Shay Geyer and Alberto Lombardi. 

photos courtesy of Quoc "QC" Cong of XO Photography

After a bland dinner of a breaded chicken breast, green beans and one baby carrot (seriously, for $300 a ticket they need to kick this up a notch next year) the fashion show began.  Produced by Jan Strimple, it was an over-the-top extravaganza of style and pop performance.  Of course, it's just not a DIFFA show without a drag queen show-stopper - and this year held a FABULOUS performance by some of my favorite girls lip-syncing to the Spice Girls. 

After they got the crowd all pumped up, it was time to boogie into the after-party. The DJ started spinning and everyone took to the dance floor. I immediately commanded my entourage, "Shoes off!" and we made a pile of stilettos in the middle of the dance floor, followed promptly by our clutches and other assorted accessories. We then proceeded to dance with wild abandon around the pile like gypsies around a campfire. It was hilarious fun and I can't wait for next year's event!

My dance posse:  LeeAnne Locken, Cynthia, Rene Rouleau and Dawn Neufeld.

Click here to see many more photos 

from this event on Facebook.

About DIFFA:  
The mission of the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) is to raise funds and grant those funds to organizations which fight HIV/AIDS by providing preventative education programs targeted to populations at risk of infection, treatment and direct care services for people living with/impacted by HIV/AIDS and that support public policy initiatives which add resources to private sector funds.

About my ensemble:
Special thanks to Watters for my beautiful gown, Kendra Scott for the beautiful jewelry and to Daniel Lewis at Green Peridot Salon for sculpting my tresses into a sophisticated up-do for the evening. I felt like a Princess!