Scenes from a Night With Cartier at the Dallas Museum of Art

Inside the VIP Experience

BY Billy Fong // 06.06.22

photography Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC

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Catherine Marcus Rose, AgustÍn Arteaga, The Eugene McDermott Director of Dallas Museum of Art (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

A night with Cartier at the Dallas Museum of Art. (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Pierre Rainero, director of image, style and heritage at Cartier International; Brendan McGuire, PNC regional president for North Texas (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Sharon Young, Deedie Rose (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Walter & Laura Elcock (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Brian Bolke & Faisal Halum (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Billy Fong, Peggy Sewell, Kira Nasrat (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Ceron & Todd Fiscus (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Lisa Cooley, Ciara Cooley Biggers (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Amanda Shudfeldt, Rajan Patel, Jessica Nowitzki (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Audrey Defforey, Shelby Goff, Bela Cooley (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Gowri Sharma, Carlos Gozalez-Jaime (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Katie Lemmon, Brad Kelly, Nancy Dedman (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Stuart & Diane Bumpas (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Angel Chang (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Alexis Barbier-Mueller & Bridget Barbier-Mueller (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Laudan Khotanzad and Jeff Glassman (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Shannon & Clinton Warren (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Lynn & Allan McBee (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Saleem Jafar, Christina Jafar (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Bob & Barbara Bigham (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Cathy Allday, Gayle Stoffel, Capera Ryan (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

The reception menu for Cartier and the Dallas Museum of Art (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart & James Hart (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Erin Matthews, Russ Davis (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Inside the tent with Cartier and the Dallas Museum of Art (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Annelies Da Costa Gomez, Mercedes Abramo, president and CEO of Cartier North America (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

CeCe Smith & Ford Lacy (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

John Adams, Terry Loftis (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Helen and Brendan McGuire, PNC regional president for North Texas (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Stratton Hibbs, Nicole Berg (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Sogand Shoja, Leyla Khotanzad (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Catherine Marcus Rose, AgustÍn Arteaga, The Eugene McDermott Director of Dallas Museum of Art (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

Pierre Rainero, director of image, style and heritage at Cartier International; Brendan McGuire, PNC regional president for North Texas (Photo by Tamytha Cameron Smith and Simon Luna of the Mamones LLC)

The invitation announced a black tie dinner with Cartier in celebration of the Dallas Museum of Art’s opening of “Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity.” Well, who couldn’t refuse to don a natty Tom Ford cummerbund on a Tuesday evening? Not moi.

Upon arriving for the reception for the Museum’s Circle members (their premier giving program) my date, Kira Nasrat, and I were greeted by some terribly handsome Cartier pages. (A photo op is the best way to start an evening.)

After oohing and ahhing our way through the anticipated exhibition, which was four years in the making, we made our way up the Museum’s concourse to a magically designed tent, where We Cassandra Moses (the genius at R2Art Catering) had prepared a divine dinner. The walk gave us an opportunity to catch up with two of my favorite people: Nancy Dedman and Brad Kelly. Nancy shared the story of finding the right sequined Carolina Herrera gown she was wearing years ago for a white party on Gene Jones’ yacht — it’s been a go-to for a chic evening on the town ever since.

Some other fashion standouts that night were Bela Cooley, looking statuesque in black Rosie Assoulin, and her date for the evening, Shelby Goff (who went with a one-shoulder Hapern gown in delicate greens and white for the evening).

Other VIP Celebration attendees included: Agustín Arteaga and Carlos Gonzalez-Jaime; Catherine and Will Rose; Laura and Walter Elcock, Pierre Rainero; Mercedes Abramo, president and CEO of Cartier North America; CeCe Smith and Ford Lacy; Capera Ryan; Gayle Stoffel; Barbara and Bob Bigham; Brian Bolke and Faisal Halum; Diane and Stuart Bumpas; Ceron and Todd Fiscus; Lynn and Allan McBee; Stephanie and Michael Seay; Sheryl Adkins-Green and Geoff Green; Sogand Shoja, Deedie Rose; Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller; Jessica Nowitzki; Rajan Patel; Gowri Sharma; Sharon Young, Ciara Cooley Biggers, and Lisa Cooley.