Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1137964
31 FIRST THINGS FIRST BY CHRISTINA GEYER. PHOTOGRAPHY JONATHAN ZIZZO. E very year, there's one cocktail on our calendars that we wouldn't dare miss. The co-hosts are stylish and artful, and the location is the perfect fashionable place for a party. It's also the unofficial start of a packed April arts month, which ensues a few short weeks later. Long has Neiman Marcus Downtown played venue for the Dallas Art Fair Kick Off Party, often incorporating some variety of art into the mix. One year, Dallas Art Fair exhibitors took over the NM windows for a pop-up exhibition, and years ago, Neiman Marcus used the soirée to showcase the history of its Art of Fashion photography portfolio. This year, the Dallas Art Fair team (John and Marlene Sughrue, Brandon Kennedy, Kelly Cornell, and Sarah Blagden) celebrated artist and writer Stephen Lapthisophon with works displayed on temporary gallery walls installed throughout Neiman Marcus' glossy first floor. Of course, cocktails were on hand, thanks to the expert event-planning skills of Neiman Marcus PR guru Marjon Henderson, corporate exec Mimi Sterling, and NM Downtown store manager Tim Adair. Guests packed the house — James Cope, Anna Katherine Brodbeck, Hannah Fagadau, Kaleta Blaffer Johnson, Peter Doroshenko, Frank Hettig, and Erin Cluley — and all left enthused for the Art Fair to come. THE DALLAS ART FAIR KICKS OFF YEAR 11 WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM NEIMAN MARCUS. Peter Doroshenko, John & Marlene Sughrue Johnny Pardee Mimi Sterling Charlie Caulkins Rodger Kobes, Frank Hettig Kelly Cornell, Erin Cluley Jeremy Buonamici, James Cope Summer Aquino, Jeff Gibbons Stephen Lapthisophon Hannah Fagadau, Kaleta Blaffer Johnson Jennifer Klos Hilde Nelson, Daryl Ratcliff, Katherine Brodbeck Stephen Lapthisophon Nancy Whitnack Cheryl Vogel, Ashish Monga Brandon Kennedy, Lindsay Roche