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Out & About

Michael Barnes is the Austin American-Statesman's social columnist. He lives in South Austin with his partner, Kip, two dogs and two cats. More on Out & About.

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All the entries posted on May 08, 2009.

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Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > May > 08

Friday, May 8, 2009

Celestino for Dell Children’s Medical Center Foundation at Spazio

By Michael Barnes | Friday, May 8, 2009, 11:34 PM

Classic.

Venus Strawn, Sergio Guadarrama

Or at least classical.

Nevada Pressley, Daniel Zwiener, Shadia Omar

That’s the best way to describe Celestino.

Julie Maples, Caren Burbach, Monica Byram

That’s the line by Sergio Guadarrama, formerly of Austin, now of New York.

Tamara Dorrance, Lilly Moskal

A pristine runway show at the pristine furniture and art gallery Spazio showed off Guadarrama’s feminine, wearable designs.

Ana Perkins, Cyndy Perkins

Scalloped beads, stiff tops and soft drapes came in waves down the runway, a lot of it with a wedding sensibility.

Tyler Carr, Amer Elliot of Brilliant Magazine

The fashion show benefited — or at least showcased — the Dell Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas, the city’s most successful nonprofit start-up.

Amber Kuhaneck, Ashley Escobar

In just a few years, it has raised more than $100 million for the new medical center at Mueller.

James Tohill, Everdil Tohill

As usual with Austin events, the guests and their attire skewed all the way from punky hip-hop to highly polished high fashion.

Lukas Ulrich, Adriana Gudarrama, Brett Worrell

And there’s still a place for a man in a cowboy hat.

The Celestino group.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Charity, Faith & Education, Out, Style

Three new Out & About personalities

By Michael Barnes | Friday, May 8, 2009, 08:42 PM

I met three fascinating people this week, two in person, one by phone. I anticipate all three contributing tremendously to my understanding of Austin’s wider social scene.

Patsy Woods Martin: Head of the nonprofit group I Live Here, I Give Here, she trained as a chemist, sold real estate and worked in development with the United Way after years of volunteering. More recently, she turned a massive study of local philanthropy into an umbrella organization for hundreds of nonprofits. We lunched at the Latin Cafe over talk of social giving and the malleable numbers offered by charities about their net gains from such events. Her organization’s Web site is a wonder — and an essential resource. I can’t wait to dig through that and other research she provided.

Matt Kouri: A self-professed “nonprofit nerd,” this head of the Greenlights for Nonprofit Success educated me rapidly about the state of social giving in town. His main contentions: Money raised at galas, races and other social events is at once “low-hanging fruit” and also impossible to evaluate for actual costs. He thinks the emphasis on social giving in Austin is a sign of a philanthropy scene with a lot of growing up to do. Boy, were my eyes and ears opened. I’ve got Matt on (imaginary) speed dial.

Mary Ann Rankin: Intricately well-spoken, naturally focused and — I don’t think she’ll mind this characterization — unusually fashionable for a university dean, Rankin heads the University of Texas’ second largest college, Natural Sciences (after Liberal Arts). Less than an hour spent in her tastefully appointed office started social and intellectual connections that could last a lifetime. (Her serious research delved into the physiological basis of insect behavior and life history characteristics.) When she talked about the pre-med students who are given direct access to real-life experiences, I recommended they all see Anna Deavere Smith’s “Let Me Down Easy,” even though it closes this weekend. Thanks to the college’s Katy Hackerman, I’ll likely attend many more events staged by this huge component in Austin’s culture.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Charity, Faith & Education

Social APB for Stephen Moser at Beyond Tradition

By Michael Barnes | Friday, May 8, 2009, 04:38 PM

At just about every party this week, Topic No. 1 was Stephen Moser, missing in social action.

Linda Nichols, Virginia Caldwell

The Style Avatar for the Austin Chronicle had updated his status on Facebook after Splash weekend, but hadn’t returned calls or e-mails for several days. Some of his friends were near panic from the communication black-out.

Courtney Garrison, Erica Burket

My brief time at the Deborah Main Designs show at Beyond Tradition on Thursday included several such conversations.

Michael Perez, Cuco Heredia, Michael Jamarillo

The Redbrick Modern Collection, coveted by several guests, was complemented by jewelry, art and accessories — all accompanied by their creators.

Miryam Arosemena, Kate Snyder

As if that feast of goods weren’t enough, owner Kappie Bliss, one of Stephen’s concerned friends, hosted a chair massage therapist right in the middle of the Second Street District boutique.