Tag Archives: DIFFA

Fashion roundup

Posted on

2photoLast Thursday was Dallas’ most fashionable day of the week — perhaps the year. On the heels of DIFFA the previous Saturday, three fashion events spread throughout the day captured our imaginations — and monopolized our time. (You can link to photos from all of the events here.)

It  started in the morning with the cancer fundraiser Dress 4 Yellow, a luncheon and runway show at the Adolphus Hotel. With most (but not all) fashions splashing shades yellow, it was a canary-like kick off to spring.

The only men’s fashions to walk the catwalk were from Nike Golf, but one of the highlights was the appearance of a cancer survivor among the male models. Two women, although cancer survivors, both showed off the fashions of the day, and all were stunning. But this event was less about fashion itself than about hope — a message spread especially poignantly during the luncheon by former NFL player Dhani Jones, dapperly decked in one of his own bowties, designed for the LiveStrong Foundation. Jones’ personal story of being touched by cancer added a serious and sobering moment to all the glam.

The afternoon benefited from beautiful weather and low winds for the outdoor “What to Wear” fashion show at Mockingbird Station. Hosted by DFWStyleDaily.com editor Lisa Petty, who led a panel commenting on the horseshoe runway of fashions available from retailers at the upscale development, it took on the theme of Las Vegas glitz, with the panel commenting on trends like layered necklaces and how to pack for a weekend in Vegas to maximize looks in a minimum of space. Plus appearances by members of FC Dallas soccer team added some beefcake. (Arnold Wayne Jones)

In the evening, fashions took wing at the Frontiers of Flight Museum, a creative and diverse range of designs turned up the heat on the runway for the annual Fashion Cited show, benefiting Legal Hospice of Texas.

Continue reading “Fashion roundup” »

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

Scenes from Dress 4 Yellow, Mockingbird Station fashions

Posted on

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

Scenes from DIFFA’s runway show

Posted on

1photo

For the second year, DIFFA’s gala went toward the glam of smoking jackets — you saw a lot less denim than in previous years, but just as much skin, with a runway show that popped with fabulosity. The drag queens from the Rose Room probably got the biggest ovation when they took the stage in all-out ownership; touchingly, in the program they dedicated their performance to their recently passed colleague, Erica Andrews.

But drag wasn’t the only look — there were some rockin’ designs, from a French Revolution theme to sexy men’s clothes (the men sometimes in high heels themselves) and of course the auctioned jackets. Add to that Sue Ellen herself, Linda Gray, helping with the live auction portion, and it was an event worthy of gala.

See more pictures after the jump.

Continue reading “Scenes from DIFFA’s runway show” »

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

This week’s takeaways: Life+Style

Posted on

0698909547014

Our Readers Voice Awards issue is out now, and you see what won all the favorites of our readers — from favorite personal trainer to hottest bartender to top local chef — but there’s also tons more going on in town this week.

Friday, you have two chances to see Del Shores’ one-man show at the Rose Room — at 5 p.m. and then at 8 — which will be recorded for an upcoming DVD release. Standing-room-only tickets are available for as little as $10, but if you are one of the first 10 people to email kristamartinpr@gmail.com, you can win free tickets to the show. Also at the Rose Room for two shows this week? Comedian Bruce Vilanch. He’ll be performing March 28 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

On Saturday night, DIFFA returns with its second year featuring smoking jackets. Once again, runway legend Jan Strimple is in charge of the show, so it should be a hoot. It’s at the Anatole starting at 6 p.m. You can also get your fashion fix this week at Legal Hospice of Texas’ Fashion Cited event and Dress 4 Yellow, both next Thursday.

On Sunday morning, the inaugural Big Gay Brunch Party gets going at Blue Mesa Grill in Addison, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with DJ Michael Evans spinning.

Two indie theaters have very gay-themed plays opening this week. Up in Addison, MBS Productions is staging the original work The Futility of Hope, pictured, about a teenage girl who seeks out her birth father, only to be shocked to find out he’s a gay man. Over at the Green Zone near the Design District, Bruce Coleman has written and directed two one-acts he collectively calls The Apartment Plays: A Conversation with a (Potentially) Naked Man and Larry Kramer Hates Me. And at the Kalita for a one-night-only event you can see old-school DTC veterans Carole Cook and Tom Troupe in a staged reading of the Pulitzer-winning play The Gin Game on Monday at 7 p.m.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

There’s still time to win a grand in the Top Hat photo contest!

Posted on

Time is running out to win money. We’re not joking.

You know how EASY it is to win $1,000 for charity? Pretty damn easy! Get some kind of hat. It can be a beret. Or a snood. Or a box of oatmeal cereal. Then find a head. It can be bald. Or teased  and treated. Or on a dog. Then get a camera — even a smartphone. And take a snapshot. THAT’S IT. After that, just email it to TopHat@dallasvoice.com with the name of your nonprofit by Friday. We’ll whittle the entries down to the top nine, and the winner (chosen by Voice readers) gets a photo of them in their hat on the cover of an issue in March and a donation made in their name.

OK you members of the Turtle Creek Chorale, or volunteers for DIFFA, or chefs who donate to the food pantry, or fundraisers for AIDS Arms or ASD or Black Tie. You don’t have to sell tickets, you don’t have to make a matching contribution, you don’t have to design a denim jacket. All you need to do is take a photo and make a grand for charity. If you’re email address ends with .org, you probably already work for an eligible agency. It’s like free money! Think how you can impress your boss!

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

Of Madonna and Big Tex

Posted on

Oct. 19, 2012, may we be considered Dallas’ Black Friday — or at least, Blackened Friday.

The day began with the surprising news that Big Tex, the animatronic corporate logo for the State Fair of Texas (the Fair’s website is even BigTex.org), caught fire and burned up faster than a joint in Snoop Dogg’s trailer. Pictures of the flamer (I knew it!) became the latest meme to dominate Facebook; news sourced from as far away as the BBC reported on it.

Then, less than 12 hours later, came more devastating news: Madonna was canceling the first of her two concerts at American Airlines Center. I was at an event with tons of gay folks, and the news spread faster … well, faster than flames over Big Tex.

How much can one community be expected to endure?!?!

The thing is, neither of these event is, really, such a big deal. Oohhhh, Madonna has laryngitis; it happens. She still performed last night (and, by all accounts, was fully recovered) and so many of her fans still got what they wanted. And Big Tex? Well, the fair was almost over anyway, and while the majority of the skeleton may have been around for 60 years, it was, in the end, a badly dressed scaffolding with a loudspeaker in his chest. It was not, in the end, a tragedy of any sort.

So why were people acting as if both of them were?

Continue reading “Of Madonna and Big Tex” »

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

DIFFA announces Style Ambassadors

Posted on

The DIFFA Collection will be back next spring, and once again Jan Strimple will be producing the runway show. But before that, it’s the Style Ambassadors who have to do a lot of the work. This year, 17 men and women have been tapped to represent DIFFA in the community, raising awareness and money for AIDS treatment and research. That’s two more than the usual high of 15. The ambassadors are Simona Beal, John Bobbitt, Marty Collins, Peter Dauterman, Tommy DeAlano,Deanna DiPizio, Malcolm Gage (pictured), Stephen Giles, Kandis Hutchinson, Daniel Lewis, LeeAnne Locken, Vivian Lombardi, Tom Mason, Lance Avery Morgan, Troy Schiermeyer, James Shackelford and Paige Westhoff. The announcement was made at Dish Restaurant in the ilume last week.

The event will take place, as it has in recent years, at the Hilton Anatole on March 23. For more information, visit DIFFADallas.org.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

My morning-after jacket: Jonathan Adler, my DIFFA coat and me

Posted on

In tomorrow’s print edition, you can read all about Jonathan Adler, the master potter and decor guru — and partner to Barneys creative director Simon Doonan — who has just opened a new boutique in Uptown, across from the Mitchell Gold+Bob WIlliams store. (We may need to rename the block Oak Lawn East.) The interview was fun in part because I showed up to it dressed in a piece of clothing Adler would certainly recognize: The smoking jacket he designed and donated to DIFFA this year, for which I made the winning bid.

After the jump you’ll see him reunited for the first (and probably last) time, Adler and his fine Chinese silk dinner coat … and me … plus a few more shots from our photo shoot.

Continue reading “My morning-after jacket: Jonathan Adler, my DIFFA coat and me” »

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

DIFFA soiree tonight at Dish

Posted on

Too haute to trot

Turn up the volume on your outfit and head out to Dish, where DIFFA/Dallas will announce its Style Council Ambassadors for the 2012 Smoking Haute collection.

DEETS: Dish, 4123 Cedar Springs Road, 7:30 p.m. RSVP at 214-352-6701.

—  Rich Lopez

Scene from DIFFA: A Santa so hot he melts snow!

Posted on

A scene from the DIFFA wreath auction: Santa with Mrs. Claus and one of his reindeer (by the color of the nose, I’m guessing Rudolph, although I don’t recall a verse saying what a hot rack Rudolph had… I’m referring to the antlers, of course). Now, I know it’s not politically correct, but as someone with a salt-and-pepper beard myself, I gotta say: I prefer this clean-shaven, abs-defined Santa over the more, ahem, jolly round elf with a bowl full of jelly. Looks to me like he had a bowl full of protein powder.

Anyway, I’d hop on his sleigh anytime, and would welcome the chance to slide down Santa’s chimney. Sigh.

Look for more DIFFA pix in Friday’s edition of Dallas Voice, and online.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones