Lynn Wyatt was the charming center of attention at La Colombe d'Or on Wednesday as headliner at a tea benefiting the Japan Relief Fund. The afternoon event was chaired by long-time Wyatt friend Reiko Smith and Akemi Saitoh. Reiko was one of few in the room that knew of Lynn's connection to Japan.

Wyatt enchanted the gathering with the story of her first visit to that country — on her honeymoon — sharing that she was in total surprise when she and her husband got into a car at the airport and he began speaking fluent Japanese to the driver. A talent she had not known about her groom. And that was the beginning of a lifelong appreciation of Japan.

After expressing her support for the people of Japan following the March earthquake and tsunami, Lynn turned to what she called "something frivolous, my life in fashion."

Over tea and the proper accompaniments, the ladies and a few gents raised $50,000 which is earmarked for the Red Cross in Japan. Key guests were Peter Kelly of Washington D.C., president of the National Association of Japan America Societies; acting Japanese Consul General Takahiko Watabe; and benefit underwriters Hemant and Indrani Goradia. Among the ladies sipping tea were Danielle Ellis, Nini Ziegler, Denise Bush Bahr, Olga Bush, Barbara LeGrange and Mary Ann McKeithan.

In support of the northeastern region of Japan impacted by the catastrophic events of March, four local Japanese community organizations — Japan-America Society, Japan Business Association, Japanese Association of Greater Houston and the Japanese American Citizens League — have united to form the Japanese Community Coalition of Houston (JCCH). This group is providing financial support to aid in the recovery.

Designs on Naeem

Susan Plank, Millette Sherman and Sarah Simon are over the moon with confirmation that Naeem Khan will be the featured designer at the Nov. 3 Catwalk for a Cure luncheon, which they are chairing. They head-huddled over plans for the event, sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue, with Catwalk for a Cure founder Melissa Amschwand Bellinger and Leigh Williams at Tiny Boxwoods. The luncheon will benefit the Amschwand Sarcoma Cancer Foundation.

This makes the ever-popular Naeem the first designer to make a second appearance at the luncheon. As Leigh, who helps organize the event, reports, "He was introduced to our town's fashionable and philanthropic set five years ago at Catwalk and it's been a match made in heaven ever since."

A taco truck and tequila

That was just part of the fun at Gracie and Bob Cavnar's museum district townhouse Wednesday night when they threw open the doors of their new abode to scores of friends in celebration of Bobby Cavnar's engagement to LSU grad Kristin Zumo. Guests spread across the three floors and onto the fourth-floor rooftop terrace where festival lights added to the party atmosphere.

In typical Gracie fashion, that would mean always beautifully stepping outside of the box, Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen taco truck, No Borders, arrived around 8:30 to lure guests out to the sidewalk, thereby transforming the cocktail party into a lively street scene. But the zany fun didn't stop there. The Cavnars converted their garage into a cantina where many guests partied until close to midnight.

Among the cognoscenti ready to bolt for cooler climes but still in town this week were Phoebe Tudor, Kathryn and Jim Ketelsen, Andrea and former Mayor Bill White, Yvonne and Rufus Cormier, Eileen and George Hricik, Lynda Transier, Kim and Dan Tutcher, Karen and Roland Garcia, Carrin Patman and Jim Derrick, Phyllis Childress and Denise Bush Bahr and Philipp Bahr.

Sight 'ems

Joan Schnitzer-Levy and Irvin Levy of Houston and Dallas celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary over dinner and fine wine in the bar at Tony's. Joining them were Joan's son and daughter-in-law Douglas and Melissa Schnitzer and her grandson Jonathan Schnitzer. At another table in the bar, bon vivant Christopher Phillips celebrated his coming of age, as in qualifying for Medicare, with gal pals Myra Wilson, Suzy Simon and Paula Douglass . . .

Randy Powers and Bill Caudell and friends dining at a packed-to-the-rafters Up Restaurant where Bo Hopson was making the rounds and where his father-in-law, Morton Cohn, found a perch at the bar. At one large table, we spotted Michael Dale, Doreen and Frank Herzog, DeDe and Connie Weil and loads of other notables.