TRIBEZA's Senior Account Executive Ashley Beall shares her experience at the Chef's Table Series dinner at TRIO.

Shortly after we took our seats in the private dining room, Chef Todd Duplechan told us about his background, as he journeyed from architecture school in Colorado to working for Tom Colicchio in NYC before settling down in Austin with his wife (and now baby boy) to work at TRIO.

It's not everyday that you get to meet your one, true first love. For me, that day came last month when Mark Paul Gosselaar (known to my teen self as the heartthrob Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell) travelled through Austin on a promo tour for his new TNT show with Breckin Meyer Franklin & Bash. I met up at the Four Seasons with the guys to sit down and hear all about their new comedy. 

When the Blanton Museum of Art's wonderful Special Events Manager Stephanie Topolgus told me about her idea for the B Scene event around the new exhibit About Face: Portraiture As Subject to invite local wardrobe stylists to interpret the portrait of their choice, I was beyond excited by the creative challenge. I tend to be drawn to the Old World, so picking Eugéne Delacroix's Portrait of Charles de Verninac, circa 1826. Although working with one of these would have been fun too...

To kick off Fusebox, Austin's annual contemporary art and performance festival, Mother Falcon performed quite the memorable show Wednesday night at the Seaholm Power Plant. The impressive performance was free to the public and featured additional musical accompaniment from no less than 100 string players. Functioning as the festival's official Late Night HQ, the Seaholm will feature an eclectic variety of performances and installations from 10pm-2am through April 27. And, if you missed Wednesday's show, Mother Falcon will be performing at the Seaholm again on April 22 at 11pm.

Fusebox Fesitval
Mother Falcon
Late Nights @ Seaholm

Set in a house along South 1st street, Mercedes Flowers is the newest player on the burgeoning local floral scene. Although owner Mercedes Garza Cortazar recently said goodbye to her corporate career to pursue her entrepreneurial passions, she follows a path steeped in family tradition. A legacy started by her grandmother in Chihuahua, Mexico, and later adopted by her mother as well, the most recent incarnation of ‘Mercedes Flowers’ aims to strike the perfect balance between classic and modern design.

Mercedes Flowers

I was beyond excited for the opportunity to design and create an art bra for the upcoming GRAPHIC 5: the 5th Annual Art Bra Fashion Show & Auction benefiting the Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas. I wanted to make a bra that would be vibrant and fun to work on the runway, so I started with the color the pink and went from there. The finished result feels a bit Betsey Johnson, whose designs I have always loved. I had to put some TRIBEZA into it as well by shrinking covers down into charms that hang from the chains. I was thrilled to hear that the beautiful cancer survivor Ruby Cortez (pictured below) will be rocking my bra on the runway. 

Partygoers from all over the city joined TRIBEZA at our 10 Year Anniversary Party in a raw space on Cesar Chavez. Here's a selection of some of our favorite party pics from the night.

At once evoking both the metallic toughness of Philip Crangi chains and the grosgrain softness of Lanvin pearls, the playful juxtapositions in Lilah Gabriel’s inaugural line of statement pieces exude a delicate flair all their own. Recently snapped up by Austin’s Kick Pleat, each Lilah Gabriel design features intricately interwoven materials – from pearls and chains to semiprecious stone embellishments.

Developed by Jason and Jessica McMahon, a Houston-based husband-wife team, the collaborative line was born when his high-end jewelry design background met her classically trained fashion designer pedigree. Although the McMahons have been creating bespoke pieces for a variety of clientele for some time, this is their first foray into developing a retail collection.

Artist Graham Hudson's Rehearsal at the Astoria opened last week at Arthouse at the Jones Center with a bang. This is Hudson's first solo institutional exhibition in the U.S. The exhibition features an enormous installation created especially for Arthouse’s main gallery which aims to collapse time and space and connect London’s past with Austin’s present through a multi-layered sculptural and musical experience.