Houston’s Most Glamorous Party Season Ever — 2024 Is Already Shaping Up to Be a Year of White-Tie Splendor

Darlings, it’s going to be a very glamorous social swirl as the 2024 party season ramps up later this month with the Houston Symphony Ball followed by the Houston Ballet Ball in February,  both embracing a gilded Viennese theme. And both warmly suggesting, if not insisting, on white tie attire. Regulars at the Houston Grand Opera Ball, scheduled for April, understand that the preferred attire there is white tie too.

This most formal of attire came into fashion in the United States in the mid-1800s when the country’s upper echelon swanned into the Gilded Age. Somewhat a rarity today, white tie is primarily reserved for debutante balls, New Orleans Mardi Gras balls, diplomatic occasions and when Houston ball chairs want to add an extra note of glamour to their soirées.

White tie requisites are very specific. According to a variety of sources ranging from the GQ Style Guide to The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette, white tie is defined as a black tailcoat and trousers, a white shirt with stiff wing collar, vest (generally of piqué cotton), and white bow tie. The double-breasted jacket is waist-length in front and knee-length in back. The matching trousers are adorned with a single stripe of satin.

We remind, as the Vanderbilt guide points out, when the invitation reads white tie, ladies must wear “a floor-length gown with their best jewelry and gloves.” In Houston, we can skip the gloves. (In New Orleans, the Mardi Gras balls require white gloves of both men and women. Trés old school and very glam.) When the invitation calls for white tie, this is the time to step out in a voluminous gown and, yes, if you have the jewels, head to the vault.

Ladies take note. Tea-length gowns and shimmering pants ensembles do not meet white tie specs. However, no one has ever been turned away from a Houston gala for dressing to his or her own drum. In any event, the white tie is a sincere request rather than a hard stop directive.

For the Houston Symphony “Vienna Fête Imperial” ball on January 27, the invitation reads “white tie encouraged.” It was the dream of gala chairs Tammie and Dr. Charles Johnson and Drs. Alice Mao Brams and Matt Brams to inspire the most glamorous of evenings.

As is tradition with Houston Ballet, the annual ball theme is based on a current production. Mayerling will be on stage at Wortham Theater Center when the ball takes place on February 17, thus inspiring a Viennese motif as the ballet retells the tragic story of Austrian Prince Rudolf of the royal Hapsburgs. Gala chairs Cabrina and Steven Owsley and Margaret and Jonathan Cox felt the Hapsburg legacy called for nothing less than white tie as they revealed at the ball kickoff in November.

For many years, Houston Grand Opera ball chairs have encouraged white tie and the April 20th gala is no exception. With Isabel and Ignacio Torras as chairs of the April 13 gala, the couple has something unexpected in store. The gala will feature the culinary creations of Chef Luis Roger of BCN and MAD Houston, both of which are under Torras ownership in partnership with Roger.