Jeff Gremillion

2 weeks ago | houstoncitybook.com | Jeff Gremillion

WHEN JHANE HOANG died late last month after a quiet, private battle with cancer, Houston lost one of its most talented and exacting photographers — and my colleagues at CityBook lost a beloved contributor and friend. Jhane, who was just 50 years old, was a Vietnamese American who, as I understood it, pumped the brakes on her career as a rising star in New York’s edgy, high-end creative set, to return home to Houston in recent years to be closer to ailing family members.

1 month ago | houstoncitybook.com | Jeff Gremillion

THE ALWAYS MEMORABLE Alley Theatre ball took on special significance this year, becoming not just a sexy Post Oak Hotel soiree — with “A Buenos Aires Affair” as the theme, nodding to the company’s production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives — but also an emotional sendoff to retiring longtime Managing Director Dean Gladden. It raised $1.3 million to boot. “Guests walked into the Grand Ballroom transformed into the colorful streets of Buenos Aires,” noted a rep for the Alley.

1 month ago | houstoncitybook.com | Jeff Gremillion

A FABULOUSLY FASHIONABLE crowd of more than 650 turned up at the American Cancer Society’s annual Tickled Pink luncheon at the Post Oak Hotel. All wearing pink, because of course, they came to raise money for breast cancer research, and also to support some of Houston’s most generous and beloved ladies — chair Sippi Khurana and honorary chairs Leisa Holland-Nelson-Bowman, Donna Lewis, and Beth Wolff.

1 month ago | houstoncitybook.com | Jeff Gremillion

A BIG CROWD turned up at the Post Oak Hotel for the Children at Risk gala, raising some $360,000 focused on “understanding and addressing the root causes of child poverty and inequality,” per its mission statement. Fred Armisen of Saturday Night Live and Portlandia fame was the headliner, entertaining the crowd of 430 with offbeat comedy and musical bits. Suzan and Jeremy Samuels and Beth Wolff served as event chairs for the Stand Up for Children event.

1 month ago | houstoncitybook.com | Jeff Gremillion

A ROSTER OF women you might usually see in scrubs and white coats flipped the script and went high-fashion for the Arts of Healing Foundation’s fourth annual Fashion Show at the Post Oak Hotel, celebrating Houston’s Women in Medicine. “Eighteen unstoppable women in various fields of medicine were selected as the honorees and showcased on a runway, which was referred to as the runway of role models,” said a rep for event organizers.