As luxury buses filled with youngsters pulled up to the entrance of the Dallas Arboretum, creating traffic jams, the Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum‘s Mad Hatters with their dazzling and dizzying chapeaus patiently waited. For they just knew that the day of fun, fashions and fundraising couldn’t start until they were all there.
What a sight it would have been for the kids to see the array of outfits ranging from the beautiful to the bewildering in the Ginsburg Family Plaza for the champagne reception on Thursday, April 17. And thanks to 2025 Mad Hatter’s Tea Chair Sara Friedman‘s theme of “Celebrating Spring In The South,” it was immediately obvious that creativity had been in high gear, with glue guns in overdrive.
With gusty breezes blowing skirts and hats, the 80-degree weather was just made for silks, cottons and flirty hemlines. One matron eyeballed a statuesque young thing in an ultra-white lace dress. She whispered to a friend, “Is she wearing a bikini?” Yup, that’s what it looked like underneath the corset with pearl chains.
And talking about tall tales, there was tree-top Amber Griffin in a form-clinging dress in all shades of blues from her shoulders to her toes. Adding to the sky-high look, on top of her head was what appeared to be an upside down African broom of purple and blue palm fronds and topped off with a thatch of purple and blue. Unlike previous years, when she made the scene with her pocket photographer and a live pony before having the steed exiled, this year she simply opted for the photographer.
On the other hand, Ana Burman, wearing a gargantuan white hat adorned with fresh flowers from her garden, did stroll the reception with her micro-horse rolling along. But Ana’s equine escort was okay with organizers. After all, instead of hooves, s/he got around on wheels and was not likely to leave any leftovers.
One chic guest arriving late looked a bit stunned at the crowd, asking, “Please don’t say I was here.”
As the judges were lined up in Rosine Hall’s covered porch judging the guests for the hat competition, word was passed along the lineup of hopefuls that in no way, shape or fashion were bribes prohibitive. In fact they would be welcome, resulting in Mardi Gras beads and cookies.
When it was time for the program to get underway, musicians led a Mardi Gras style parade of the hat-wearing crowd into Rosine Hall, where the hatted set made their way to their seats for the fashion show of NorthPark fashions (Etro, ME +EM, Maje, Sandro, Nordstrom, Scanlon Theodore and St. John). The show was preceded by NBC 5 “Today” anchor Laura Harris‘ kicking things off, followed by Women’s Council President Therese Rourk and Chair Sara acknowledging Honorary Chair Cindy Feld.
In the meantime, the judges were as busy as the white rabbit tabulating their results. Just as the last model in the finale exited the runway, the day’s winners were announced:
- Dallas Blooms (best uses of fresh botanicals) judged by Amanda Shufeldt and going to Maryam Brown
- Kentucky Derby (most elegant) judged by Anne Stodghill and going to Christine Phelan
- Mardi Gras (most over-the-top, outrageous creation) judged by Esé Azénabor-Grembowski and going to Debbie Murray
- Round Top (people’s) judged by Sharon Lee Clark and going to Mandi Bonilla
- Jazz Fest (best group) judged by Kameron Westcott and going to Taste of the Masters (Linda Burk‘s team Dixey Arterburn, Jane Gilmore, Linda Gilmore, Judy Grant, Sera Hall, Sandy Hargrove, Angela Phillips and Leslie Roberts)
- The Masters (best in show) judged by John Clutts and going to Katie Kennemer‘s group (including Liz Dauwe, Candice Flores, Lauren McLarnon, Amber Nardos, Samantha Pate, Megan Rosser Clark, Kelly Weisz, Marjan Wolford and Piper Young Rivera)
Then it was off to the seated luncheon around Rosine Hall overlooking the final days of Dallas Blooms before the year’s latest weekend storms rolled through.
For more images of the day’s fun, fashions and fundraiser folks, check out MySweetCharity Photo Gallery.
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