While familiar with the adage “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” we would like to add that when you have the know-how combined with the connections, beautiful things can happen. Just ask Houstonian Olivia Cone, a brainiac senior at Clemson who was the jelling force behind an intimate cocktail reception featuring the latest fashions from Swiss luxury brand Bally and benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Olivia, a juvenile diabetes patient, is the stepdaughter of Greg Fourticq, a fashion force in New York City for more than two decades. While at Calvin Klein he gave Lisette Ballard, now Bally co-general manager America, her first job in the fashion industry and later brought her on board when he was with Carolina Herrera. They have stayed friends for 28 years as she has moved up the fashion hierarchy and he ultimately moved back to Houston.
“In a way, he launched my fashion career,” Ballard said while a chic clutch perused the Bally fashions on display in the luxe high-rise home of Patsy Fourticq, Greg Fourticq’s mother. Yet another connection.
When Olivia Cone told her father John Cone and Fourticq that she wanted to explore the possibility of a career in fashion merchandising, Fourticq reached out to Ballard. An eight-week internship followed during which Olivia proved her smarts as well as her fashion savvy.
“She’s very natural at it,” Ballard said. “She actually selected the products for tonight, knowing the Houston market and the style of its people.”
In essence, the stylish gathering was, Ballard explained, a re-introduction of Bally to the Houston market. After closing its full boutique here several years ago, a Bally men’s store opened in The Galleria shopping mall in March. While the new Galleria boutique offers menswear only, womenswear is available in New York and various boutiques around the country as well as online.
And there were a number of women’s accessories and clothing for the ladies to choose from on this night. A percentage of sales from the event were earmarked for JDRF.
The evening was chaired by Olivia Cone and family friend Tye Griffith Leon, and from the number of elegant Bally shopping bags exiting the swank condo it appeared that the event was a success on all accounts. Interestingly, from baby boomers to Gen Z, guests found merchandise to covet and to take home. Such is the appeal of Bally’s fine craftsmanship and classic appeal with an edge.
PC Seen: Serious shoppers Courtney Hobson and Melissa Mithoff, plus Katherine Phelps, Karen and Mike Mayell, Libby Cagle and Lauren Taft, Patricia Griffith, Valarie Martin, Wayne Smith and Denny Lyons, Amy Cone, Corey Reynolds, Elizabeth Griffith Lashar, Lisa Dodd, Sara Dodd and Will Denton, Jeff Smith, Stephen Smith, and Victoria Cone.
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