AND BARNEYS SELLS BASEBALL CAPS!

Linda Pizzuti Henry at Fenway to the Runway. Photo Credit: Michael Blanchard

It’s not like they need to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but they still go whole hog at Fenway to the Runway, a fashion show thrown by the Red Sox wives to benefit the Red Sox Foundation (of which The Improper was a proud sponsor).

Hosted by Saks Fifth Avenue, the afternoon drew a high-powered, predominantly female crowd—although several players showed up to watch their uniformly gorgeous other halves show off designer ensembles, and a few brought their adorable offspring as well.

The afternoon’s bevy of beauties included Queen of Red Sox Nation Linda Pizzuti Henry, unrepentant fashion plate Ashley Bernon, Brazilian swimsuit designer Sinesia Karol, the comme il faut Corinne Grousbeck, Chestnut Hill chatelaine Nancy Adams, the doe-eyed Jessica Naddaff Merle, brunette bombshell Amy Belkin, the flawless Nina Fialkow, arts booster Sue Dahling Sullivan, unofficial Akris model Debbie First, the congenitally delightful Patty Ribakoff, fashion designer Michael De Paulo, sassy cupcake maker Courtney Forrester, the always effervescent Rachael Goldfarb, babe-alicious Weston mom Kristie Zaccagnino, and so on and so forth.

The champagne reception gave way to white wine at lunch, which fueled the live auction and an afternoon of guilt-free shopping (10 percent of the proceeds went to charity). As one woman put it: “As far as my husband’s concerned, if it involves the Red Sox, it doesn’t matter how much I spend.”

BEATS CALLING STANLEY STEEMER

Jenny Johnson and Billy Costa at 5 Under 40. Photo Credit: Tara Carvalho

There’s nothing quite like the 5 Under 40 party to make you feel old and unaccomplished. Hosted by New England Home magazine, the evening celebrated the hottest young’uns in the design world with a cocktail party at Landry & Arcari and raised money for Barakat, a Cambridge nonprofit that fosters literacy and education in Central and South Asia.

While a live auction/stand-up comedy act un-folded inside the high-end rug dealer’s showroom, courtesy of TV personalities Billy Costa and Jenny Johnson, excess guests spilled out into the glass-enclosed Galleria at 333 Stuart St. to booze and schmooze. Among the usual good-looking, well-dressed suspects: Davio’s handsome head honcho Steve DiFillippo, quirky decor savant Eric Portnoy, interior design avatar Eric Roseff, his colleagues, the criminally blue-eyed Ken Dietz and the swanlike Suzanne Logan, fabric guru Eliot Wright, and one woman who grabbed a bottle of champagne from behind the bar so that she could turn her full attention on socializing.

Meanwhile, inside the showroom, the bidding for some of the rugs went into the stratosphere, and—predictably for a design crowd—there was no shortage of catty comments, as from the designer who muttered, “The most I can say for that rug is that it’ll hide lots of stains.”

TONIGHT WE’RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT’S 1924

Dick Concannon, Marvin Gilmore and Smoki Bacon at Marvin Gilmore’s 90th birthday. Photo Credit: Don West

Anyone who reaches the age of 90 is bound to have some interesting stories to tell, but few have as many and as interesting as multi-hyphenate Marvin Gilmore. The nonagenarian musician, war hero, philanthropist, legionnaire d’honneur, impresario and real estate tycoon celebrated his birthday in characteristically high style with a party at the Hyatt Regency Boston that raised money for the Community Development Corporation.

The ballroom was decorated in luxe art nouveau—probably not terribly different from the way the Cotton Club looked when it opened, the year before Gilmore was born. The list of dignitaries there to toast him was legion, and the entertainment included performances by Grammy winner Gregory Porter and Gilmore’s sons, David and Marque. Present and accounted for: former governor Mike Dukakis, former mayor Tom Menino, son-of-a-speaker-man Tom O’Neill, New England Conservatory head honcho Tony Woodcock, Wheelock president Jackie Jenkins-Scott, UMass Boston chancellor J. Keith Motley, emcee Joyce Kulhawik, Gilmore’s biographer, Paul Katzeff, Lafayette Society head Alan Hoffman, force of nature Smoki Bacon and her affable other half, Dick Concannon, Nantucket playboy George Albrecht, legendary jazz promoter Fred Taylor, the incomparable Darryl Settles, the Mother Theresa of Boston Harbor, Vivien Li, and so on and so forth.

The carving stations kept everyone well-fed, the bartenders kept everyone well-lubricated, and for one evening, everyone took time to toast one of the greatest members of the Greatest Generation. Of course, with age comes wisdom; hence the guest who said, “In the old days, if we wanted to drink for free, we’d just dye our dog green and go to South Boston.”