Used or Not, Gowns Move Quickly at La Jolla Sale
The adage “clothes make the woman” would have gone unchallenged among the crowd that gathered Friday in the fashionable Whaling Bar at La Valencia Hotel. Several dozen women--none of them Second-Hand Roses, to be sure--and their spouses gathered to inspect a superlative selection of slightly used ball gowns assembled by the committee of the upcoming summer classic, “A Night in Monte Carlo.” The 1987 version of this consummately stylish ball, always given at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art for benefit of same, will be Aug. 15.
There was something a bit unusual about the 15 gowns: All had been donated by noted local fashion plates and all were on sale (“as is”) for the set price of $200. No haggling, no outbidding the competition. All but one had originally been purchased for more than $2,000, and none had been worn more than once.
The rules of the evening warned that all sales were final, and that dresses might not be tried before purchase, but that did little to inhibit the spirited buying that began the moment the first model waltzed into the room. The collection of Chloe, Scaasi, Galanos, Trigere and Adolfo gowns were snapped up by women who knew a bargain when they saw one. The proceeds will help to underwrite “A Night in Monte Carlo.”
Emmy Cote, the 1986 Monte Carlo chairman who will also chair this year’s event, donated two of the gowns, including the extravagant Gianfranco Ferre she wore at last year’s party. The guests never had an opportunity to buy this one, since model Mia Whyman decided it had to be hers the moment she pulled it on. “I tried it on and I couldn’t take it off,” Whyman said.
Most of the Whaling Bar tables were occupied by Monte Carlo supporters, but other guests enjoyed being present for the decidedly different event. The staff also liked it. Maitre d’ Manny Silva, himself a La Jolla institution, said: “This is something different for us. It’s an event. It’s too bad we can’t have ‘A Night in Monte Carlo’ here, too.”
The question that arose, of course, was whether the women would be willing to wear the gowns to the Monte Carlo party. Liz McCullah said she would, Linda Hooberman said she might, and Ingrid Hibben, who bought two gowns, said she would not, al though she would wear them at other elegant events. Her husband, Joe, a noted businessman, took one look at the quick sales pace and suggested that the men get together and sell their old clothes, too.
Among those present at the sale of used clothing were Ina and Lee Bartel, Gloria and Lynn Robinson, Kay Stone, Marne DeSilva, Rusti Weiss, Dian and Ray Peet, Florence Benjamin, Shannon and Chuck Rockcastle, Jacque Stewart and Vicki and Haley Rogers.
SAN DIEGO--It is in May that regulars on the social circuit begin to feel the hot breath of August on their necks.
The reason is that preview parties of the big summer balls usually take place sometime in May, as predictably as the clouds that take up residence over the county just when the sun should be bursting into its full glory.
The Monte Carlo committee held its preview Friday, and Las Patronas previewed their annual Jewel Ball (it will be the 41st) a week earlier under the rotunda of the San Diego Museum of Art.
Hundreds of guests--at least half as many as the 800 who attend the annual romp under the stars at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club--turned out for the cocktail reception. Many of them were the underwriters who make possible the ball’s outsized receipts, so large ($400,000 last year) that the party always ranks among the top 10 fund-raisers in the country. The proceeds will be divided among five major and four dozen minor beneficiaries, ranging from community health agencies to cultural institutions.
Ball chairman Carolyn Hooper, whose mother, Midge Preston, chaired one of the early Jewel Balls, treated her guests to a teasing taste of the event, which will be themed “Calypso.” Some of the decorations that will be used in assembling the ball’s famous outdoor ballroom were brought along to the museum, and they indicated that partygoers should expect a spirited spoof of fun under the Caribbean sun.
Asked why she chose the theme, Hooper said, “Calypso is the hot new thing out of New York. The music, the fashion, the mood--everything is calypso right now.”
Tentative guests should feel warned that they had best be limber by August. At the preview party, a trio of calypso dancers demonstrated some of the steps that will be de rigueur at the ball, including the limbo. Quite a few tried it out, with interesting results.
Among those present at the preview were ball co-chairwoman Barbara ZoBell, Mike and Alice Cavanaugh, Carol Baumer, Judd and Rachel Grosvenor, Ed Self, Coolley Carley, Mac and Tim Canty, Martha and Bill Ehringer, Jane and John Murphy, and museum director Steve Brezzo.
A hundred or so members of the new auxiliary to Voices for Children, a program that provides court-appointed advocates for abused and abandoned children who have been declared dependants of the court system, gathered Thursday for a reception in their honor given at home by Betty and John Mabee.
The evening was low-key and free of speeches, since it was designed primarily as a thank you for those who have made a commitment of time to help some of the 5,000 children in San Diego who are dependants of the courts. The Mabees offered a handsome spread around their courtyard pool and invited several principles from Voices for Children to mingle with the guests.
Among them was the group’s executive director, Karyl O’Brien, who is expecting a child of her own quite soon. She explained that the group was founded in 1980, when several people active in child-abuse prevention became concerned about the local foster care system.
“We review the children’s files to try to keep them from falling through the cracks in the court system,” O’Brien said. “We try to ensure each child’s right to a safe, permanent home.” One way this is done is through the advocate program, in which trained volunteers examine a given child’s situation and speak for that child in court whenever decisions concerning placement are being made.
Many of those present have a history of involvement in this particular field; among them were Barbara Christenson, founder of the St. Germaine Auxiliary to the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, and Voices for Children President Peggy Johnson.
Others were Jane Clifford; Claudia and Jim Munak; Karen and Don Cohn; Nancy Hester; San Diego County Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller and his wife, Barbara; Jinx and Paul Ecke, and Judy McDonald.
