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24 T he day before the event, Billy Fong gave me a buzz to discuss outfit choices for the evening. "Ann says the mood will feel like The Stork Club," he said. "Old-school, New York City glamour." He was right. The decor was inspired by French artist François Lepage's Flowers in a Vase with Two Doves, 1816 – 1820, which the Dallas Museum of Art acquired last year; we suspect masterful Todd Fiscus also drew inspiration from Ann Hobson's own impeccable taste. "Have you ever been to her house?" we overhead one guest say. "Because this is basically it." Indeed, the formal dinner tent resem- bled a larger version of the Hobsons' sunroom, beautiful treillage included. Brook Hazelton, president of Christie's in the Americas, was charged with live-auction duties, and the handsome auctioneer did not disappoint. Of the eight packages curated by Grange Hall's Rajan Patel and Cabana boutique's Merry Vose, two trips stole the show. A fashionable Roman holiday, with accommodations at Fendi's extraordinary Palazzo Private Suite, garnered $50,000, to the delight of Fendi's Courtney Smith, in town from New York. But it was Hobson hospitality that reigned supreme: The couple offered up a weeklong stay at their 154-acre estate in the South of France, and it sold twice — to the tune of $240,000. BEAUTIFUL BOUNTIFUL ART BALL (continued from page 23) Cool kicks via John & Deborah Scott Capera Ryan Brady Wood Brook Hazelton John Sughrue Michael McCray, Meghan Looney, Gonzalo Bueno Legs for days Marguerite Hoffman Melissa Fetter, Agustín Arteaga Claire Emanuelson, Niven Morgan Steve Summers