What: Grand Gala Ball 2016.
Where: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Caroline Wiess Law Building.
The scoop: One of the largest and most lavish balls of the fall social season celebrated the upcoming blockbuster MFAH exhibition, Degas: A New Vision, with a magical wonderland that evoked the famed Impressionist artist's paintings.
Todd Events honcho Todd Fiscus created an entryway portico decked with rose gold garlands and sparkling chandeliers and transformed the interior space with centerpieces of antique pink roses, crystal candleabras, pave floral columns and projections of Degas' famed balleria paintings.
During the cocktail hour, ballerinas brought the artwork to life amid rose petal-covered pedestals and, later in the evening, posed in large shadowboxes that overlooked the dance floor, near the stage where the The Jordan Kahn Orchestra performed.
More than 450 guests, many dressed in spectacular gowns, dined on lobster salad, pan roasted breast of chicken with cognac and crème fraiche, pumpkin with sage and hazelnuts, and dessert of Ile flottante with crème anglaise prepared by City Kitchen. Lee and Cristina Hudson and Lisa and Ralph Eads provided vintage wines from their private collections for the evening.
Who: Chairs Laurie and Reed Morian. who were elated that the evening brought in more than $1.85 million, MFAH director Gary Tinterow and Christopher Gardner, Rich and Nancy Kinder, Diane Lokey Farb, Phoebe and Bobby Tudor, Barbara and Gerald Hines, Janice and Bob McNair; Cornelia and Meredith Long, Martha Long, Courtney Sarofim, Prince Piotr and Princess Maria-Anna Galitzine, and Lynn Wyatt.
Also spotted in the A-list crowd were Eliza and Stuart Stedman, Sara Paschall Dodd, Nancy and Butch Abendshein, Kathy and Jody McCord, Dancie and Jim Ware, Lucinda and Javier Loya, Holly and Austin Alvis, Vivian Wise and Peter Martino, and Hallie Vanderhider.
Ballerina Emelia Perkins added a touch of Degas to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Grand Gala.
