You know it’s a good party when a blonde in a flower crown kisses you and tries to sweep you off your 5-inch platform heels while you’re in the middle of an interview with the fiesta’s head honcho.
You know it’s a really good party when said head honcho (Plains Art Museum Director and CEO Andy Maus) just laughs — and insists you get more wine. (Thanks Andy!)
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I’ve written about the Plains Art Museum’s Spring Gala here before. In fact, this event inspired my very first post on this site four years ago.
(Please concentrate on the photos of the bacon and ignore my ridiculous hair. Sometimes the correct answer to “What should we do with your hair?” is not “Whatever you want.” So now you know.)
But it’s just one of those parties that get better every year. And the people watching is fabulous. If you want party pics, this is the place to be.
The gala and its signature art auction are major fundraisers for the museum (you can read more about that in this story I wrote for High Plains Reader last week) but the event is also a weird, wild gathering of people.
It’s not always easy to get people from different backgrounds in the same room, but last night artists, politicians, students, writers, volunteers, philanthropists and business leaders mixed it up on the dance floor. And since the party had a “1976” theme in honor of the museum’s 40th anniversary, a whole lot of them were getting down in platform shoes, vintage dresses and leisure suits.
You know it’s going to be interesting when you walk in the front door and see six people wearing sequins — and only one of them is a woman.
That woman just happened Plains Art Museum board member and event co-chair Cheri Schoenfish, shown here with her husband Errol. And she wasn’t the only museum board member in sequins, either.
The men of Fargo-Moorhead were totally into this theme. Usually only a few of the guys go all out, but there were tons of guys who rocked the 70s look and actually looked like the were having a good time doing it.
I kind of took it easy this year and skipped the gown in favor of a Studio 54 inspired look. I grabbed a slinky 70s cocktail dress from my Prairie Style Vintage stock, waved my hair, threw on a pair of fishnets and some disco-inspired eye make-up and I was done.
And I’m totally keeping that dress, by the way. That’s one silhouette that has stood the test of time.
I’m not gonna lie, the shoes were the stars of the outfit. I’m obsessed with these giant rose gold cork platforms.
They made me as close to as tall as my 6’8″ photographer friend/work date Dennis as I’m ever gonna be and they’re surprisingly comfortable. (I was feeling a lot better than most of the dudes in platforms by the end of the night.)
I wasn’t the only one wearing vintage. I was kind of in awe of the women who pulled their own vintage favorites from back in the day out of their closets and wore them to this event.
And then there were the people that went all out. I used to work with the crew at Alan Evans Bridal when I was in radio and I may have squealed when I saw them from across the room.
I mean, seriously, how fabulous are they?
I told designer and artist Rand Evans (that’s him in the middle) that I thought they looked incredible. He just smiled and shrugged and said “Oh, I figured if you’re gonna go, just go all out. This is the place to do it.”
I couldn’t have said it better.
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What about you? What’s the best party in your city? What do you look for in a party? What’s your favorite party theme? What do you think of the Plains Art Museum Spring Gala?
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