Social Scene

Jordan Hellmuth • September 12, 2013

Fashion lovers and philanthropists alike flocked to Fusion de Filantropia & Fashion Show June 6 to support the American Diabetes Association’s National Capital Area Step Out to Stop Diabetes.

It was a night of fashion, community and philanthropy, hosted by Stacy Adams and her personal fitness training business, Fitness Together, in the center of Georgetown Court between Prospect and N Streets. The event featured displays of Mark Roscoe Design’s custom neckwear and fine women’s couture line, followed by an after-party fashion show at Karen Millen on Wisconsin Avenue.

Chicago-based couture designer Mark Roscoe, who has been involved in the fashion industry for 30 years, is also still a full-time, practicing trial lawyer. His family, among those of others in attendance, has been greatly affected by diabetes. Fifty percent of the items purchased or ordered from his Roscoe’s line and other proceeds, including privately donated items from the evening, benefited the American Diabetes Association.

Among those present were celebrity guest host Paul Wharton of Paul Wharton Style, Michelle Obama’s makeup artist Carl Ray, L.A. writer Liz Fraley, fresh off of covering the Cannes Film Festival, former NFL player John Booty and Rokas Beresniovas of the Georgetown Business Association. Those sporting Roscoe Designs ties included ABC7’s Scott Thuman and Mr. District of Columbia 2012 Hirsh Singh.
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Mary Bird •

An opening night celebration at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens on June 4 showcased the elegant life style of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Guests enjoyed an outdoor reception before proceeding to the Lunar Lawn for a tented dinner that included Mrs. Post’s frequently served Salmon en Papillote. Hillwood Executive Director Kate Markert called the exhibit, “a singular tribute to a life lived artfully.” Mrs. Post’s granddaughter and Hillwood President Ellen MacNeille Charles said, “Little did you know that the reason to be here is to celebrate my birthday.” As “a way of life that is fast disappearing,” she said that her grandmother was not embarrassed about her wealth but loved to share it. Guests had a first look at previously off-limit areas such as a recently renovated fallout shelter and personal massage room. [gallery ids="101339,152103,152066,152099,152071,152094,152078,152083,152088" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

The Washington Hilton was party central at “Washington’s Black-Tie Gala for the Four-on-the-Floor Crowd” on June 8. Festively attired canines proudly escorted their humans and urged them toward the special Bark Bar courtesy of Barkley Square Gourmet Bakery and Boutique. News anchor Scott Thuman again served as Master of Ceremonies, sharing that his schedule requires 3 a.m. dog walks. WHS President and CEO Lisa LaFontaine spoke of the growth of programs for the “human-animal bond” and expressed her appreciation to Bark Ball Co-Chairs Terri Fariello and Beth Viola. Established in 1870 as the country’s only Congressionally chartered animal welfare agency, WHS provides protection, care and enrichment for some 30,000 animals each year. [gallery ids="101346,152275,152238,152271,152243,152267,152248,152253,152261" nav="thumbs"]

Rachel Scola •

On June 15, the National Museum of Women in the Arts seemed to transform into Jay Gatsby’s home itself. The International Club of DC hosted the Great Gatsby Ball presented with the Museum as one of their calendar events for club members, but was also an event for the Young pARTners Circle, a group through NMWA who promotes women artists and connects young professionals through an array of events. There was live music, a photobooth and a variety of delectable desserts served. Drinks began pouring and couples started dancing and suddenly it was 1925 again. About halfway through the night the dance troupe Fidgety Feet took the floor to perform The Charleston and livened up the entire crowd. It was quite a spectacle and memorable night, no doubt one for the books for both the International Club and Young pARTners Circle. [gallery ids="119082,119075,119087,119093" nav="thumbs"]

Jordan Hellmuth •

Luigi Parasmo Salon, co-owned by Luigi Parasmo and Javier Calvo, gave guests with the royal treatment June 10 at their one-year salon celebration in Georgetown. Dressed to the nines, Luigi and Javier wore all black suits, completing their evening looks with just the right amount of hair product as they greeted more than 150 guests. “This was the biggest dream of my life,” said Parasmo. “Luigi’s dream is my dream,” added Calvo. [gallery ids="101344,152190,152173,152186,152180" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

The predictions of dire weather forced the Hotel Monaco to relocate its June 13 festivities indoors, but spirits were hardly dampened. Music resounded on several floors as Kimpton loyalists enjoyed inventive cocktails and nibbles from the chain’s talented chefs and mixologists. Poste provided pork rillettes, Alexandria’s Brabo offered blinis generously laden with salmon and crème fraiche, the American Brasserie in Baltimore tempted with a bacon sausage dog, Urbana near Dupont Circle proffered chilled pea soup, and there was ever so much more. The party atmosphere was fueled by the equally tempting libations. [gallery ids="101343,152157,152151,152145,152140,152168,152133,152172,152176,152163" nav="thumbs"]

Kelley Hudak •

The Second Annual YWCA U.S.A. Women of Distinction Awards Gala at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill June 7 honored five women who serve as role models for women and girls around the world: Sharon Love, mother of Yeardley Love, Patty Stonesifer, Commander Zoe Dunning, Victoria Dinges of Allstate and actress and activist Eva Longoria, who received the Dorothy Height Racial Justice Award. The event was emceed by Cynné Simpson of ABC7/WJLA-TV. The YWCA, also known as the Young Women’s Christian Association, is the largest provider of battered women’s shelters and domestic violence services in the country, serving more than 500,000 women and children annually. Allstate Insurance was also recognized for its domestic violence awareness programs and pledged to double the amount of YWCAs in the program. [gallery ids="101342,152128" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

For nearly a century, the Arts Club of Washington has promoted and celebrated the visual, performing and literary arts at its historic I Street location, which was formerly the home of President James Monroe. On June 7, the club held an opening reception for the current exhibition featuring works in a wide variety of media by Arts Club artists. Painter Vicki Doyle is the featured artist in this cooperative gallery. Painting Chair Susanne Eisinger welcomed members and guests who were encouraged to “keep creating.” [gallery ids="101341,152130,152112,152127,152118,152123" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

On June 5, Mark Ohnmacht was presented the “Ovation” Award for Outstanding Choral Music at the Clarendon Ballroom. He follows in the distinguished footsteps of previous honorees J. Reilly Lewis, Robert Shafer and Norman Scribner. The Choralis Foundation, founded by Artistic Director Gretchen Kuhrmann in 2000, is dedicated to nurturing a passion for choral music in our area, which one guest speaker termed the “choral capital of the United States,” through offering excellence in choral performance and providing educational outreach. This year’s recipient said, “It’s great hanging around choral people,” and, “my favorite musical instrument is the human voice.” The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s Artistic Director Scott Tucker led the on tune crowd in two musical tributes. Guests departed with a wine glass festooned with a page of sheet music [gallery ids="101340,152114,152101,152110,152107" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

Regrettably, there are always going to be more museum exhibitions than any one patron can really keep up with. This month, however, our city is overflowing with visual art. From contemporary multicultural work to 17th-century Japanese paintings, and from Georges Braque to Southeast Asian textiles, there is a dazzling variety of gorgeous, historic and important museum exhibitions opening around us. Here are some of this month’s highlights.

The Phillips Collection
Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928 – 1945
June 8 – Sept. 1
This exhibition is the first in-depth study of still life in Georges Braque’s (1882–1963) career framed within the historical and political context of 1928 to 1945. The show charts Braque’s work in this genre from intimate interior scenes of the late 1920s that he made alongside Picasso, to vibrant large-scale canvases of the 1930s, and finally to darker and more personal interpretations of daily life in the 1940s. There is not a more suitable museum for this exhibit in Washington, as The Phillips Collection founder Duncan Phillips played a pioneering role in introducing European modernists like Braque to American audiences. In his lifetime, Phillips acquired many works by Braque and presented his first U.S. retrospective in 1939. www.PhillipsCollection.org

Textile Museum
Out of Southeast Asia: Art That Sustains
Through Oct. 13
Southeast Asian textiles first served as markers of ethnic identity, distinguishing neighboring communities by pattern, color, and technique. While commercial production now challenges these practices, the artistic wealth of these several hundred groups continues to inspire artists from around the world. This exhibition explores historical textile artworks—including batiks from Indonesia and brocades and ikats from Laos—alongside the work of four contemporary textile artists and designers: batik artists Nia Fliam, Agus Ismoyo and Vernal Bogren Swift, and weaver Carol Cassidy. All of their works originate in Southeast Asian concepts, realized in certain design elements, technical details, and philosophical underpinnings. Out of Southeast Asia demonstrates how contemporary artists are preserving the traditional arts even as they interpret them in new and innovative ways. www.TextileMuseum.org

Art Museum of the Americas
Fusion: Tracing Asian Migration to the Americas
June 13 – Sept. 15
The AMA’s permanent collection is one of the most vital sources of modern and contemporary Latin American and Caribbean art in the United States. The work on display in this exhibition generates a dialogue about cultural diversity by exploring the migration of artists or their families to the Americas from Asia during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. By addressing the multiple layers of cultural exchange, this exhibition aims to enhance understanding of the complex nature of modern Latin American and Caribbean societies, and to illuminate the social and cultural contributions that this multiculturalism has generated. www.Museum.oas.org

Freer | Sackler
Sylvan Sounds: Freer, Dewing and Japan
Through May 18, 2014
Museum founder Charles Lang Freer’s taste for Japanese art grew out of his affection for American tonalist paintings, notably the artist Thomas Dewing (1851–1938). This intimate exhibition illuminates this connection by juxtaposing Dewing’s landscapes with Japanese works that Freer acquired in the late 1890s, just after his first tour of Asia. Freer’s idealized notions of “old Japan” paralleled the nostalgic, pastoral aestheticism of Dewing’s atmospheric landscapes. On view are Japanese Edo-period artworks alongside Dewing’s paintings, including the exhibition’s namesake and one of Dewing’s unparalleled early American masterpieces, The Four Sylvan Sounds. www.Asia.si.edu

National Museum of Women in the Arts
Bice Lazzari: Signature Line
Through Sept. 22
As part of 2013 – Year of Italian Culture in the United States, an initiative organized by Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Italy, Washington, D.C., this exhibition presents a selection of paintings and drawings from Bice Lazzari (1900–1981), one of Italy’s most revered modern artists. In the 1910s, early in Lazzari’s career, the artist was discouraged from studying the figure in art school because of her gender. She ultimately became a renowned designer and, in the mid-1930s, turned her attention to fine art. Using pencil, ink and pastel, Lazzari drew lines (often over washes of soft color) to form poetic compositions that resemble graphs, maps and musical staffs and notes. Rather than painting a particular subject, Lazzari used lines and shapes to invent forms that conveyed particular emotions. www.nmwa.org
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