{"id":197276,"date":"2025-09-03T16:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T16:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/197276\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T16:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T16:40:09","slug":"houston-nonprofit-toasts-fall-with-fashionable-fundraiser-at-tootsies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/197276\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston nonprofit toasts fall with fashionable fundraiser at Tootsies"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a summer of jet-setting, sun-chasing, and group chats gone quiet, Houston\u2019s most fashion-forward friend group reunited right where they left off. At Tootsies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 22nd Annual Summer Soir\u00e9e, hosted by Women of Wardrobe (WOW)<\/a> and the fashion retailer, was less of an event and more of a social reset button. The high-energy shopping bash welcomed nearly 250 young professionals, raising more than $18,700 for Dress for Success Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The soir\u00e9e offered a preview of autumn\u2019s aesthetic.<\/p>\n

Designers Sarah Evenson<\/strong> of Marie Oliver<\/a> and Melanie Fitzpatrick<\/strong> and Jennifer Roane<\/strong> of Houston\u2019s own LeMel Jewelry<\/a> were on hand, showing off fall\u2019s latest must-haves in color, texture, and shimmer. The boutique\u2019s racks served double duty as runway and retail therapy, as guests sipped and styled their way into the season.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just about the fashion. The whole venue was a visual love letter to celebration: oversized balloons by Topped Off Co., a floral dream wall by Mas Flora, and a photo booth by Just Call Malik that saw no shortage of posing (and re-posing).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, DJ Johny Bravo kept the tempo upbeat as guests grazed on bites that could\u2019ve headlined their own festival: Braised Korean short ribs, bourbon bread pudding, and a multi-vendor sip lineup from the likes of Domus Caviar, Elijah Craig, Makiin, Freixenet, and more.<\/p>\n

The evening ended with luxe swag bags and even luckier raffle winners, who scored prizes from LeMel, Skin Pharm, Sugared and Bronzed, and others. For those not quite ready to call it a night, the afterparty at Makiin offered live music, warm lighting, and glasses of Sur Wines clinking well into the night.<\/p>\n

With that, the soiree sent Houston\u2019s stylish into gala season with full hearts, fresh outfits, and a few extra loyalty points on their Tootsies cards.<\/p>\n

Among those in the crowd were event chairs Dani Kattan<\/strong> and Mow Rahman<\/strong>, Tootsies owners Norman <\/strong>and Donna Lewis<\/strong>,Tootsies experience director Shelley Taylor Ludwick<\/strong>, alongside Mia Gradney<\/strong>, Mary Hoang-Do<\/strong>, Courtney Zavala<\/strong>, Allison Bagley<\/strong>, Gonzalo Ceron<\/strong>, Thy Mitchell<\/strong>, Ellie Francisco<\/strong>, Caroline Fertitta<\/strong>, and Janis Jarosz<\/strong>. Also spotted WOW president Victoria Villarreal<\/strong>, and WOW members Anna McGrath<\/strong>, Kristen Hendel<\/strong>, Anna Gryska<\/strong>, Natalie Gow<\/strong>, and Catherine Sdao<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a summer of jet-setting, sun-chasing, and group chats gone quiet, Houston\u2019s most fashion-forward friend group reunited right…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":197277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[10574,15045,4345,2107,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-197276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-fashion","9":"tag-fundraisers","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-shopping","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115141359994793650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}