Hitting fashion home runs in the junior leagues

B.W. COOK

They billed the event as “celebrating friendship.” The National

Charity League Juniors, Newport Chapter, celebrated a most special

friendship -- that of a mother and daughter. It was their 18th annual

fashion show and luncheon held at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort,

Newport Beach. More than 500 guests, attired in spring finery, turned

out to share their love and raise an impressive $75,000 for the

league juniors’ sponsored charities.

The ladies arrived at the Saturday affair, including Anne Burger,

Kay Davis, Caroline DeVerian, Anne Kent, Molly Calder and Whitney

Mace, to enjoy a spring fantasia of pink, yellow and green

colored-decor. Centerpieces were showstoppers, as designers created

tiered, white-wired garden baskets overflowing with pink roses, and

tied with pink- and white-striped ribbon. Pink boxes, also tied in

the striped ribbon, adorned the place settings, filled with table

favors by Dooney and Bourke for both the mothers and the daughters.

Before the luncheon and fashion show, the crowd mingled about a

massive silent auction collected by dedicated ladies of the chapter.

Jewelry, antiques, home and garden decor and fine apparel were all

donated by an array of local merchants. One of the highlights of the

annual gathering was the drawing of tickets for incredible the league

juniors’ gift baskets created for the event. The themed baskets were

filled with merchandise from such venders as Roxy and Paul Frank. One

basket even came with a live pet.

Kathy Stuart serves as the National Charity League Juniors

president this season, with Leonie Lumpkin in the position of first

vice president and membership chair. The fashion show event is

designed as something of a graduation. Sixth-grade daughters of

league juniors’ mothers are presented on the fashion runway, as they

will not only be graduating elementary school, but also moving on

from the juniors’ chapter to the National Charity League Chapter.

The mothers and daughters participating in the fashion show

displayed garments by Saks Fifth Avenue, Oilily, Talbots Kids and

Roxy and Friends. Smashing young ladies on the catwalk were Maddie

Beck, Kristin Burger, Devyn Davis, Alison DeVerian, Brynn Johnson,

Victoria Kent, Sally Mace, and Marisa Stuart. Funds raised will

benefit High Hopes Head Injury Program, the Harry and Grace Steele

Children’s Center and the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.

Ladies deserving extra kudos for the dedicated effort include

event chairs Anne Kent, Diane Connelly, and Michelle Roth.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.