When a Monday at the Museum Turns Into a Blockbuster VIP Affair

Mondays at the Dallas Museum of Art are typically quiet: The museum is closed to the public; its galleries empty of visitors.

But on one particular Monday, the museum was anything but hushed. Beginning at 10 am, a perfectly turned out group of ladies and gents made their way to the museum to be among the first to view the exhibition “Dior From Paris to the World,” which opened to the public May 19 and runs through September 1.

Nancy Rogers along with Gene Jones, her daughter Charlotte Jones Anderson, and her granddaughter Jordan Jones, played hosts for the mid-morning event, which began with an advanced preview of the exhibition, followed by rose on the museum’s front-lawn terrace, and then lunch in the atrium.

In a subtle homage to Christian Dior’s obsession with flowers, Todd Fiscus decorated the space with bold floral arrangements boasting what might count as the largest peonies on record.

Mid-lunch, which was a truffle-infused masterpiece by Cassandra Fine Catering, Florence Muller (the exhibition’s curator, in town from the Denver Art Museum, where the exhibit originated) sat down for a lively conversation with milliner Stephen Jones — a dandy gent who is as famous for his whimsical hats as he is for his amusing personality.

The afternoon was the perfect excuse to drink wine at lunch on a Monday (something we rarely admit to doing) — and it also proved the perfect way to kick off a week filled with exhibition opening events, from private tours to a star-studded dinner.

PC Seen: The DMA’s top brass including Agustin Arteaga and Sarah Schleunig; plus guests including Matrice Ellis-Kirk, Ann Hobson, Heather Washburne, Jeny Bania, Jake Walton, Deedie Rose, Mary Noel Lamont, Jeanne Phillips, Micki Rawlings, Pamela Nelson, Nasiba Adilova, Eva Yazhari, and Jessica Nowitzki.