Like mother, like daughter?
Dress for Dinner Fashion Gene Awards keeps it all in the family with dazzlingrunway show
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- The Fashion Gene honorees pose for a group photo.Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
- Photo by Roswitha Vogler/Photosbyrovo.com
It’s no secret Houstonians love food, fashion and a good cause, so combine all three and you have a can’t miss event. Gracie Cavnar, founder of Recipe for Success Foundation, teamed up with Tootsies for a fashion show featuring some of Houston’s most dynamic mother/daughter duos at the first annual Dress for Dinner Fashion Gene Awards.
Kudos to Tootsies for continuing to craft sophisticated yet relaxed fashion events that play on Houston’s affinity for expression (read applause and whoops) from the audience.
“We chose them by secret cabal," Cavnar says. “Really we chose this group by how stylish they are, and it has nothing to do with what’s in their closet.”
The feel-good evening honored some of the city’s most vibrant and community-minded women including Susie and Annie Criner, Chris LaFollette and Lauren Morris, Mary and Kelli Kickerillo, Nancy and Lauren Levicki, Karen and Katy Mayell, Judy and Jessica Nyquist, Roz and Crystin Pactor, Lauren and Evan Rottet, Vicki Rizzo and Mauri Oliver, Candice and Caroline Schiller and Anita and Joy Smith.
“We chose them by secret cabal,” Cavnar says of the group. “Really we chose this group by how stylish they are, and it has nothing to do with what’s in their closet.”
Fashion Gene chairs Yvonne Cormier and Claire Cormier Thielke helmed the awards while CultureMap editor-in-chief Clifford Pugh, who emceed the show, instructed guests how to say Lanvin (Texas style) or Lanvaaa (the French version).
He also shared tidbits about the honorees like Susan Criner, whose closet is dubbed the “Ladies Lounge” because that’s where her two cats prefer to luxuriate while she dresses every morning and Judy Nyquist, who teaches daughter Jessica the importance of a proper manicure and never sporting chipped polish.
The crowd was full of gorgeous types who would never leave the house without a pretty mani and included Divya Brown, Leisa Holland-Nelson, Mary Nichols, Toni Whitaker, Laura Spalding and Jeff Shell. Among the husbands on hand to cheer on their spouses on the runway were Vincent Kickerillo, Sanford Criner, Alan Pactor, Lonnie Schiller, Rufus Cormier and Kelli Kickerillo's husband, Todd Forester.
The next Dress for Dinner event is June 20 at Neiman Marcus for "Spring into Summer with special guest Ken Downing" fashion show and dinner at Mariposa. Tickets are $50 for the fashion show and reception, and $300 for Dinner with Neiman’s Creative Director Ken Downing. One hundred percent of the ticket sales benefit Recipe for Success.