Werq It!

(Left: BMC patient Florence Stewart at Catwalk for a Cure; 2nd from Left: BMC patient Fritz Gorst at Catwalk for a Cure; Middle: A model at Catwalk for a Cure; Upper Right: David Long, Kate Walsh, Kim Khazei, Melanie Foley, Scott Hamilton and Leslie Walstrom at Catwalk for a Cure; Bottom Right: Olympian Scott Hamilton at Catwalk for a Cure)

It probably won’t be a fashion show that ultimately cures cancer, but that doesn’t change the fact that Catwalk for a Cure, a benefit for Boston Medical Center Cancer Care, raised more than a quarter of a million dollars.

The fourth annual runway presentation, held at the State Room, featured celebrity models like Olympic gold medal skater Scott Hamilton, blond smokeshow Jenny Johnson, the workin’est girl in show biz, Janet Wu, and yours truly, but the real stars were the 15 cancer patients who threw caution to the wind and strutted their stuff like they were Naomi Campbell.

It didn’t hurt that they were outfitted in clothing by such super-talented local designers as Candice Wu, Kinda Touma, Stephanie Raymond and Drea Designs, or that emcee Kim Khazei whipped the crowd into a frothy foam before the show even started. (A few cocktails probably didn’t hurt, either.)

But as event founder Bryan Finocchio succinctly put it, “You can’t have an event like this without a bunch of people who really care,” which prompted a woman in attendance to add, “I definitely care, but nothing in the world could get me out on that runway in a bathing suit.”

The evening’s funniest comment came from the amateur model who said, “On the plus side, I didn’t embarrass myself. On the minus side, I’m never going to win RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Night at the Museum

(Left: Lauren Budding, Katherine Chapman Stemberg, Laura Rehnert and Beth Martignetti at The Gardner Remixed; Middle: Malone Thermitus and Max Jackson at The Gardner Remixed; Right: Jodi and Hal Hess, Meg Succop and Lucy Moon-Lim at The Gardner Remixed; Bottom Left: Anne Hawley at The Gardner Remixed; Bottom Middle: Aaron Fried, Josh Knowles and Shaina Schwartz performing at The Gardner Remixed; Bottom Right: Chargaux performing at The Gardner Remixed)

Isabella Stewart Gardner enjoyed tweaking convention as much as anyone, so it’s a safe bet to say she was smiling down upon The Gardner Remixed, an evening of edgy art, music and schmoozing that took place throughout the museum and was very much in keeping with Mrs. Jack’s iconoclastic sensibilities.

The party attracted an attractive and well-turned-out crowd, among them co-chairs Cindy Curme, Corinne Grousbeck, Beth Martignetti, Laura Rehnert and Katherine Chapman Stemberg, investment guru Pel Stockwell and the scrumptious Kim, tech genius Nunzi Sapuppo and the flawless Vanya Tulenko, petite dynamo Sue Bear, blond beauty Jen Hawkins, erudite literary agent Esmond Harmsworth, femme fatale Anne Fitzpatrick, the Lyons clan—Patrick, Kristina, Lucy and Wyatt—museum head honcha Anne Hawley, brunette bombshell Jodi Hess and her main man, Hal, Israeli Stage impresario Guy Ben-Aharon, newly appointed musical curators Shea Rose and Simone Scazzocchio, and one guy playing a didgeridoo in the courtyard, which prompted someone to say, “Every time I hear one of those things, all I can think about is farting.”

During the cocktail hour, guests moved between the new wing and the cloisters of Fenway Court (where the bar was located), chatting, sipping and exchanging plans for the remainder of the summer.

“The coincidence is too bizarre,” said one guest. “You’re leaving tomorrow for a 40th birthday party in Copenhagen? I’m going to a friend’s 40th in Copenhagen in August.”

After everyone was well-lubricated, they made their way into Calderwood Hall for a concert by cutting-edge viola and violin duo Chargaux, accompanied on percussion by Soft Glass (a.k.a. Joao Gonzalez). The performance was mesmerizing, and adding to the fun was the game of musical chairs—in which the audience moved up or down a level in the auditorium between sets.

The evening’s best remark: “I’m pretty sure I never thought I’d hear a Taylor Swift song being played at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and, even more unlikely, that I’d actually enjoy it.”