Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/562661
SEPTEMBER | PAGE 22 | 2015 PHOTOGRAPHY MINDY BYRD FOR THE PHOTO DIVISION. ART DIRECTION MICHELLE AVIÑA. PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE DALLAS CONTEMPORARY. HAIR AND MAKEUP CHER HUSKILL FOR THE CAMPBELL AGENCY. HUTCHINSON Those BY REBECCA SHERMAN HAS DALLAS EVER BRED THREE SUCH DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS SISTERS, ALL WORKING IN THE COOLEST FAMILY BUSINESS? WE THINK NOT. Gathered at a table one recent morning at Ascension Coffee inside the Dallas Design District, the 20-something Hutchinson sisters — Holly, Rachel and Tess — are taking a break from work, where they handle marketing and leasing at Dunhill Partners, the commercial brokerage and investments company owned by their father, Bill Hutchinson. It's been a big year for the family. Dunhill recently purchased a large swath of the Dallas Design District, and the Hutchinson girls now spend many of their days at their Design District offices, getting to know showroom owners. Tess' upcoming wedding to Edward Merriman in December at the One & Only Palmilla in Cabo San Lucas has the whole clan in a whirl of excitement — her sisters and her dad recently helped choose her wedding dress, which she's keeping a secret, she says. If they weren't already busy enough, Holly is on the production committee for the Cattle Baron's Ball at Gilley's headlining Tim McGraw, to be held Saturday, October 3. Rachel, who graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York City and apprenticed at Stephan Pyles' restaurant, is focused on perfecting recipes for her blog, Food Life Love by Rachel, which she tries out on her siblings and father several times a week. "My goal is to get a cooking show one day," she says. The sisters are like best friends on one long sleepover: They all live in the Drexel Highlander, a high-rise on the edge of Highland Park. Holly shares a unit there with their mother, Kathleen, who spends half the year in Aspen, while Rachel lives next door with two friends, and Tess and her fiancé have just moved into the building a floor away. All three live across the street from their father, his wife, Kandis, and their 11-year- old stepsister and 6-year-old half-brother. Every Sunday, the whole extended family heads to worship at Highland Park United Methodist Church — a reverence for God is in their bloodline; their father grew up with missionary parents in Mexico. Afterwards, the sisters gather at Mi Cocina in Highland Park Village, where they sit and talk for hours. Holly and Rachel love a frozen Margarita or two, they say, while Tess sticks with iced tea. "It'll start out with just the three of us, then grow to about 25 people," says Rachel. "Whenever dad wants to find us, that's where he looks first." They all belong to the same gym, Equinox, which is within walking distance of their townhouses. Their dad, Bill Hutchinson, is a lanky 6-foot-5 with shoulder-grazing locks, a perennial smile and a penchant for ripped white jeans and bespoke jackets, all of which give him more than passing resemblance to Virgin billionaire Sir Richard Branson. Holly, 27, Rachel, 25, and Tess, 23, inherited their dad's whippet-like physiques and their mother's striking looks. Lucky gene pool. Polite and congenial, they exude an authenticity that's all their own. "The only thing we ever argue about is clothes," says Holly, laughing. "We all wear the same size, even the same shoe size, as our mom." To keep her sisters out, Tess recently had a lock installed on her closet door. Asset protection aside, big plans for the Dallas Design District have the entire family on high alert — already there have been comparisons to the ultra-hot Miami Design District, with its maze of retail (Prada, Rick Owens, Tom Ford), galleries and site-specific art (Buckminster Fuller, Zaha Hadid, Matthew Ritchie, Mark Newsom), international design showrooms and top-tier restaurants. The gauntlet has been thrown. Along with a push to sign exciting new showrooms — Ellouise Abbott, Texas' oldest design showroom, will open inside the district in October — plans for a vibrant tenant mix are already underway, including a late-night lounge, new restaurants, three boutique hotels including Branson's first Virgin Hotel in Dallas, slated to open in 2018, and the acquisition of public art. While they might get into a heated tiff over a purloined From left: Tess, Holly and Rachel Hutchinson. Anila Quayyum Agah's "Intersections" exhibit at the Dallas Contemporary.