Dressed to Thrill

They might be ladies who lunch, but they were all business when it came to helping women transition back into the workforce at the annual Dress for Success luncheon, held at the InterContinental Boston.

Among the high-powered women (and a sprinkling of men) on hand were former first lady Angela Menino and professor Tom, Channel 5 honorees Karen Holmes Ward, Susan Wornick, Shayna Seymour and Kimberly Bookman with station GM Bill Fine and his gorgeous wife, Gail, the soignée Jacqui Budd and her other half, Wayne, retail fairy godmother Annette Goubeaux, marketing guru Joan Jolley, board member Denise Leyhe, bootlegger Catherine Stanton Schiff, the incomparable Joanne Jaxtimer, fashion plate Bennie Wiley and her legal eagle husband, Flash, media magnate Julie Kahn, disarmingly charming Brit Mathew Westcott and one woman wearing a gorgeous suit who said, “Want to know my dirty little fashion secret? QVC.”

Lunch was delicious and the speaking program blessedly brief. Even the live auction, which raised beaucoup dinero, was over before the coffee was cold, and everyone was out of there precisely on time—a welcome rarity on the charity circuit.

Meanwhile, the award for the snarkiest remark went to the person who inspected another guest in an outfit that was somewhat revealing for daytime and said, “She must have misread the invitation to say ‘Dress for some sex.’”

Shake Your Money Maker

The most aptly named party on Boston’s social calendar is Big Night—the annual fundraiser that never fails to raise the roof—at the House of Blues.

A benefit for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay, the evening features free-flowing booze and delicious comfort food (lobster mac ’n’ cheese and short rib sliders, anyone?), but the highlight is undeniably the chart-topping musical acts, this year the Black Crowes and Fitz and the Tantrums.

Prominent among the throng: event chair Tim Dibble, honoree Sandy Edgerley, mega-philanthropists Jonathan and Patti Kraft, the beautiful blond hat trick of Christine Meara, Charity McCourt and Liza Brett, with their other halves, Billy, Ryan and Timmy, dazzling emcee Bianca de la Garza, fashionista Elisha Daniels, real estate titan Frank Petz and the flawless Abbie, the entire Fabian clan—Nancy, Sarah, Richard and Edward—with the ever-dapper Peter Monaco, and one man who said, “I need to find a gay guy who can dress me every morning but doesn’t expect me to put out.”

Both bands were worth the price of admission, and even normally subdued fund managers and VC titans let down their hair and loosened the purse strings. In fact, the evening’s only downside was the overzealous busboys who whisked away cocktails immediately after they were put down on a table, necessitating endless trips to the bar (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it).

The evening’s choicest comment came during the live auction, when someone said, “A trip to Dubai is the prize? I’d pay never to have to go there again.”

Where’s Lena Dunham When You Need Her?

It was an intimidatingly hip guest list when design gurus Cheryl and Jeffrey Katz hosted a party for marketing maven and art photographer Mike Toth (aka the man who invented J.Crew) at their South Boston studio, to celebrate Toth’s new book and exhibit US. American Stories.

A fundraiser for Mass. Eye and Ear, the afternoon attracted the likes of uber-chef Ana Sortun (who did the catering) and her colleague John daSilva, his unfailingly hospitable wife, Molly Loveday, Somervillians Geoff and Patricia Hargadon, radio eminence Margery Eagan, Cambridge chatelaine Jan Saragoni, publishing bigwig Mitch Fox, Sperry Top-Sider VP Bradley O’Brien, brunette beauty Serena Saitas, smoking-hot mixologist Vikram Hegde, Sports Illustrated scribe E.M. Swift, Marc Jacobs design director Aude Tabet, filmmaker DeMane Davis, shelter-mag stud-muffin Kyle Hoepner and others of an equally artsy ilk.

As one guest put it: “If I’d known what this party was going to be like, I would have dressed way more Brooklyn.”