Sparkle, Glamour Seize Fashion Show Spotlight
Glittery Gala
For starters, the invitations shed silver glitter. Onto your clothes, your hands, your lap. Onto everything. Maybe that’s what party planners wanted when they whipped up the invites to the Huntington Harbour Cancer League’s annual fashion show fund-raiser--a little sparkle in the night, for so many nights to come.
The theme of the benefit was “treasures”--the shiny kind that spill from buried chests, the kind hunted by pirates. After cocktails and silent auction bidding Saturday, 500 guests sat transfixed in the Disneyland Hotel’s grand ballroom as a swashbuckling crew of models scampered up and down a runway like shipwrecked explorers on a pristine beach. The Pirates of PCH
The fast-paced fashion show--complete with sets, music and lip-synching professional dancers--was produced by Carlton Burnett, with clothes chosen by Kitty Leslie, fashion coordinator of Newport Center Fashion Island. Models were picked from among Huntington Harbourites--16 women on the basis of style and skill, five men by membership vote.
Why the discrepancy?
“Well, I doubt that very many men would actually try out,” said event chairwoman Sue Madison, laughing. “It’s just a fun thing--it’s kind of like a reward.”
Out they came, in casual togs and business clothes and evening wear--the women with wide smiles and jaunty steps, the men with sheepish grins that said, Am I really doing this? Net Treasures
The party raised about $150,000, according to league president Phil Lupton, bringing the Huntington Harbour group’s fund-raising efforts for the American Cancer Society’s Orange County unit up over the $1 million mark. Funds will be used locally for cancer research, education and patient care, Lupton said. Faces
Committee members included Marilyn Bohle, Barbara Snegg, Ellen Goodwin, Missy Prowell, Jean Zimmerman, Jeanie Barnett, Jenny Huntsinger, Sally Fenton and Emmeline Vasquez.
Among sponsors were Kay and Jim Burra, Bobbitt and Bill Williams, Linda and Ted Cohen, Phyllis and Dix Helland, Mary Ellen and Bob Houseal, and Helen La Bayne.
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Backstage is chaos ,” said Barnett, who modeled five outfits, including a black, backless hot-pants number that was quite popular with the male dinner guests. “You have to be really careful with the clothes and you have to get in and out of them really fast--so you just pray you don’t tear anything. Or go out there unzipped!”
